And a Child shall lead them...

I was impressed and humbled on Friday when my wife and I had a conversation with our 3 year old daughter after the donut party and MDA fundraiser. We had already had a family discussion for family night about what we were doing for the fundraiser and why we were trying to raise money. As we cleaned up the party and counted the money in the boot, I asked my daughter if she wanted to donate some change. She excitedly said yes and ran in to get her piggy bank. I helped her pull some money out and explained to her again why we were donating money. I asked her if she wanted to give a dollar bill and she responded with an enthusiastic YES! I started putting the rest of the money away and she said "Daddy, what did you do with the other monies?" I responded that I had put it away in the piggy bank. She looked at me and said, "I want to do another one. I want to give another one to the scientists." I pulled out another dollar and asked her if that was good. She said no. She ran in and got a second piggy bank where she keeps change I give her for helping me outside in the yard and pulled out more money until her donation equalled $5.68. I watched in wonder as my little girl counted her quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies until she had emptied her little piggy bank of all of her change and deposited each one by one into the boot.



It was a moment I will never forget. My little girl showed me once again the most important things in life are not things and made me a grateful father that God sent us such a sweet and generous spirit. We try to teach her what she needs to know to be a decent and polite person but I often feel that roles are reversed in these regards.

Halloween Donut Party was a Grand Success

Tonight, random people I know- starting with my parents (above) -showed up tonight to the donut party with "Kirk Chugg for President" shirts. If there is a novelty to be made, Karla Chugg can make it. Apparently many people are dissatisfied with their choices for president this election cycle. A lot of it has to do with my lack of media coverage. Not one reporter has even called me for an interview. My campaign manager (mom) has started a little late this year on the advertising but hey I just announced my candidacy a couple days ago so I think she's doing a nice job.

The donut party was a Muscular Dystrophy Association fill the boot fundraiser. We were honored to have my friend Ryan Berube here to support us. Ryan's been a hero for many people with this disease and for us who don't. Ryan's an inspiration to us all. It was awesome that he stayed the whole time.

The fire fighters had three calls to go to before coming up to the house but they got there with their sirens and all just before the donuts ran out. Thanks to my good friend Jeremiah Jones of North View Fire Department for helping us out. We were able to raise $200 dollars to give to MDA. Thanks to all our neighbors and friends for their donations and friends and family that helped put on a huge production for our little family. Carin made about 250-300 donuts. That is not an easy thing to do with two babies and a three year old. Good work to you!

After hovering over a boiling lake of oil for 2 hours, Carin says I smell like a giant donut tonight. Perhaps that is a compliment. She loves a good doNUT and I guess I've smelled worse so I'll take it.

The first near fatalitiy of the Halloween Season....

So I have to admit tonight I am pretty proud of myself. When we remodeled the house about a year ago, we bought all new appliances and made the monthly sales quotas for the wonderful people at Boyle's Appliance Center. However, our new dishwasher had some problems. Boyles sent out a nice young man that fixed our dishwasher a total of four times. At this point the dishwasher wasn't even old enough to be dirty let alone be on it's 3rd motor replacement. We may have gotten a lemon I don't know. Boyle's did a good job at servicing the sale and we will always buy our appliances there-just probably not another Amana.....I digress.

So tonight, the terrible deep and diabolical growl that would wake a bear from hibernation manifested itself once more. The first 4 visits were under warranty but after the first year we are all alone for the bill. Every time I watch these guys work on my appliances I kick myself for not having the gumption to tear the thing down myself. I think of myself as a pretty handy guy....

So, I decided that I would try to fix it myself tonight. I torn the whole thing apart, down to the motor and found our little friend the pumpkin seed. We carved our pumpkins for the party tomorrow night and apparently a couple slipped in the dishwasher. Who knew a little seed could make such a ruckus?! So here I sit, with no extra screws, plastic parts or major injuries feeling so very proud to add a project to my very short list of projects that have gone as planned with no swear words or midnight trips to Home Depot.

Can I pay you to get me lost?

Call me crazy-Call me a party pooper-Call me sensible but what is it with corn mazes? I have never once been in a corn maze and thought to myself..."Man, I sure and glad I did this", let alone, "I sure am glad I paid money for this." I don't see the draw to be honest. Perhaps some of you could enlighten me as to why people do this. What happens when you have to pee? That's right, I don't see any porta potties in the corn maze-only at the start/end. Another reason to stay on the trail.

Haunted Houses are also on my question mark list. Carin won't go because they scare her too bad and she pees her pants (she has had three kids) but for me, being scared is all about being scared when I am not expecting it. Like when someone sneaks up on you when you're jamming on the ipod while vacuuming the house. Then I pee my pants. To pay people to try to scare me, when I know that any moment they will jump out at me with a Styrofoam chainsaw is so not scary. Yet again another wonderful use of coin.

Please join us on Halloween Night

Carin and I have wanted to do something that would make a difference outside our little bubble world in which we live so comfortably. When we moved into our house four years ago, we started a fun tradition of making homemade donuts for Halloween and having that be our treat for trick-or-treaters. We even pulled it off 8 days after the twins were born with the help of family and friends. I know....I know...it goes against everything you try to teach your kids about not accepting homemade treats or anything unwrapped. The fact was we know most everyone that comes to our house and they know how hard it is to try and get a razor blade into a hot spudnut.... We were sick of the boys and girls that looked like they had just shaved their beards or had a boob job coming to collect their "welfare candy". We also thought it would be fun for the parents to look forward to on Halloween besides kids hopped up on pure cane sugar. It has been a success but we are going to add something new this year.

We have invited the North View Fire Department to come up to the house and "fill the boot" for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I have a dear friend that I have known since childhood that suffers from the disease and we want to help in some way eradicate this nasty disease. Since we are not scientists, this is it. Plus I know the firefighters quite well...you see they visited my home quite frequently last year...a dangerous drop in blood pressure from Grandpa, a Carbon Monoxide scare from a bad water heater and me falling 10 feet off a ladder and landing on my back in the car port all within about 3 months of each other. We got acquainted quite well. Hopefully they will be able to bring up the fire truck for all the kids to see. I know there was nothing cooler than a fireman when I was a kid. We invite you to come and enjoy the evening with us with a donut and hot chocolate. We will have additional plates of donuts for sale and all the money will go to the boot. If you are coming we ask you to RSVP so that we know how many donuts to make. Last year we did around 200 and they were gone by 7:30. Email me at schatzi53@gmail.com if you can come and for directions.

The most originally costumed family will get a full plate of donuts to take home!

PS. If you don't know us personally and you are reading this...first of all that's creepy and second of all please just send your check made payable to MDA. Thanks!