A Year of Change

First off, here’s a couple of comments from two of our most loyal posters, Grandma Annette and Aunt B, thanks,

1. Annette says:

   January 3, 2013 at 5:12 pm

   I would like to get another dog sometime soon and the usual loose weight and stay healthy.

   Reply
   • dbf says:

     January 4, 2013 at 2:05 am

     Get a rescue lap dog:-)

     Reply
2. Blondie says:

   January 3, 2013 at 5:25 pm

   Enjoy more fun times with good friends and family…. of course, be healthy and happy and get a new job that I really like and am passionate about instead of just working to work! Any ideas?

   The misses is the one who said, “get a rescue dog” and as for Aunt B, we thought you just got a new job? If you really want to do something you’re passionate about, do your own thing. Design purses or doggie clothes or whatever makes you happy. Make that husband of yours get up off some of his cash and start a business! You can do it and it would give you renewed meaning to your life, a new chapter if you will. What have you got to lose? We say, go for it! We’ll help and support you in nay way we can.

   Yesterday was another work day followed up with dinner at our friends house as it was National Spaghetti and Meatball Day. Apparently today is National Pancake day and tomorrow is National Take a Bath Day. Who knew? Not me. Anyhow we hadn’t seen our friends for a few weeks as they had family in for the holidays. We left by about 9 and headed home for bed.

   Today we will get some work done around here and then we have a couple of football games to catch, whoo hoo! That’s about it, here’s the misses to tell you about the colors outside with her wonderful descriptive words. Have a great weekend and God Bless.

   The youngest was up most of the night not feeling very well.  I hope he feels better today…it’s heart wrenching not to be able to do anything. He is up with us and still not feeling up to par. Looks like we will have to cancel his play date today, and his sleepover tonight. Bummer!!

   The Mr. is on his way to the gym and I am about to cook up a batch of white rice for the youngest to eat. Today I’ll be serving the B.R.A.T. diet.  Bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast….food for kiddos with upset tummies. Hopefully this food will work to settle our guys tummy.

   Maybe tomorrow for “descriptive words”….this morning I am a bit foggy from lack of sleep and my vocabulary is buried deep within my mind,  So, until tomorrow.

   God Bless and Grama Eleanor we can’t find any comments….are you there??

Good morning. The Mr. is at the gym, the babes are sleeping and the big dog is howling for his pack (us). He doesn’t want to leave his frozen domain for the warm inside.

I took the boys to Jump Street, a trampoline place filled with at least 200 of their closest friends. Ugg!  We were there for 2 hours…they jumped, played dodge ball and had a few “goes” on the mechanical bull.  They had a blast playing dodgeball…not so fun for mom to watch. The mechanical bull riding was fun to watch, as was the flips they did on the trampoline.  Our friends want to go today…we’ll see.

Our friends from Vail were down for an appt. and stopped by for a glass of wine.  Rik’s mom is visiting from New Jersey and wanted to see the boys and us.  The last time she saw them the kiddos were 2 and 4.  She was really surprised at how grown up they are.  They were playing upstairs and it sounded like there may have been 15 to 20 kids stomping around.  I am going to have to invest in a couple of area rugs…hardwood floors just echo every step or “thump” and the sound just resonates through our house.  Rugs will have to go on the to do list….maybe a trip to Ikea is in store for our family this weekend.

Here is the Mr. to finish up….

Ok, first off, no way we’re going to Ikea on a weekend, we made that mistake once, never again. It’ll be 40 degrees or so today and I have some work to finish up before the weekend, then more on Monday and Tuesday before leaving for Italy next Wednesday.

The misses head is killing her today after a so so day yesterday. Sooner or later, we hope and pray, this has to stop.

I haven’t said much about the economy for a bit but this administration doesn’t have a clue! They just pushed through a Fiscal Cliff package that adds $ 4 TRILLION dollars to the deficit and doesn’t cut spending by a single penny. Are you kidding me? They think they can just print and print money as they want with no consequences. Many noted economists say the Big O is doing this so that the economy will crash or “reset” giving him the power to install anything he wants through Executive Order. I’m telling you, get ready as shit’s coming down. Food prices will go higher, inflation will hit, socialism is on the way and those not ready are going to be in trouble. This isn’t me talking but Nobel Prize winning economists to 4 Star Generals (yes that are democrats) to respected retired congressmen and senators like Alan Simpson from Wyoming. I tend to listen to the retired guys more as they have no agenda, or in other words, are not in perpetual campaign mode like everyone currently in Congress.

