Gowin Family Blog

Michael rode his bike to work today. Twice when Maura saw him come home, her first words were not her usual “Daddy!” or “Daddy’s home!” Both times she exclaimed, “It’s lika’ yeyow!” Wouldn’t you agree that’s the first thing you think of when you see him on his bike?

My kids are messed up.

I was home at lunch today. Suzanne had an appointment at noon so I fed Liam and Maura lunch. They started with steamed cauliflower then moved on to bread (Maura) and a PB&J (Liam), cheddar cheese slices, deli turkey slices, and some tortilla chips. About the time I think we’re all finished and ready to get down, Liam says, “May I have more cauliflower, please?”

I stared back with a blank look.

I told him it would take a few minutes to make some more. He was OK with that and waited patiently. When the cauliflower was done cooking, I shouted from the kitchen: “OK–who wants more cauliflower?”

They both replied: “I do!”

So they ate more cauliflower. As Liam’s chomping on the last bite, he says, “Dad, I’m still hungry. Can I have cauliflower?”

I was going to give him a cookie but, hey, if the boy wants vegetables, give him vegetables.

Today Suzanne and I are going to a “family plan” with our cell phone service.  Up to this point, we’ve only had one cell phone that we share.  Generally, who ever is going out of town takes the phone.  Since I’ve started up a business, though, I need a phone for the business so we’re adding another cell phone.  This raises the question: do we keep our land line, or do we “cut the cord?”

Liam “participates” in a church choir program.

Before Suzanne and I had children, I swore that we would have no Barbies in our house. Our girls didn’t need to have their identities influenced by that materialistic, narcissistic bombshell and her ilk. They’d get plenty of that drama in real life so they didn’t need it intermingled with their play as well.

Fast forward to six years later and I’ve got a house full of Barbies and Disney princesses. How did this happen?

Here’s one explanation: girls have been made to be beautiful and creative, thus they love anything that speaks to those innate desires. This is the angle that John Eldredge takes in his book Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul (I have referred to this as The Woman Book, in contrast to Eldredge’s first book Wild at Heart, to which I refer as The Man Book). Erin and her girlfriends often play “dress up,” putting on princess gowns, jewelry, and high heels (well, high for little girls). When Erin gets dressed for school or church, she’ll often ask, “How do I look, Dad?” or “Do I look pretty?” Sometimes she’ll ask Liam the same question and she gets upset when he says “no.” We explain that he doesn’t really mean that she’s not pretty, he’s just being a button-pushing little brother. Behind all this, Eldredge says, is the desire for a woman to know she is lovely. Proverbs 31 anyone?

At the same time, Liam keeps wanting to demonstrate his strength. He’ll pick up something and ask us to watch him do it. He’ll ask if me if I think he’s strong, and he’ll ask me if I’m strong enough to pick up certain objects. Just today we were doing some errands around town and stopped at the insurance agent’s office. There were some five-gallon water bottles on the floor. After considering them for a minute, Liam asked, “Can you pick those up, Dad?” I suppose so, I said. “Can you?” Well, not right now. “Why?” (Aside: always “why?”) Because I’m holding your baby sister right now (see, I’m already demonstrating my strength).

In The Man Book, Eldredge claims that a central question in a man’s life is, “Do I have what it takes?” Am I powerful, am I capable, am I competent? This, I think, is what Liam is beginning to explore at his almost four years of age.

So this is what Suzanne and I are trying to do, raise beautiful girls and strong boys who recognize that it is their Creator who makes them so. God help us.

One of my colleagues, John Castelein, is a cycling fan. We’ve enjoyed talking about the Tour de France the last few summers and followed Lance Armstrong’s wins and retirement with interest. OLN began broadcasting the TdF live and now covers just about all of the European spring road races. John has been recording these and passing the tapes on to me like a pusher to an addict. I’m watching races I never knew existed.

Last week I watched the Tour of Georgia. On one stage, a zealous rider made an early breakaway attempt but, as often happens, got caught by the peloton (main pack of riders) before the finish. Not only that, but this same rider ended up finishing the stage in last place, escorted by a “sweep truck” with whisk brooms affixed to its bumper. It’s a kind of cycling joke: the truck “sweeps” the last rider off the course.

At this point, I’m feeling like that guy.

My two MBA classes concluded tonight. I had a final exam in one and, well, nothing in the other; just had to sit through one group’s presentation and complete the instructor evaluation. One more day of teaching at LCC, a couple finals, and lots of grading. Then just sweep me off the course.

According to a recent study, full-time stay-at-home moms should be earning over $134,000 per year:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A full-time stay-at-home mother would earn $134,121 a year if paid for all her work, an amount similar to a top U.S. ad executive, a marketing director or a judge, according to a study released Wednesday…

Employed mothers reported spending on average 44 hours a week at their outside job and 49.8 hours at their home job, while the stay-at-home mother worked 91.6 hours a week, it showed.

According to the story, about 5.6 million mothers stay home with their children. So if they all were paid $134,121 annually, that would add $751 billion to the national economy (6.05% to the GDP).  My only question: who’s cutting the checks and where do we get in line?

Less than one week until classes are done.  My two MBA classes at UIS finish next Tuesday; LCC classes finish next Wednesday with final exams the following week.  I’m as giddy as anyone!

On the business front, 5customers made its first revenue today.  I’m not making tens of dollars yet–but all in good time.  I also received my first piece of mail addressed to “Coal Room Media” as well, my Visa checkcard from the bank.  Small as they are, these are milestones for me.

The school year is winding down so I’m looking for new things to do. Just last week, Liam and I went to the court house and filed a DBA (that’s a doing business as notice) with the county clerk. I’ve started a business, Coal Room Media, to handle my photographic and web publishing pursuits. Sites for those will be active soon.

As I mentioned over at the old blog, I’ve also started a site called 5customers. I’ll be writing about matters related to product offerings and customer service there. All in all, I’m pretty excited about these developments.