2006: Year-End Blogger Review

To celebrate the end of 2006, let's countdown the top 15 best, worst, most controversial, and most surprising posts to make their way through our little blogger community.

15. Lt. Stack tries to throw an already wounded John Kerry under the bus again while he is halfway across the world in Korea. http://jasonstack.blogspot.com/2006/11/dear-senator-kerry.html

14. At number 14, we have the Doc's only post of 2006, Things that have happened since November 25th. http://gotsprue.blogspot.com/2006/02/things-that-have-happened-since.html

13. At number 13, in let this be a lesson, Stack describes the drunk driving accident that happened right in his own driveway! http://brianstack.blogspot.com/2006/03/let-this-be-lesson.html

12. At number 12, we all rejoiced with Princess Buttercup when she was able to recover some of her Hawaii pictures. http://christellize.blogspot.com/2006/05/aloha-again.html

11. We thought P. Sophie was going to give us a post on American Idol, but if you go back and look at it now, its just a bunch of porn!!! http://legendofme.blogspot.com/2006/04/ai-post.html

10. The "Master" explains to us in October why he's been a very bad blogger lately. http://whosthemaster.blogspot.com/2006/10/ive-been-very-bad-blogger.html

9. IA has reason to celebrate, as he was accepted into the NYU LLM program! http://iyazakhtar.blogspot.com/2006/06/you-have-reason-to-celebrate.html

8. In a comical look at the life of a pregnant chick, P. Sophie tells a great story about craving some chocolate cake. http://legendofme.blogspot.com/2006/05/p-sophies-baby-story-chocolate-cake.html

7. The Stack's introduce BradyVision, an interactive look at the life and times of Brady Stack. http://brianstack.blogspot.com/2006/07/brady-vision-2006.html

6. IA tries to make us all believe that someone offered him money for his blogger site name in this April Fools Day prank. http://iyazakhtar.blogspot.com/2006/04/theyre-trying-to-buy-me-out.html

5. P. Sophie announces the beginning of her nine-month journey through pregnancy in this January post. http://legendofme.blogspot.com/2006/01/miracle-of-life.html

4. Stack talks about his own version of Mouse Hunt as he tries for two weeks to catch an ellusive rodent in his house. http://brianstack.blogspot.com/2006/11/there-is-mouse-in-my-house.html

3. In another funny post, P. Sophie talks about her woes of motherhood in "Stretch Marks and Stupid People." http://legendofme.blogspot.com/2006/06/stretch-marks-and-stupid-people.html

2. Princess Buttercup makes us all want to cry in her romantic post about the joys of marriage o her anniversary. http://christellize.blogspot.com/2006/09/une-bonne-anniversaire.html

1. And the best post of 2006? Why none other than David Wick's famous dating video! http://legendofme.blogspot.com/2006/12/davids-dating-video.html

RIP: My Office

My office has been moved to the finished basement to make way for Brady. Yep, he has too many toys, and they have consumed our living room. So, we decided to convert the office space into a new room for him. We got lucky at Building 19 by finding a nice big area rug for him for only $40. I'm refinishing an old basketball lamp I had when I was a kid for the room too. Now, we just need to find a piece of furnature so that we can store all the bins of toys! I might make one...if Erica and I can decide on what we want. More to come on that later...

Home Renovations

In an attempt to make our kitchen look a little bigger, and to improve the traffic flow when we host parties, I decided to put a big hole in the wall that separates our kitchen and living room. You can see the before and after pictures below. All I have left to do is to paint all the new trim white. I was a little worried this morning when I started that there would be pipes or wires to contend with when I opened up the wall, but lucky for me, there was nothing there. The only thing I really had to do was move the telephone jack and install one new outlet. Other than that, it was a piece of cake!

Too Many Toys

Erica and I have decided to move my office downstairs and turn that space into Brady's toy room. (OK, This was Erica's idea, but I've conceeded that she is right) As you can see, Brady has too many toys to keep in the living room!

Merry Christmas 2006!

Oh Fudge!!!!

