Matt Howell

Friday – Angie and I met in Muncie at the Blue Bottle and spent the evening Christmas shopping. We had dinner at Carino’s before returning home and watching the movie, ‘The Departed’. Really good flick.

Saturday – I woke up all gung-ho to work. Then the Boy Scout Office called reminding me of popcorn pickup. So, I jumped in the car and went into Muncie to pick it up. The kiddos came out around noon. We had lunch and then I had my daughter get on the phone with her friend to schedule plans for the evening. It was my daughter’s 11th birthday. Angie, my daughter and I drove to Mt. Summit to pick up my daughter’s friend, then drove into Muncie. The first stop was Angie’s present to my daughter which was to have their nails done. I left the girls there and went to Hobby Lobby. I’ve got an idea for the house and gathered the supplies. I picked up the girls and we headed into the Ball State Village stopping in to eat pizza at Greek’s. I forgot how good Greek’s pizza really is. Finally, it was time to go to the movie.

The girls were all giddy. We got to the Showplace 12 a little after 6pm. The movie was Ok, if I was 11. Anyway, the girls really liked it. They both ‘gasped’ at the ending. Back home, the girls went upstairs and Angie and I settled in with my oldest to watch a movie to off-set the teen angst we just watched. My youngest son was dropped off by the grandparents. He had a big night at the Monroe Central High School basketball game. He got to shake hands with ‘Boomer’, the Pacer’s mascot. We ended up watching ‘Quantum of Solace’, the latest James Bond film.

Sunday – I woke up and made breakfast for everyone which included Hot Chocolate with marshmallows, pancakes, french toast and eggs. For Sunday dinner, we went down to Nana and Papa’s for Lasagna birthday dinner for my daughter. Cake and Ice Cream was consumed and presents opened. After all that, we took my daughter’s friend back to Mt. Summit. My daughter and I went shopping at Wal-Mart for supplies before returning home to play ‘Picktureuka’, a birthday present. Once the kiddos were returned, Angie and I had dinner and then she headed off for Indy.

I picked up the kiddos around 9:30am. We came back home and prepared a few desserts for our Thanksgiving with the ‘Rogers’ family. We took off for Anderson around 11:30am. We arrived, we ate, we left. We stopped in at the Marcum family Thanksgiving and checked in with them as well. We made it back home around 4pm. A short nap ensued followed by a wake up call from my brother. We were down at my parent’s house by 5pm eating the second Thanksgiving dinner of the day. After the dishes were cleared and washed, my brother and sister-in-law came down to the farmhouse with their kiddos and we watched ‘Star Trek’, which was my brother’s birthday present from me.

On Friday, we went down to my parent’s house for a leftovers lunch, took a nap, then met Mark and Lori with their kiddos in Muncie with my kiddos and Angie for the ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ at the movies. Good times.

Friday – I arrived at the Parker United Methodist Church around 6pm. Boy Scout Troop 60 held a Merit Badge lock-in that night at the church. In between merit badge sessions, the boys played XBOX 360 and Wii. I was up until 2am and was up at 4am for a little bit, then got up for real at 7am. The boys didn’t sleep at all. The reason I was up at 4am was because they were wrestling upstairs and making an awful racket!

Saturday – Instead of sleeping the morning hours, I took the opportunity to work a bit on the computer. After picking up the other two kiddos and lunch, I did settle in for a short nap. Angie came out and we watched the movies ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Terminator 2′ after making some holiday gifts (candles and resin necklaces).

Angie and I arrived at the Cornerstone a bit early as we had to go and purchase some evening items for Angie before the reception started. We set up the DJ gear, gave it a test run then left to go and buy Angie some slacks for the evening. Back at the reception, they held the doors closed until 4:45pm. That was kinda strange. Anyway, the guests arrived and we started playing dinner music.

Once the wedding party arrived, we had a heck of a time pulling them all together to be introduced. After the introductions, I played the CD that was given to me for the background for the meal. The meal was prepared by ‘Pete’s Duck In’ and oh, so yummy. Once the cake was cut and toasts given, we let Joe and Angie have their first dance. We cranked up the music as they hit the 4 kegs and free wine that was provided. Things went pretty well all night. They even went an hour over! We loaded up and headed home arriving around midnight.

Friday – Angie and I had dinner at the farmhouse and watched the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. That was a good film, no wonder it won all those awards.

Saturday – I spent Saturday morning working on a postcard for the new Dirty Frog business idea I have. Angie’s company, Integrity, will be printing it for me. I also spent more time on the site tweaking the content and display.

