The Dad Tax Weekend in Review [If You Care]
The Weekend Review
I don’t and won’t always write a weekend review, but it was a busy Labor Day weekend. Plus, I am approaching the 1-month anniversary of the launch of The Dad Tax so I wanted to update on how August went.
It was a holiday weekend in the US. Labor Day to be exact.
The irony is that I still worked on my blog.
Let’s do the weekend run down.
Friday Night
It started Friday with some running around, and some running. Izzy (my 4-year-old daughter) was the flower girl at a wedding for the second time this year. We got another request for her to be the flower girl at another wedding.
I think I need to start charging for this.
These are the first pair of socks I got from my Sprezzabox subscription
Anyway, we had to get some last-minute stuff done before my wife’s cousin’s wedding on Saturday.
I am not a fan of last minute running around, so I tend to get a little cranky. Combined with Izzy just losing her cool in the mall and it made for a rough trip.
We almost always have a pizza dinner on Fridays, so we held true to that, but a little later than normal.
I was up late Friday working on the Dad Tax and a client’s website. Sounds like a fun Friday night doesn’t it!
Word of advice. If you like partying on the weekends, then don’t have kids and don’t own a business. That being said, I would not trade either of them for the world.
The family pet is a cat named Pickles. She is mostly black with a little bit of white on her chest and face. She has gotten out of the house once before and made her second escape on Friday.
It was not clear when she got out, but we know how. I had the basement door open to air out the basement. Izzy was off from school and opened the upstairs door to the basement, letting Pickles out.
Last time she got out she came back the same night. Not so on Friday. Isaiah loves this cat. It’s technically his cat. He was heartbroken before going to bed.
If you are a parent then you know the heartbreak of your child is also your heartbreak. I felt bad for him but it almost seemed as if he had a little bit of optimism too.
Saturday
Saturday mornings are really no different than any other morning in my house. The kids refuse to sleep past 7 am the latest.
Next morning still no sign of Pickles except for the fact that the food we left on the porch was eaten. We are not sure if she ate it or some other animal did.
We put out more food because she typically does eat in the morning. Nothing.
A couple of hours later I thought I heard meowing. Then I thought I was hearing things. Wishful thinking, I thought.
Then I heard it again. Pickles was on the outside edge of the kitchen window crying to come back in.
Isaiah was ecstatic. Pickles was home safe and sound. She slept the morning away. I guess she won’t be having children or owning a business.
I knew we had to leave by late morning, so I got up and did some more work on the Dad Tax. I was able to whip out a good amount of work before the real fun began.
I ran out to grab a few last-minute things before we left. We hit the road with a few pit stops that had to be made along the way.
The wedding was in Purchase NY which is in Westchester County. It borders on Connecticut which is where we live. On a good traffic day, it would take a little over an hour to get there.
There is no such thing as a good traffic day in Connecticut or New York.
We had to stop to get a crown for Izzy the professional flower girl. The place we needed to stop at was about halfway to the wedding in Bridgeport Connecticut.
We got there, got what we needed and hit the road again.
My wife had an appointment to get her makeup done at 1:30. By some miracle, we made it almost on time. We arrived at 1:34.
While she was getting her makeup done I was tasked with feeding my kids and my in-laws, plus bring my wife some food back. Oh, and I had 30 minutes in an area of New York I am not very familiar with.
Challenge accepted.
Mission failed.
I looked for a McDonalds on my GPS and found one not too far away. I am not a fan of McDonald’s (don’t expect me to have any promotions for them). I don’t like the feeling you have after eating their food and I know it is horrible for you.
I did bring my own lunch (An RXBar!).
I left the parking lot, took a right turn and promptly got pulled over for speeding. Seriously!!??
Now I am aggravated.
Get to the McDonalds that the GPS found, and it was in the middle of a downtown area with no drive-thru and no parking lot. Nope.
I was not about to search for on-street parking, unload the car and go eat at what looked like a run down McDonald’s.
I had to drive another 12 miles to find a McDonalds with a drive-thru.
An hour after I left I returned to the scene of the crime. My wife was still not done with her makeup.