I know what you are thinking...are the Stack's planning to eat 18 pounds of fudge this Christmas? No way! But we did make 18 pounds of fudge and filled them into 18 Christmas tins, to give out to co-workers, neighbors, etc. In case you are wondering, there are seven varieties: Oreo, Andies mint candy, chocolate walnut, dark chocolate coconut, butterscoth, candy cane, and peanut butter. I would have to say my favorite was the dark chocolate coconut, which tasted just like having a mounds bar. If you are interested, I've included Erica's fudge recipe below (for the Oreo fudge...for the others, use your imagination!)

Erica’s Holiday Fudge
18 oz. package of white chocolate chips
14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
1/8 teaspoon of salt
20 Oreo cookies, crushed finely
1 8x8 fudge pan, lined with parchment paper

Melt the chocolate chips with the condensed milk in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Add the salt and cookies and stir to combine. Remove the pan from the heat, and pour the mixture into the fudge pan. Chill in the refrigerator until firm.

Be creative! Substitute the cookies and white chocolate with other ingredients to make your own fudge flavors. My favorites include peanut butter chips, chocolate mint chips, and even English toffee pieces.

Christmas Update, by Brady Stack

Hi guys, its me, Brady Stack. I just wanted to give you guys in cyber space an update on how things are going at ye 'ole Stack shack.

Well, Christmas is almost here. Mama and Dada said Santa is bringing me lots of toys this year. Mama wants to get Dada to move his office upstairs so I can have his office as my new playroom, but he's not convinced I need it yet. Maybe he will be after Christmas!

Dada went on a business trip to Nashville Tennessee last week. I was so excited when he got home, I hadn't been away from him for that long ever!

Dada keeps talking about how he's changing the living room around over Christmas vacation. He told me how is going to put the TV on the opposite wall, and cut a huge hole in the wall that connects the living room with the kitchen. He says something about it making the kitchen look bigger!

Next week, Auntie Pam and Uncle Charlie are bringing my friend David Wicks over to play. I get to see Auntie Christel and Uncle Scott as well. I can't wait for that!

Friday night, Dada, Mama, and I went to cheer on the Sanborn girls basketball team. I was so excited to see them play that when Dada put me down, I decided to run right for the court. I run pretty fast now. I have too....if I don't run, Mama and Dada will catch me and pick me up. That's no fun. Too bad they caught me at the game before I got to the ball. That would have made the referees very mad. But I wanted the ball. Did I mention that I know how to say ball?

Well, that's all for now! I'll give another report after Christmas next week, and I'll tell you guys all about the toys I got!

Welcome to the Opryland Resort!

Known to be the largest non-casino hotel in the country, the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville boasts three large glass-enclosed attriums, covering an area of 54 acres! As you can see from the pictures, these attriums are completely filled with plants, flowers, trees, and even a river, complete with a working boat tour.

At Christmas, every square inch of the hotel is decorated. They say the only place with more Christmas decorations is Disney World itself!

Greetings From Nashville Tennessee!

This past week, I have been at a national conference for school leaders in Nashville Tennessee. It has been a lot of fun, and very informative. The entire conference is being held at the Opryland Resort, which is the largest non-casino hotel in the country, and the second most decorated place in America for Christmas, second only of course to Disney World. If you looked at the hotel from a plane, you'd likely describe it to look like one big "donut" shape, with a large glass-enclosed attrium in the middle. How large? They say ten foot ball fields, but that doesn't seem to do it justice. I'll have to post some pictures of it when I get home so you can get a sense of how beautiful it was in the attrium, which was completely landscaped with palm trees, flowers, even a river! It really was a spectacular sight.

LG: Life is NOT Good!

February 11, 2006: We purchase a brand-new LG refrigerator, exactly like the one you see in the picture to the left, from Best Buy in Salem, NH. Mistake #1: We don't opt to get the extended store warranty on it.

March 11, 2006: Our refrigerator is delivered. Wow, what an upgrade from the frig we had before!

Late October, 2006: Our wonderful frig starts to make a vibrating noise. I call LG's customer service, and they give me the names of two service providers who can come out and look at the unit. I call both, but neither wants to come out. As I find out later, they don't like working with LG. I can't say I blame them. So I call LG back, and they promise me their "scheduling team" will find someone to come out.