The kiddos were picked up, lunch was consumed and then we invited my niece and nephew down to play at the house. Around 3pm, we loaded everyone up and went to the field where ‘Papaw’ was harvesting corn. We had a grand time playing in the wagons of corn. We walked in an already harvested field, then stopped by the ‘spring’ at Keith’s house for a drink.

In the evening, we went to the Muncie Civic Theatre and watched ‘Little Shop of Horrors’. The show was quite entertaining as it kept the attention of my 15 year old.

Sunday – After church, we went to my parent’s house for Sunday dinner. We had beef and noodles, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn. So yummy. Later in the afternoon, we all walked back to the woods. It was a nice relaxing afternoon.

Friday – The kiddos came over Friday night due to the holiday and we watched the movie ‘Coraline’.

Halloween – The kiddos spent their Halloween in Mooreland and bagged a lot of candy. Angie and I spent our Halloween shopping. First we had lunch at Chili’s because I had a gift certificate. Afterwards, we shopped at Kohl’s and picked out some pants and shirts for Angie. I had a free gift certificate for POM juice ($5.49 retail value) so we picked up a bottle at Target. Finally, we cruised the mall while it was preparing for ‘Mall-O-Ween’ later that afternoon. We ran into my coworker, Josh Brammer, and his family at the mall in the ‘Old Navy’ store.

That evening, Angie and I watched the ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ and ‘Interview with a Vampire’. So, I spent my Halloween with Brad Pitt. Kinda strange.

Sunday – Angie and I attended church at a new place called ‘The Gathering’ on the east edge of Muncie off of Ind. 28 and Walnut. We really liked it and will most likely return someday. After services, we headed to Anderson to have dinner with Angie’s mom at Texas Roadhouse. Back home, a lazy afternoon ensued followed by homemade enchiladas for supper. I received some DVDs through Real Television from National Geographic, so we watched ‘The Search for Shrunken Heads of the Amazon’.

Friday – Angie and I met up in Muncie at the Blue Bottle. Tom Green, owner of the Blue Bottle, gave me the grand tour of the new restaurant he and Andy will be opening in November. Angie and I headed over to the Muncie Civic Studio Theatre for the production of ‘The Rocky Horror Show’. My review: very entertaining! Afterwards, we went to Johnny Carinos for their ’2 Dine for $19.99″ special. We had salad, an entree and a mini-dessert for $25 bucks. Back home, we watched a little of the ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ on DVD to figure out a few parts that were driving us crazy.

Saturday – I spent the morning working on various things on the interwebs. Angie and I went to Winchester around noon for supplies from Wal-Mart. We picked up the older two kiddos at 6pm. My youngest was a bit under the weather. We made a homemade pizza for dinner and watched the 1982 classic,”TRON”. You gotta love Netflix! My daughter crashed out but the rest of us were wired so we watched the movie ‘Saw’.

Sunday – We went to church, came home for dinner then went to the Monroe Central High School for Dylan Turner and Justin Bailey’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor. The event went very well. Afterwards, we came home and chilled out for a bit before the kiddos went back to their mom’s. Angie and I enjoyed dinner then watched ‘Saw II’, again in preparation for ‘Saw VI’ in movie theaters.

At church, we were entertained by the group, ‘The Overtones’:

http://www.overtonesquartet.com/

It was homecoming, so a carry-in meal was provided after service. Back home, a short nap was procured while the kiddos played. Around 4pm, things kicked into high gear as the kiddos were returned and the DJ gear was loaded up. I arrived at the Delaware County Country Club around 5pm to set up for the wedding reception of Brandon and Tina Corder. The evening went well. The best part was the last half our when three girls from Ball State got crazy drunk and spun around on the dance floor. Quite entertaining!

Angie and I had ‘brunch’ at the iHop in Anderson before going to Wal-Mart for supplies. The kiddos were picked up and we spent the afternoon playing ‘The Simpsons Game’ on the XBOX. That evening, after dinner, we carved pumpkins. Lee Shockney came out for a visit. We spent the rest of the evening watching ‘The Terminator’ on Netflix (streaming). The kids loved it.

I was in Indy at SpinWeb for most of the day. That evening, Angie and I had our first dinner together at her new apartment and then we went to her sister’s house for a house concert. The headline artist was ‘Rosi Golan’.

http://www.rosigolan.com/

The opening act was a guy with his guitar singing funny ‘Bob & Tom’-like tunes. Next up was a 18 year old dude named Chase Coy. I liked his stuff enough to buy his CD. He reminded me of my 15 year old son in 3 years. LOL.

http://www.chasecoy.com/

I wasn’t expecting a night of awesome music, so I was delightfully surprised by the house concert. Very well done.