How about Al Gore yesterday selling Current TV to Al Jezerra (the terrorists newspaper promoting jihad and Islam worldwide) and putting $100 Million dollars in his own pocket. Thankfully Time Warner (the network that broadcasts Current TV) immediately dropped them saying they will not broadcast them. How hypocritical of a former Vice President to line his own pockets to promote the agenda of America’s number one enemy. Nice, real nice.

If you don’t get any of this by now, you probably never will but we’re running out of time. We cannot continue to spend and spend money we do not have! Get ready to pay the bill as it’s you and I that will be doing so.

Good luck and God Bless,

It’s January 3rd and we’re back in the thick of it. We over sept this morning and the misses and I both need to leave in 59 minutes for a meeting across town, so todays post will be real short.

We didn’t hear from anyone on any life changes or things you want to do. Maybe you were all too busy thinking about it. Hopefully we’ll hear from some of you today.

Time to run, the balls in your court, send us some news! Take care and God Bless.

Here we go, another year, more work, back to your same old routine, or are you? I was talking with Grandma Dixie yesterday who said how much she liked the new year and Mondays as it’s always a fresh start. With that being said, what plans do you all have for the New Year? Are any of you making any changes or is it just another day. As people we are conditioned to react to certain dates and no one is bigger for changes than January 1st. I always have to laugh as the most crowded day of the year at the gym is January 1st. From then on it slowly becomes less and less packed as people give up on their resolution to work out. I think the trick here is, unless you have an incredibly strong will, is to make small changes in your life that you can actually stick to. So if anyone has any changes they’re making here in 2013, let us know!

This morning everyone is still sleeping and I woke up, fed the dogs, made coffee and hit the computer. So far, all’s the same for me. I have a bunch of work to do today (the same again) and then will try to find something the boys want to do if they’re feeling better. The oldest slept most of the afternoon but seemed to be coming around after dinner and was getting back to his young self. The youngest, showing solidarity, seemed to have every single pain the oldest guy did. Hopefully both will be all better today. I did make it to the gym and am really sore today so I think I’ll take the day off.

Lots of changes coming to our Country this year from our self serving politicians all in the name of doing so for our own good but I’ll save that for another day. Just do yourself a favor and think for yourself, enough said on this one. Hopefully there won’t be some huge natural disaster as our politicos cause enough harm for us.

Grandma’s Wisconsin Badgers lost yesterday to Stanford in the Rose Bowl and we feel so bad for her. She had on her Wisconsin prep jacket I had bought her years ago when I dropped some navy bean and ham soup for her lunch. Hopefully the Green Bay Packers will do better this weekend.

In closing, 2012 sure went fast. It seems the older you get, the faster the time goes. I laugh when the kids say they wish they were older. So if nothing else, plan one thing to do this year you hadn’t planned on doing. Take a trip, take up a new hobby, learn a new language, something, anything, spice it up as when todays gone, it’s gone and you can’t get it back, same with the year, you know what I mean.

God Bless.

As we begin the third year of our blog, some of us (the kids) have grown up while others of us (the rest of us) have grown older. We hope someday the kids can look back and read these 726 posts and counting, and remember things they might have normally long ago forgot. We’re all so fortunate for all the things we have in life. By things we don’t mean “stuff” but rather our friends, our health, a roof over our heads, our pets and most of all, each other, our family. We pray that all of us have a healthy and happy year starting today. We as a family are so looking forward to 2013. Yes our bills and some health issues will come along with us but there’s something about the first day of a new year that gives you the hope and strength to tackle even the most challenging problems. So let’s all saddle up and ride head on into the new year with renewed hope, confidence and the vigor of our youth, as if you look hard enough, I promise it’s still there. Age is just a frame of mind.

Yesterday we finished taking down all the Christmas decorations inside and hauling them up to the attic. Mom made some great meatloaf for dinner and we tried to keep the youngest calm hoping his stomach virus was gone. He seemed to be ok for most of the day but neither boy wanted to eat much. By the time we were ready to go to bed, the oldest guys stomach was hurting him and the misses and I also were feeling a bit queazy. We all headed to bed to read and watch a little tv or read and all of a sudden we heard the oldest one throwing up in is room! Mom rushed in and helped him to the bathroom while I grabbed the trash can we luckily put next to his bed and took it downstairs to clean it out. I almost got sick myself while cleaning the can out a did the misses while cleaning up his blankets and floor. We managed to get him into the spare room and all his sheets and blankets into the wash. Right after that, it started all over with him getting sick again! We  did the whole clean up routine for the third time in 24 hours and got him back into bed hoping that was it. Thankfully it was and we all slept the rest of the night. My Mom did call just before midnight to wake us so we were up for the New Year. I don’t know how she stays up that late.