Early November, 2006: "Good News," says LG! They found a technician to come out and look at the unit. Meanwhile, the vibrating noise is getting worse.

November 8, 2006: The technician tells us that we have an evatorator fan motor that is going bad. He calls LG to order a new motor.

November 8-November 11, 2006: LG manages to lose the part order, and brush our problem under the rug. I call them on the 11th, only to be promised that the part is being shipped right away.

November 12, 2006: I wake up Sunday morning to find a dead frig. I call LG. The part is on the way, and they feel really bad. They want to offer me $150 to buy some replacement food. I laugh. I'd have to best Rachel Ray herself to stretch $150 for the next several weeks while I wait for LG to fix the frig. I demand they allow me to use the money towards the purchase of a temporary frig. They agree, and even offer to cover more of the cost, which they later take back.
I go out to Home Depot, and buy the only frig on the floor they can sell, a $347 special. The Home Depot sales guy consoles me in my time of need, adding that he too has had nothing but trouble trying to get LG to make good on their products. Bringing the frig in to my house, I do something to my back that causes me a great deal of pain and a day out of work.

November 13-20, 2006: LG continues to lose my part order, despite several promises to me that it was on the way.

November 21, 2006: I decide I am not going to bed until I know the part is going to be shipped. At 4:30, I get on the phone. By 8:45pm, I was fairly confident the part was to be shipped DHL over night to the technician. LG admits the part had been back-ordered and they didn't follow up in a timely manner. No sh*t, right?

November 24, 2006: The part arrives in the technician's hands.

November 25, 2006: The new moter is installed in my frig, and all seems well. The noise is gone, the frig is working properly, and this SHOULD be the end of the story. But wait...there's more!

November 26, 2006: I wake up to find my frig making a vibrating noise, again. LG promises me they will have a technician come out and look at the frig. I complain, I moan, I b*tch, but they don't listen. I can't even talk to a supervisor, they have to call you back in 48 hours. They want me to call back the technician. I flat out refuse....that is their job, and Frankly, I don't even think the tech wants to work with them anymore anyways. They tell me they will call someone. If they can't fix it this time, I'm going to get a new frig. Yeah, and that might happen in the next three months, if I am lucky. My bet is that they'll try to string this out until February 11, 2007, when my warranty expires.

So, what is the moral of this ridiculously long story that hasn't even been finished yet? DON'T EVER BUY AN LG PRODUCT, EVER!!!!!!

Did you hear that? I said, DON"T EVER BUY ANYTHING FROM LG. LIFE IS NOT GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stack/Wicks Reunion

Dear Uncle Jason,

How is Korea treating you? Have you gone anywhere really cool? What's your favorite thing to do when you aren't working there? When are you coming home to visit again?

As you can see, I've matured quite a bit from the last time you saw me. No more formula & baby food, I eat and drink regular food now! My favorites are pizza, grilled cheese, pancakes, and french fries. I love to watch tv...especially the Wiggles. I love playing with your old soccer ball...I can pick it up, throw it, and then chase after it. Last week, Dad took me into the back yard to run around and check out things. That was a lot of fun. When my cousin Mackenzie comes over, we have a great time playing together. My favorite toy to play with would have to b e a toss-up, from my ball maze to my legos, which Babcia bought me for my birthday.

Yep, as you can see, I'm all grown-up. Dad says next week, we might go out to Boston University to see if they have any early-admission programms I might qualify for. He told me he wanted me to make sure I went to a school with a great hockey program, sorry Uncle Jay. No UNH for me!

Well, can't wait to see you soon!

Your favorite nephew,

Brady.

Need Some Turkey Tips?

Check out my post from last year....everything you need to know to cook a great Thanksgiving Turkey.

http://www.brianstack.blogspot.com/2005/11/what-ive-discovered-about-turkey.html#comments

A New Brady Vision......

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

This hasn't been a good week down at ye 'ole Stack shack.

