Group Thank you card

In the spirit of saving the planet, I will now post a group thank you note to all for my birthday gifts. Look at all the greenhouse gases I am saving by not buying paper, by not having the post office drive around and deliver the thank you notes (if I could only stop Daniel from emitting gases, it would really be a success).

So to the honor roll!

To Daniel, thank you for the gift of ah, a chain and string to keep me from losing my knife. And the cheese cake that you promised to pay me back for.

To Lisa, thank you for the gift of Monsters Inc.

To David, thank you for the nuts and the porcelian grate for the grille.

To Steve and Rachel and Ella, thank you for the movie Cars.

To Ben, thank you for hand made MG Midget repair book and the promised real MG Midget repair book

To Sandy, thank you for the sesame sticks and wasabi peas.

To Mom, thank you for the shirts

To Annette, thank you for the cheese cake and wallet.

To Judy, thank you for the basket of towels, sheets, underwear, and toiletries.

To Pearl, thank you for the naughty card and dollar bill in the card. Although you claim the card isn't naughty, it is my mind that is bad.

To Debbie, thank you for the cookies and the nuts that Judy thought were her's but were really mine (I ate some of them anyway).

To Janell and Andy, thank you for the....... wait a minute, thanks for nothing! oh yes, you said half of it is rolling around in your trunk, Janell. Thank you for the knowledge that half of my birthday present is rolling around in your trunk.

And to the rest of the world who sent me cards or may have given me a gift that I forgot to mention, thank you, thank you, thank you.

The air is cleaner, just sort of takes your breath away doesn't it?

The REAL presenting

alright David,

your idea for gift distribution is very...we'll say cute. However, I think some of us are wondering what really going on with gifting this year. We need to know who our person is so we have plenty of time to spend the allotted million dollars

Santa is in Muskegon now

HO!HO!HO! Santa is in Muskegon this weekend putting his Christmas list together and consulting with one of his best behaved helpers, me. I have volunteered to take a little load off the jolly old man by getting some Christmas gift ideas rounded up for him. So email me your Christmas gift ideas, please remember, Santa is trying to stay within budget this year, so around the 50 dollar range would work out well for him. Also keep in mind I have the authority to let him know who is naughty or nice, so some of you better change your ways.

Big Parties Celebrate 51st Birthday

For those of you out of the "in crowd" I'm posting pictures from my big birthday bash in Muskegon. I am just starting to recover from the excitement, hopefully I will be back in prime shape for Turkey feasting on Thursday. Put your reservations in early next year, and maybe you will be seeing yourself on the blog for the 52nd extravaganza.

Something to think about when gifting...

Some who write here may be inclined to wish there were some magical link between the # of posts started and the level of giftedness one has. I would like to point you to Matt 20:1-16. "For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. To them he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ "They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ "He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’ When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ "When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ "But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen."

In God's eyes, we all deserve the same no matter how long we've spent posting. I know we are all striving to lead more Godly lives, so I thought I should remind us of this parable.

Merry Christmas

Let the present-ing begin

I have already discussed this year's round of sibling Christmas gifts with most of you, individually, and the recurring concern that I heard from all of you could be summed up as, "may the most gifts go to the most gifted!" Although I have my own private reservations about this greed-oriented twist on Christmas, I will concede if this is what everyone wants.

The question that is on everyone's mind, I am sure, cuts straight to the heart of the matter: "Tell me, David, who is the most gifted? I need to know in order to allocate, from at least several paychecks, the necessary funds." As time is running short (only 37 more days to go until Christmas, by my reckoning; only 37 more days and a week to go, by mom's reckoning), I feel that the time is ripe for me to resolve this matter. Determining the giftedness of myself and my siblings is a difficult task - difficult in terms of impartiality and difficult in terms of Daniel - so I have chosen what seems to me to be an objective and fitting measure. The results, in magnitude of giftedness:

David (20)
Janel (19)
Rachel (10)
Daniel (8)
Steve (6)
Ben (5)
Lisa (3)
Andy (1)

I trust that most everyone can accept my judgment. For those of you who are harder to satisfy (I'm thinking of the bottom three, here), always raising objections and challenging every inconvenience, I realize that I will likely need to substantiate those figures. Very simply, they are tallies of how many posts each sibling has made to Barnhart Central, to date. I realize that the margins were razor-thin in places. Between Ben and Steve, for instance, I confess that calling Steve more gifted than Ben is not only highly dubious, but that the difference may ultimately be based upon polling discrepancies. In another close race, Janell and I would have been tied had I not had the judiciousness to compute this very post in my tally, mercifully sparing the family from a protracted runoff.