I slept until 5:30 when I heard some rustling downstairs. I instantly knew it was Lacey getting into something. I flew down the stairs to find the pantry doors open (they slide and we have no idea how she opens them?) with the large container of flour the misses put on top of the dates moved off and to the side and the dates open and right out in the middle of the floor for her to feast on. I think I managed to get there before she ate too many. It’s getting really old being woken up by her every night to go out or because she’s into something.

Right now we’re all on the couch with the boys and Mom watching Babe, a movie about a pig that wants to be a sheep dog. I think I’ll head to the gym and we were going to try to make a movie today but we’ll have to see how the boys feel.

So, once again, Happy New Year and let’s make 2013 the best year ever. 13 by the way is not an unlucky number. That’s a big misconception. Google it! Take care and God Bless.

Oh yea, here’s a comment from Grandma Annette,

Tomorrow is the first day of 2013 and we sure are looking forward to it! Looking back, our biggest challenge has been the misses health. We’re sure next year will bring relief to her. Now some good things have happened this year so it wasn’t all bad. First off, work was pretty good, we switched to a new accounting system that basically meant we had 10 months to do 12 months worth of sales and we pretty much got it done. Next up, Peyton Manning and the Broncos. Some people will say it’s only football, but the good feelings you have when your team is doing well, are well, priceless. Next up, both boys had a year of growing and learning and did very well in all areas of being 8 and 10. We had some fun trips, all domestic this year that included the ranch in Wyoming, camping in Steamboat and the oldest and I hunting. So we’re thankful for all the good things in our life throughout the year and looking forward to a new beginning starting at 12 midnight tonight.

Now last night we ran downtown to The Kitchen, which is a great farm to table restaurant, for dinner. The youngest wasn’t feeling too well on the way but seemed fine once we arrived. Turns out around midnight, he woke up throwing up all over our room! It seems for the last month or so, lots of people around here (in our neighborhood and school) have had this stomach virus similar to the Norovirus you hear about on cruise ships. So when I woke up, I took clorox wipes and hit every door handle, the computer, all the remotes, and bathrooms. He apologized for getting sick in our room and felt so bad. I’m going to do all I can do to stop it from spreading through the entire family but everyone we know that’s had it, has had it family wide.

Yesterday the misses took the boys to a movie while I was occupied with the trouncing of the Kansas City Chiefs by our aforementioned beloved Broncos. I did manage to get through my sock drawer last night, cleaning it out for the new year. I have a conference call this morning and then some organizing around her for the fresh start tomorrow. I’ll start with my office.

It snowed lightly early this morning and is supposed to be really cold, like 15 or 20, for the whole day. I went out barefoot for the paper as it doesn’t much bother me.

In closing, we hope everyone has a great evening and an even better 2013! We like to (as our blog is named) try to implement life changes rather than go for a resolution that we’ll never be able to keep. As a family, we’ll all sit around today and come up with things we want to do next year and changes we want to make. It’s fun and helpful to have all of us, kids included, on board.

Before I go, here’s a comment from Grandma Annette,

Good morning…if you can believe it I am the first one up and it is 7:20 a.m. Outside, the air outside takes my breath away.  I only opened the back door to let the big dog out and Burrrr.  The sky is a gorgeous blue with wisps of white, pink and gold strewn across the horizon. Beautiful!

Both pups are now snuggled in for the morning. Lacey on her cozy bed and Mojo warming my feet. The Mr. is stirring and soon will be downstairs.  He asked for one last birthday gift…that I get up first with the four legged clan to feed them.  “Thank you” my sweet pets for sleeping in.

Yesterday we ran errands for the boys to get the games they wanted from Grandma D and Pa Don. One of the games is Harry Potter Book of Secrets.  The game has a camera connected to the T.V. and it transports the boys image into the television where they explore and perform spells.  The technology is unbelievable and the kiddos had so much fun.

At 1:30p.m. Grandma came over for green chili and the Mr.’s family birthday party.  Uncle T. and Auntie B. were soon to follow.  The Mr. opened gifts and then came the birthday song and pineapple upside down cake.  The family left at halftime of the Syracuse and W. Virginia game.  The boys came down for lunch and then ran back upstairs during gifts…back down for singing and cake.

We were ready to go to our friend’s for an early New Year’s/Birthday dinner celebration….I was not happy with my wardrobe and made a last minute change, still we made it to the party on time. We were quite excited to meet a new person that was coming to the party, as he is from Scotland.