The Good:
1. Erica got her diploma in the mail this week, she's now Erica L. Stack, M.ed. Now the next question is, who is going to get their PhD first, Brian or Erica? Would you prefer Dr. Brian M. Stack, or Dr. Erica L. Stack???
2. I caught that darn mouse last week. My advice to those of you that might have this problem in the future? Don't buy those sticky glue traps...they are a waste of money. The mouse had no problem eating the food off of it. Nope, I bought the $.50 special good-old-fashioned mouse trap. Worked like a charm.

The Bad:
1. Brady's ear infection rages on....he's been switched to his third antibiotic. If this doesn't work, the next stop will be tubes.

2. Our (eight month old) frig died on Sunday. It has been making noises for two weeks, but despite numerous calls to LG, they have been dragging their feet to service it. They continue to. But, I couldn't go without a frig, so I went to Home Depot Sunday morning to by the $347 special...a plain white frig which is actually the same size as our LG. We figure we'll keep it as a back up for the basement once the other one is fixed or replaced...which might happen by Christmas, if we are lucky. The best part? Oh I pulled a back muscle moving the frig...ended up missing work Monday. Yep. Not good.

The Ugly:
Erica's follow-up appointment with her Breast surgeon wasn't filled with good news. They had to do another biopsy on a lump that is still there. It may be nothing, it may be something, who knows? But it's been on our minds.

But through it all.....we're not complaining, really! Thanksgiving is only a week away! Don't forget to brine your turkey this year...Alton Brown's recipe is the best!!!

Introducing Shanna, To Blogger

My sister-in-law, Shanna, has finally joined the internet community, purchasing her first Dell laptop last week. She has decided to start her own blog as well. If ever you are interested, you can find her at www.shannapinet.blogspot.com. I've also added her as a link on my blog.

Welcome, Shanna!

Mess!

Brady and Mackenzie are helping me overcome my OCD. Do you see the state of my living room? Toys everywhere! But, I didn't act on my impulses to clean it all up...at least until they were done playing anyways!

There is a Mouse in my House

This afternoon, a mouse joined us in our living room. Yep, a little brown mouse. He seems to be enojoying living either behind or below our tv, but he spent some time in our kitchen and in our dining room too.

So, out to Home Depot I went. I must say, mouse traps have come a long way since the days of the spring-loaded finger-smashing contraptions. There were humane traps, poison traps, and the one I chose: A glue trap. Basically, it is a big glue pad that will cause the mouse to get his feet and fur caught to the pad. What would draw him there in the first place? Why the glob of peanutbutter, of course. So, I placed 4 of these behind my tv and 2 in the basement below, hoping to catch the guy. We'll see if it pays off.

If it doesn't work, maybe we could borrow Simba for a few days!!!

Trick Or Treat!

Well, its hard to believe a year has past, as you can see from the Halloween picture from this year, and ther one from last.

This year, Brady and Mackenzie decided to dress up together as characters from the Wizard of Oz. Then, we went Trick Or Treating in Shanna & Dave's neighborhood. Brady gots lots of candy. What does he like the best, you ask? Three Musketeers!

Battle at the Dinner Table

So lately, Brady doesn't want anything to do with his baby food. Who could blame him? The stuff has no taste. The other problem is....like his OCD father, Brady doesn't like to get his hands dirty. So, asking him to pick-up and eat messy foods is completely out of the question...we just can't get him to pick them up.

But tonight, we had a break-through! We taught Brady how to use his spoon and fork to eat his food. With these new tools, he ate lots of fresh sweet potatoes and some of Dad's cranberry-orange-nut pork.

Victory for us!

The Great Bath Protest

Tonight, Brady decided to protest taking a bath. Instead, he thought it would be fun to watch the Wiggles while sitting butt-naked on the bathroom floor.

Fall Is Here! A Report by Brady Stack

Well, fall is here. Dada and I had to rake the leaves the other day. Actually, Dada did most of the raking, I did most of the playing. Do you like my new set of wheels that I got for my birthday? Its a pretty cool motercycle, except that I need to use my feet to get around and I haven't figured that out yet.

Let's see, what else has been happening...

I am getting better at walking. Now, I almost walk everywhere I go, but I still like to crawl from time to time. I'm also getting over a double ear infection. That wasn't too fun, but I'm finally starting to feel better.

