Fri. 2/3/12 :: Demanding Movie Watcher

Since we have TiVo units on the TVs in the family room and master bedroom, the TV in Mark’s office is the only one that has a fully functional cable box. So it’s the only one that is able to access the “on demand” programming. Kaylee often goes out there to catch episodes of her favorite shows. Tonight she curled up and watched the Disney movie “The Color of Friendship”. This area is pretty multi-cultural, and she really doesn’t think in terms of race, so I think she found the premise a bit odd, but she said it was a good movie.

185/365 – Mon. 7/4/11 :: Patriot Games

We celebrated the 4th with a family game night. This is the same Dungeon game that Matthew and Kaylee were playing the other day. Afterwards, the kids shot off party poppers in the back yard (a bit to dark for decent pictures), and then later we watched some nearby fireworks from the front porch. :)

184/365 – Sun. 7/3/11 :: Magical Gathering

There was a magic convention in town this week. While Mark didn’t attend, he did help out with a few rides to/from the airport, catch a few shows, and just go hang out with friends a few evenings.  He invited a few people to the house for lunch when it was over. Here Kaylee and Matthew are dining with living legends Johnny and Pam Thompson, but all Kaylee was concerned about was Pam’s little dogs who were anxiously watching them eat from the nearby couch.

There was also just some general hanging out as Mark showed some of his prize collectables to fellow collector Chip…

and Johnny gave some lessons to Chip’s student who’d accompanied him to the convention.

‘Twas a lovely afternoon. :)

183/365 – Sat. 7/2/11 :: Dungeon Duo

Mark dug out this old “Dungeon!” board game for Matthew to check out for ideas for his project. Matthew loved it and talked Kaylee into playing with him.

She actually enjoyed it too, and they played peacefully together for a good chunk of the afternoon.

164/365 – Mon. 6/13/11 :: Magnetically Mesmerized

Matthew, playing with some very strong magnets of Mark’s… another favorite non-toy that gets a lot of playtime around here. :)

127/365 – Sat. 5/7/11 :: Meet Roger

One of my least favorite recent additions to Mark’s magic collection, Roger stands in the corner of the guest room, sporting souvenir attire from previous guest magicians or other magical friends – a hat from Fielding West, John Calvert’s pajama top, a convention name badge from Roger Klause, a bent spoon bracelet from Alain Nu, and, because I insisted that he have pants, Mark’s own tuxedo pants.

It’s taken me weeks not to jump every time I pass by. I see him out of the corner of my eye and keep thinking someone is standing there! :b

121/365 – Sun. 5/1/11 :: Putting a Rabbit Into a Hat

Random “stuff around the house” shot.  The bottom half of this rabbit-in-a-hat is a cookie jar that Mark has had forever. When we remodeled our kitchen a few years ago, I put the top half of the cookie jar up in a “safe” place (a high shelf in a cabinet), and I ended up accidentally breaking it later, bumping it when I went to get something down. The broken pieces are still in on Mark’s dresser waiting for an attempt at repair. In the mean time, this fluffy rabbit puppet gets to enjoy having big ceramic feet. :)

117/365 – Wed. 4/27/11 :: The Princess and the Frog

More items from our excavation of Kaylee’s room… a Minnie Mouse princess lamp that she got as a birthday gift a few years ago, and a stuffed frog that was Mark’s once upon a time.  It was a totally unplanned coincidence that these ended up on the coffee table together. :)

93/365 – Sun. 4/3/11 :: Signs of Sunday

Typical Sunday – newspaper piled on the floor after Mark finishes reading and clipping coupons, while Kaylee will have wandered off somewhere with the comics. :)

89/365 – Wed. 3/30/11 :: Mini-Mark

As one of the few spots he can sit comfortably with his back hurting, Mark has spent a lot of time in this chair with the laptop over the last few days. When Matthew needed to use the laptop for his homework, he promptly announced, “Look! I’m Daddy!” :)

73/365 – Mon. 3/14/11 :: Things Are Getting Dicey

Spring Break Day 1. Mark had a job interview in the morning, and then it was a gamey afternoon again. This time the girls played Chutes & Ladders while the boys played Magic The Gathering. The grown-ups won all around. :)

49/365 – Fri. 2/18/11 :: Houdini Hobnobbing

Mark went to a magic collectors’ meeting tonight at the home of Arthur Moses, author of “Houdini Speaks Out”.

[No idea who actually took the photo, but it was on my camera, so I figure it’s fair game. ;) ]

41/365 – Thur. 2/10/11 :: Admit Four

Mark is producing a workshop on Sunday for magicians Jeff McBride and Eugene Burger, who are in the area doing a few events. As part of the deal, he got us tickets for their show at a college about an hour north of here. It was a terrific show, far exceeding my expectations. My favorite part of the performance was when Jeff did a routine with a young boy from the audience. I haven’t laughed that hard in ages. My favorite part of the entire evening though was when Matthew, shortly into one of Jeff’s first tricks, excitedly said to me “best magician EVER … next to Daddy”. :)

38/365 – Mon. 2/7/11 :: Magic Code

Lots of time lately working on a new website for the Dallas Young Magician’s Club. Mark and another guy revived the group a few months ago. In the interest of time, I started with a template provided by our web host. Not sure I actually ended up saving a whole lot of time in the end after trying to wade through the code and make it do what we needed, and I can definitely see overhauling it when time permits to allow it to be updated more easily, but everyone seems to be happy with it for now. :)

27/365 – Thur. 1/27/11 :: Wigging Out

Not sure what possessed Kaylee to put together this little number. The wig is from an old Daphne Halloween costume, and the Achy Breaky Heart hat is one she snagged from Great-Grandpa’s hat collection while we were visiting last summer.