I called Gram Annette earlier in the day to find out any details she could give me on the MacInnis Clan castle.  During our conversation she told me the family crest was a bee and a thistle and she thought it had recently been changed to a strong arm and an arrow. The castle is actually more of a tower with narrow rectangular windows to shoot arrows from. All very interesting and quite coincidental that she mentioned the crest, since I didn’t ask about it and it randomly came up in our conversation.

Back to the dinner party…..We arrived shortly before the rest of the guests.  I put the German Chocolate cake out on a lovely cake plate and the Mr. opened wine to decant for dinner.  The home looked amazing, candles aglow and Andrea Bocelli’s songs flowing throughout. We were mingling with few of our friends and then the Mr. made rounds to converse with the 2 new couples. (I am still getting used to not drinking the first few sips of “ice breaking” cocktails/wine that make meeting new people sooo much easier).  Anyway the Mr. waved me over and said I had to talk with Hamish the Scotsman.  Hamish and I started chatting and I told him what I new of the Castle.  I told him the name MacInnis and he looked so surprised.  It turns out that his middle name is “Innes”…he then asked if I new the clan crest. I told him that it was the bee and the thistle and he held up his clan ring….which by the way the clan protects wholeheartedly.  Yes, it was the bee and the thistle. Unbelievable!  He said the chances of this chance meeting were truly unimaginable.  Hamish and Lindsey are heading to Italy in January and the Mr. is “hooking them up” and yes we are going to plan a family adventure to Scotland with their help…

The dinner was fantastic! We all had so much fun. Everyone told a short story about how they met our Hostess…some of the stories should be made into movies…We’ll elaborate in a later post.  We sang Happy Birthday to the Mr. and had a Champagne toast to the New Year.  2013 is going to be great!

We made it home at 11:30 (late for me) and the oldest was still awake and watching SNL with the sitter.  He is still asleep….smiley face here. I’ll check with the Mr. to see if he has any additions to the post this morning…

God Bless

It was a really really fun night. Meeting Hamish and Lindsey was nice and we also met two other new friends, Ginnie and Scott. We all hit it off right away and will soon do something with both of them. The other 2 couples and our hostess and her date and us all know each other well. Ginnie as it turns out was Ben Nighthorse Campbells Chief of Staff. He was a democrat senator that turned republican and is quite famous around these parts. Just interesting what some people did or do. Ginnie in her own right, was quite flirty with her arms around everyone and kisses smack dab on the lips when we were leaving! She and Scott are newlyweds for about a year and a half and so was Hamish and Lindsey for about 2 years. Scott was really enjoyable and is an attorney. Anyhow we all had a great time and 11pm rolled around really fast.

Everyone had a blast and we always have a great time when we get together, the two new couples seem like great additions to our little group. Hamish has vowed to get the misses a ring from the clan which she’ll be really excited about. It’s nice to know your family history and have something to identify with from your past. As she said, they’re quite protective of the rings and the clan but he did say I could also have one since I married into the clan. He was truly shocked and said in his entire life no one has come up to him and brought up the family. It was like two long lost relatives meeting each other for the first time, fun.

That’s about it, time to get moving, take care and as the misses said, God Bless.

Both boys were tired yesterday which is usually the norm after a sleep over. Other than that the day was pretty uneventful. I wrapped up some work for the year but will still work Monday. We still have boxes of Christmas stuff around the house but are making progress.

4:30 in the afternoon (when we were supposed to be at our friends house to go to dinner) came quickly as I went to the gym around 1 in the afternoon since our lab kept me up for most of the night which threw off my schedule of going early in the morning. We hurried over the the Harris’s to drop the boys and head out with them to a new place called Duo for dinner. It’s in one of the revitalized neighborhoods that used to be not such a nice part of town. Now it’s filled with fun shops and restaurants and has that funky feeling. Dinner was really good and our friends insisted that they get the check when the bill arrived. We then drove home to their house to pick up the kids and head home. It was only about 8:30 when we arrived. Lo and behold there were two boxes sitting at the front door which the boys spotted from the car. They knew in an instant it was the Play Station 3 from Auntie Kristin for Christmas. She’s been buying the boys a great gift ever since they were born.

Once we were in the house, there was no waiting until morning to set this up, they’d been waiting too long and were too excited. I took care of the dogs and closing up the house while Mom helped the boys get their new system set up. I’m sure today they’ll be occupied most of the day with the new video game.

Around 12:30, you know who woke us up. The misses said she’d get up and let Lacey out and I said I get her in a few hours when she’d undoubtedly bark again. It wasn’t until 4:30 when she again barked so that’s when I got up for the day. When I made it down the stairs, my superman like night vision allowed me to avoid the two piles of doggie puke on the floor. It looks like she’s still trying to get rid of all the dates she ate the other night. Hopefully she’s learned her lesson but I doubt it, she’d probably eat them all over again if she had the chance. Of course now she’s sleeping soundly.