Why I Hate Ear Infections

For almost two weeks now, Brady has had a terrible double ear infection. He's been to the doctor twice, and he has been on two different types of antibiotics to get rid of this nagging problem. The first one upset his stomach. The jury is still out on the second one. In the meanwhile, Brady hasn't been himself.

He cries for no reason, and won't stop until we pick him up and hold him.

He wakes up in the middle of the night and won't go back to sleep.

He has lost a good part of his appetite.

He's been on a fairly significant regiment of motrin and tylenol for the past two weeks.

I hope this goes away soon. I want my Brady back.

Argh.

I can't believe my baby is one!!! by Erica

The first year has gone by so fast I can't believe it. It's hard to believe that a year ago we had just brought Brady home and were getting acclimated to having a child in the house with us. Little did we know how much our lives were about to change for the better. So Happy Birthday Brady Michael, may your life be filled with happiness and love!

Brady is Officially Walking!

Happy Birthday Brady!

October 12, 2005: Brady Michael Stack was born at 6:26pm. He was 7lbs, 10 ozs.

As you can see, he's gotten quite a bit bigger, and he has almost learned how to walk. He just continues to surprise us every day. We love you Brady!

A New Microwave...and a Headache

After waiting ten minutes only to find out my leftover turkey dinner was still as cold as when I put it into the microwave to begin with, I thought to myself that my $40 Wal-Mart special microwave had finally S.T.B. So, Brady, Erica and I made a trip out to Best Buy tonight to scope out the latest in x-ray cooking. We settled on a nice LG sStainless-steal unit, seen in the picture to the left. We figured it would go nicely with our LG Fridge. I was lucky too, it was the last one there. I couldn't wait to get it home, set it up, and have my turkey dinner.

Wouldn't you know it though, upon opening it at home, I was shocked to find out that someone painted my new stainless-steal microwave white. I'll have to return it tomorrow.

Oh....and there is a reason they use the expression "cold turkey".... its not good.

Brady Takes On Soccer

Korea Anyone?

Ever want to visit Korea but didn't have the time? Want to learn more about the Air Force? If you think the guy in the picture is handsome, you should see his older brother!
But check out his blog anyway: He'll be updating it from the front line...the most heavily guarded one in all the world!

www.jasonstack.blogspot.com

Brady Takes on the Big "E", a report by Brady Stack

Last weekend, Mama and Dada took me to the Big "E" fair in Springfield, MA. Uncle David, Auntie Shanna, and MacKenzie went too. I have to say, I had a great time! Here were some of my favorite parts of the weekend:

1. I got to see some guy building Fenway Park and the Boston skyline completely out of playing cards!
2. I tried corndogs, funnel cake, maple walnut fudge, and chili in a bread bowl. Yum yum!
3. I watched MacKenzie ride a pony. She had been talking about it all weekend!
4. I got to stay in a nice hotel and I slept all night long.
5. I went to see Uncle David's sister's new camper. It sleeps eleven people! They even let me play with Gizmo and Dunkin (Papelbon), the two dogs. It was a lot of fun!
6. Dada and I watched some guy give a cooking show on how to make French omlettes.
7. Dada and I watched a presentation on the "wonder knife", which was only $19.99...I told Dada we should have bought it!
8. I tried to get Mama to go on this big roller coaster ride with me, but she wouldn't. Instead, we played some water gun game. I didn't even get a prize!
9. I got to see the six state pavilions. The worst one was Vermont..too many people. But they did have a Ben & Jerry's shop in it.
10. Finally, I got to see some of the Patriots Cheerleaders. Theyw ere signing autographs, but when I asked Mama if I could go meet them, she told me I was too young. Oh well, maybe next year!

Last of Summer Harvest

Well, the vegetable garden is done. You're looking at the last round of tomatoes and peppers...and we probably did this 7-8 times this year. Yep, we've been eating tomato soup, tomato sauce, stuffed tomatos, chili, tomato salad, and any other dish you could make with tomatos!

Brady Checks Out His New Car Seat

BradyVision Returns, Now With Sound!