Yep, that’s how things go as an adult. Now I am wishing I brought my Surface Pro with me.
A few minutes later she made her appearance ready to go. Thankfully it was a cooler day. We had just gotten through one heat wave and another one was approaching. You will see why that’s important soon.
Stop three was to get Izzy’s hair done and get her dressed for the wedding. It’s now approaching 3 pm and the wedding was supposed to start at 4:30 pm.
The hotel where the bridal shower was staying was only a few minutes away, and right down the street from the first McDonalds. You know, the one with no drive-thru or parking lot.
There was also no parking lot or street parking at the hotel. They had a garage for people staying at the hotel. We were not staying since we were only an hour away from home.
My wife took my daughter upstairs to the bridal party, and the rest of us waited..for almost an hour.
Finally, my wife appeared again, and we went to stop four. Time for us to very quickly get dressed at another hotel where some of her family was staying.
Imagine 7 adults and 3 children getting ready for a wedding in a hotel room and having to do so in 15 minutes or less.
Good times.
OK, now we head to the wedding. It was supposed to start at 4:30 and I really wanted to see Izzy walk. We arrived at 5:00 pm.
The wedding had not yet started. The good news is I did not miss Izzy walking down the aisle.
It started at almost 6:00 pm.
We sat and waited in the church with no air conditioning. Now you understand why it was a good thing it was cooler today.
The wedding and reception went on without a hitch. We ate, we danced, we laughed. Festivities started winding down around midnight. We had to make a quick trip back to the hotel we changed at and then headed home.
View this post on Instagram
Wedding flow. #mykids #flowergirl #flowergirldress #wedding #daughter #son #rollsroyce
We got home at 1:45 am and went to sleep. Well, the kids were already sleeping. Izzy slept during the reception but did keep me company for part of the ride home. Isaiah slept for a few minutes at the reception but then woke up once the music started.
He danced the night away! I guess he won’t be having children or owning a business anytime soon either. That’s good news!
Sunday
Guess who was up by 7 am the next morning. You guessed it. Izzy and Isaiah.
I finally decided to get out of bed at around 9 am, checked a few things and then off to church.
After church, we stocked up groceries. We buy most things in bulk, so we headed to Restaurant Depot and got a few other things at Target.
Do anybody else’s kids ask for things you know they will not eat but you still get it with a glimmer of hope that maybe they will try something new and like it?
Apple Pie was this week’s request. Fail.
Sunday afternoon and evening were spent trying to get caught up, and the temperature started to rise again.
Sunday was also my oldest daughter’s birthday. Izzy and Isaiah face timed Arielle to sing Happy Birthday. She’s a ripe old 23 now.
Monday
Labor Day. A holiday that marks the unofficial end of Summer in the US. This weather seems to think otherwise. Heatwave returned.
Most of Monday was spent catching up on, you guessed it, work. I spent a few hours goofing off with the kids and helping them with some of their extracurricular activities.
I also managed to get on the treadmill. If you read my previous blog post about getting back on the treadmill you know that I am trying to get back to where I was a few months ago.
I did a little better today. In total, I did 4.15 miles on the treadmill.
I finally had a chance to sit down and review what I needed to for my August results for thedadtax.com on Monday night.
Total traffic for August was 1127. Not bad for the first 20 days of a new blog.
Alexa Ranking finished at 94,624. Also, not bad.
I had some affiliate sales. In total a confirmed $4.47. I should have another $25 but I have not gotten confirmation on that yet. Might not seem like a lot but many bloggers go months without any earnings.
I grew my Twitter and Instagram accounts from zero to 185 and 553 followers respectively. I did not create a Facebook page but rather a Facebook group for the Dad Tax. It has 3 members so far.
I was also approached about a couple of sponsorships but neither of them seemed like a good fit for the site.
The blog will be a month on the 11th of this month.
I also recorded my SEOHackerz podcast but have not had a chance to edit it yet.
Tomorrow it’s back to coaching baseball with our first game of the fall season.
All in all a productive weekend with some fun involved. How was your weekend?
Congratulations on your 1 year. What an accomplishment. Keep up the great work and way to get back on that treadmill. I need to get on mine.