Tonight we’re going to dinner at our friends in Genesse which is a bit up into the mountains. It’s a dinner party for 12 and should be fun. I wish I would have slept a bit longer this morning but once I get up I can’t really get back to sleep.

So that’s it, have a great day, take care and God Bless, I’m off to the gym.

Yesterday we actually accomplished a lot. But first I forgot to mention, the day before yesterday, Lacy “I’ll eat anything” the Lab, somehow opened a plastic container of dates and ate about half of them. On top of that she ate a box of crackers as it seems she now knows how to open the sliding doors to the pantry. So, what goes in, must come out, you get the meaning I’m sure. Well last night she woke me at 2, then at 4 and then again finally at 6. At 2 she wasn’t barking but rather back in the pantry digging through food on the ground and the bottom shelf. I heard her downstairs and I caught her in the act and she went straight upstairs. We might just have to get a second crate (Mojo sleeps in one) for her as this is getting real old. At 4 she barked to go out and then again at 6.

Here’s a comment from Aunt Robi, it was great to have her here as it’s been too long since we were all together,

Last night the oldest spent the night at his friends and the youngest had a friend sleep here. I’m sure both will be tired today. Mom and I de-Christmased the family room and most of the house except for the big tree in the other room and of course all the lights outside. We put our little live tree outside in front of our windows where we could still see and enjoy it.

I was in Boulder earlier in the day and did some grocery shopping as well. Tonight we’re going out to dinner with the Harris’s and tomorrow our friends from Cherry Creek are hosting a dinner for my birthday. Sunday is the Bronco game, Monday is New Years Eve and then Tuesday it’s 2013! Hard to believe. I did splurge and buy a couple of lobsters at the store yesterday as they looked too good to pass up, and good they were. The misses and I had one each and a salad for dinner and they were great.

It seems snow is everywhere in the country and everyone is complaining. Just a month ago, everyone was complaining as there was no snow. You can’t please anyone these days. I kept telling people it would come and it has finally arrived.

It’s after 7am now so I think I’ll run. I was going to go to the gym but that’ll have to wait until maybe later in the day. We hope everyone is doing well. I always like to do something to get a jump on the New Year like cleaning up my office or cleaning out my closet as it’s a good feeling. Everyone else will be indulging in adult beverages over the next few days but not us. The misses hasn’t had a drop since November 22nd and I’ve had a glass or two only on 5 occasions, mostly in the past week. I think I’ll abstain over the remainder of the holidays as there will be too many drunk people on the roads to watch out for.

So take care and God Bless and get your house in order as the new years a coming!

We, or I, was up early. I made it to the gym for a good workout which I’m paying for this morning. Mom made french toast for the boys and I was showered and ready for the day by 8:30. After my 9m conference call I was out the door at 9:30 for downtown. Then it was a trip up north for a meeting. On the way I was on the phone with the misses doctors in Vail and then with a specialist down here at the orthopedic clinic in Golden. I somehow managed to get the misses in at 3:50.

The misses spent the day on the couch so I did some laundry, cleaned the kitchen, made the bed and so on. Grandma agreed to watch the boys from 3:15 on which turned out to be until 5:30 when we arrived home from the doctor. The boys first went out to the pasture and played by the empty pond in the snow before they came in for some hot coco with marsh mellows. Grandma said they were very well behaved.

Meanwhile the misses and I sat in the waiting room for 30 minutes past our appointment time before getting in. Then after she put on some attractive shorts they supplied her, she was off for x-rays. We’re happy to report that nothing is broken and her hips look pretty good with not much arthritis. They then took x-rays of her spine which meant another wait and found a lower disc sort of jutting out that might be pinching a nerve. The doctor, who was very nice and apologetic for our wait, and who seemed very qualified, said this has probably been going on for some time and to rest for a week with anti-inflamotories to calm it down. So all in all, a pretty good visit.

We picked up the boys and went home to try to find some leftovers for dinner. We settled on french toast and lasagna. (The oldest had the french toast) Then we watched Men in Black 3 until bed time around 8:30 and that was it.

Hope your day was just as fun! It’s still cold but we don’t mind. I have some work to do in an hour or so and everyone is still sleeping. I have to find something fun for the boys to do today plus I need to clean out the basement and run up to Boulder.

Time to get ready for 2013 as that’s the next big event. Take care and have a great day and God Bless.