Look number two is an old hat of mine from college (it was the ‘80’s and did not originally have that shape LOL), and a clown wig Mark used to wear back in the day when he did magic shows for kid’s parties. :)

23/365 – Sun. 1/23/11 :: Go Wide

I wanted to catch a shot of the Packers winning the NFC Championship, and had to go wide, since my zoomed in ones of the TV weren’t turning out. I’d planned to pick a shot to crop, but I realized this one also shows a nice chunk of our regular life that doesn’t often get captured in photos – one small part of the continually evolving chaos that is Mark’s magic room. That would be his foot and knee in the foreground, where he was sitting in his broken armchair to watch the game, letting the kids have the use of the family room TV. What a generous dad. :)

As a born cheesehead though, I also have to show a more team-spirited shot. Go Packers!!!

1/365 – Sat. 1/1/11 :: Kumla King

My Project 365 for 2010 fell apart in September, and then completely disintegrated in October, as life just got in the way. I did take some pictures here and there, which I may (or may not) go back and insert later, but for now, we’ll just pretend nothing happened and continue on. ;)

Christening our new year is a shot of Mark getting ready to dish up some kumla for Matthew.  Kumla is a Norwegian potato dumpling, in our case eaten with ham and generous slabs of cold butter. Mark makes these once or twice a year, usually on his birthday. This year (technically last year) his dad and step-mom brought along freshly imported Iowa pork chops for us to enjoy, and then we went north for Christmas, so it got postponed to today. (The kumla, not the birthday.)

Don’t these gray lumps of stuff look appetizing? ;)

Mark, of course, loves them, and Matthew decided he liked them too.  They’re not my favorite, but with enough butter they’re not bad. Kaylee liked her first taste, then thought better of it, and had a hot dog instead. :)

Day 195 – July 14, 2010 :: Impending Insulation

Mark decided we needed more insulation in the attic, so he headed over to Lowe’s to pick up 100 bags and borrow their blower.

The kids “helped” unload the four van-loads.

All prepped and ready for the next morning. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

We had no idea what we were in for. LOL

Day 131 – May 11, 2010 :: The Guest Book

The last evidence of our weekend guest magician, who has departed for his next lecture.  This book contains a photo and signature (and sometimes a more lengthy note) from every magician who has spent a night in the “Jensen B&B”.  Not all the lecturers stay here – some are local or stay with other friends or family in the area, some have had to head immediately on to their next engagement, and a few have opted to stay in hotels.  The first guest was 10½ years ago, when we filled in for the previous lecture coordinator who was unavailable to host. It was a long while after that before the next one, but two dozen more have passed through here since Mark began coordinating the area lectures over four years ago.

It’s been an interesting experience to welcome these unique individuals from all over the world into our home. Most have come alone; a few have brought along a friend or spouse. They have had all manner of personalities, from loud and boisterous to very quiet and reserved.  They’ve ranged in age from 21 to 97.  A few have been a little full of themselves; most have been very down to earth. Sometimes Matthew and Kaylee are in school or in bed pretty much the whole time the guests are at the house. Of those who have been around to meet and spend time with them, some have embraced the opportunity to entertain the kids, and others have not quite known what to do with themselves around the pint-sized alien beings. 

Not one of them has fit into the stereotypical “magician” persona. Any pre-conceived notions I may have had about how a magician should talk or act have gone out the window.

I initially agreed to do this to make Mark happy… and he’s in seventh heaven getting to hang out with these guys, show off his collection, and talk magic until the wee hours of the night… but I never thought I’d enjoy it too. While some of the guests have been a mere blur in and out of the house as the event schedule kept them hopping, I have sat and had intriguing conversations with others.  I’ve been privileged to be given private magic shows at my kitchen table. On my birthday one year, one guest insisted that the group of magicians present for lunch sing to me, as I blew out a candle on the cake one of them had coincidentally brought along. It has taken a long while for me to get comfortable with the whole hosting thing, but I’m finding that I’ve actually come to look forward to these visits as well.  It’s been quite a time. :)

Now if I could only figure out some way to magically clean the house before they arrive. ;)

Day 111 – April 21, 2010 :: A Horse of a Different Color

Mark’s latest addition to his magic collection. Why, you may ask, does a ceramic painted horse from the Shiloh Horse Rescue belong in a magic collection? Well, because it’s a hand-signed replica of the original life-sized Painted Pony by actor and artist Tony Curtis.  And… um.. so?  And Tony Curtis starred in the title role in the 1953 film “Houdini”!

Oh… of course!   So… a horse, of course.   tee hee :)