The above numbers do not necessarily need to translate into number of gifts, although I would not object to such a system. In fact, I highly doubt anyone would object to that idea, as even a low-scorer such as Ben would be receiving 5 times the amount of sibling presents than he did last year. The only real loser is Andy, but last time I witnessed his garage, it appears that he has already taken the liberty of gifting himself all year long. Perhaps the yule-tide season will stir charitable feelings in Daniel's heart, and Andy will receive some miscellaneous Star Wars bric-brac.

Photographic Evidence of Janell's Birthday Party

Exhibit A:

Announcing New Oil Change Joint

See our ad on the web at barnhartcentral.blogspot.com. We are new, and ready to take on any oil changes, especially Buick Century's. We are overstocked on Buick Century oil and filters, and are ready to deal. See us for your Buick Century oil needs, or we'll both lose money! If you own a Buick Century then----BE THERE!!!!

Genuine gift list updated for Mike

Below is my original gift list and is still in brand new condition, except for the fact that I obtained items 1 and 10 myself, it has never been used. So I convieniently removed items 1 and 10 and resubmit it for your buying pleasure.






I think Andy's idea of a gift list is a good one. You just never know when people are wanting to shower you with gifts, and it is rude to not have gift ideas readily available. I must admit that I haven't bothered to look at Andy's list yet- just too busy, but I hope everyone studies mine closely and takes notes if necessary. Last year I put out some really wild and expensive ideas, this year I will try to be more practical. Perhaps this will prove to be a more effective list.

2 Repair Manual for my MG Midget, I think it is a 1972
3 Repair Manual for my Ski-doo, it is a 1986 Safari 377
4 Leather or cotton work gloves, not expensive ones
5 New wallet
6 Garden hose
7 Speedometer for my bike
8 Mole trap to get rid of mole in yard
9 Adapter to play CD's in my car cassette player


I will keep adding to this as I think of more things. And just to absolve my guilt I will look at Andy's list right now.

The Annual Michael L. Barnhart Gift List

Says Mike:

I don't know why I'm even putting this list up, since I still haven't receieved the items on my last two lists; I guess I'm giving my children one last chance to get back in my will.

-Socks (the festive kind, with little Santas and reindeer on them)
-Some gift certificates to Hallmark. I really like shopping there.
-A couple old cars to work on
-CD's, preferably opera
-Lots of diet soda

Well, we'll see how much you guys love me. Don't say I didn't warn you when you don't get any of my riches after I die.

A few clarifications...

Due to recent speculation and rumors, it has become necessary for me to address a few issues which threaten to tarnish my good name. I do not wish to point the finger at anyone, however, Dad should feel especially ashamed of himself. Here, ranked by degree of grievousness, are my clarifications:

• An evening at the ballet does not signify snobbery, but rather humility and selflessness. (If you must ask me to prove this, you are beyond help.)
• If by demanding a birthday party you mean serving your family as a slave indebted to her masters, then yes, I am quite guilty.
  
• However, if you call "Celebrating Janell's Birthday" enjoying good food and throwing grand parties in her abscence, then it is in fact you who are guilty. I am of the mind to forgive and forget if I receive an additional Christmas present from all those involved in the aforementioned proceedings.

*As an aside, there was no confiscation of a memory card at the ballet...I may have been exaggerating just a bit, but only because after I looked over my post I was a bit embarrased by the lack of actual ballet pictures. He he...

Ella Turning into Quite the Little Lady (bug)

It works!

Ella dressed up as a Ladybug this week for a reason not related to any commercially-endorsed holiday. Here is a photo and a couple videos for you to enjoy. I think you'll especially like the second video.

The Ladybug Spin

The Ladybug Walk

A belated Halloween picture