Patriots Season Is Finally Here!

So Brady and I were having a heated debate today about the Patriots. I'm a little concerned that they have lost some talented players, and they might have a hard time in their conference this year. Brady was convinced that this would be their year. We both can't wait for our season tickets to come up, but that is a while away still. But no matter what, we both agreed, we're glad it is finally Patriots season!

Stack Family Update, by Brady Stack

Mama and Dada asked me to write the blog update this week to let you all know how we are doing. Let's see, I guess I'll start with Mama.

Mama has started a new job this week, working at Danville Elementary School. So far she says she likes it, although it is a lot of work. She got some great news today that we are all happy about. A couple months ago, her doctor was concerned that she might be developing breast cancer. The biopsy revealed this week that she is fine. Yeah!

Dada has been an assistant principal for a couple weeks now. It was very exciting to be a part of a school that was moving to a brand new building. His days have been busy getting caught up to speed on the school, learning the staff, and now, learning the faculty.

As for me, well what can I say? As you can see from the picture, Dada found me standing up in my crib today when he came to get me from my nap. He was mentioned something about having to lower the bed, but I don't know why. Right now, I think I might be able to escape from it! Oh well. Other than that, I am learning how to walk...I can actually take a couple of steps by myself before I tumble to the ground. I can't wait to see my new friend David soon....we're going to have so much fun together, I can tell.

Sleeping....ZZZZZZZ (another Erica post)

So even when you think that your child is sleeping through the night an dyou boast to all the other parents that he's such a wonderful sleeper, you have a night like last night. Brady decided to cry his heart out starting at 11:00 and everytime we went in and rocked him then put him back in his crib he would start all over again. Finally around 1:00 am I was able to put him down in his crib and he didn't wake up. Now one would think that because he was up so much that he would sleep in right? WRONG he decided to get up early 5:30am. All very reminicent of what it was like when he was younger. But in the end it really is all worth it!

It goes by too fast (by Erica)

As most of you all know P. Sophia had the baby. That has made Brian and I look back at the past 10 months with Brady. From the long labor to being in the hospital at 3 months old to now. I feel like it has only been a few weeks but in reality it has been 10 months. I look at my son in amazement, I love to watch him explore and see how he thinks. He's the happiest kid you'd ever want to meet and will engage you with his smile and his eyes. It is amazing how life changes and nothing is as important as your child. I cherish every moment I get to spend with him, one of my favorite times with him is when I bring him up to bed we sit and read a book, sing a song and rock for a while, It's such a peaceful time! My advice to any new parent would be to keep a journal of the big milestones. I haven't really kept a journal but I have been writing Brady letters on special days like Christmas or his baptism, or if I just feel like it. This helps me hold on to the memories just a little bit longer!

New Job

Tomorrow, I will be starting a new job. Yep, no more math teaching at Andover High School. I am now the new Assistant Principal at Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston, NH. Everything has kind of happened quickly...I got a call from the Supt. of Schools just last week asking me if I'd consider the job. I had never applied for it. I went for a tour of the school, met the principal, and found it to be a great match. I'm looking forward to the new challenges. Here are some facts on the school (that I know of):

700 students, 2 assistant principals, and a brand-new state-of-the-art high school that is opening this year.

Twins!

Quick...can you identify which baby is which?

Brady's First History Lesson

We took Brady out to see the sights and sounds of Plymouth, Massachusetts. We taught him all about the pilgrims, the famous rock, the Mayflower, and Thanksgiving. What was his response? A yawn. Oh well. We tried. Maybe he'll find math more interesting...

Bath Time!

Has Brady mentioned that he likes to take baths?

Brady Milestone Caught on Video!

I thought it was quite funny that when I put Brady on the hardwood floor today, he began to slide right across it effortlessly. I thought he might just learn to crawl after all. It was the perfect opportunity for a video, so I got out the camera. Now, he decided not to cooperate. But to our amazement, he did something even better. He actually sat up from a laying-down position. He's never done that before. And yet, we actually got it caught on camera. We couldn't have planned that any better!

Deer in Headlights

Brady was caught tonight "hiding-out" under his bouncy seat.