A Year of Change

I guess they call today Black Friday as years ago the slaves were sold on this day for half price. My Mom shared this with us yesterday, who knew? Anyhow no shopping spree for us. Today we’ll be cleaning and having our own Thanksgiving. We have a 13 pound turkey, mashed potato’s and homemade gravy, with Aunt Myrna’s recipe, (Lori has a video) and all the other things that go with the big meal. She also woke up early to make some new kind of appetizers she thinks the boys will like. Throw in a big salad, which is always her favorite, and we should be able to eat off this for a few days. My wife is pretty darn amazing to do all she does. The boys and I sure are lucky guys, plus she’s cute too!

Yesterday we dropped the boys at Grandma’s when we made it to Denver and headed over to get the last few things out of the house and garage. I called the young couple who bought the house and they showed up with a trailer and three little kids and began unloading things into their new house. Today James will pick up any remaining things from the garage as we filled our truck with as much as we could. The truck is still loaded as we need to clean out things we already have in the house before we can bring anything else in. After that we stopped by Tom and Ali’s for a quick meal before heading up the hill as it was snowing hard. We also needed to run as Mojo was in his house in the garage waiting for us. Jagger said a nice prayer before our meal wishing everyone good health and a long life. It was snowing hard but by the time we made it to Idaho Springs, which is about 20 minutes of out Denver, the snow stopped and the roads were dry. It started snowing again on Vail Pass but that was it.

Today seems like a Saturday but we’re glad it’s Friday as we sure need the extra day around here. It was good to see my Mom as always and I’m sorry for her that her beloved Green Bay Packers lost last night but the tribute to Brett Farve at halftime was nice. I have to get back to Denver, one more time (uggh) to pick up Lori’s car which is ready. I need to look at my calendar and should run down and back this morning to exchange the rental car but will probably wait until Monday. I’m in Aspen Tuesday and have a big event next Wednesday here in Vail and then on Friday Lori and I go to Las Vegas until Sunday with Andrea Bocelli for a big event. Then I should be done traveling until January.

That’s it, time to run, hope all is well as always. Grandma Dix is still living the high life in L.A. and went to Thanksgiving at some swanky house with Auntie Kristin. I should have sent Lori out there to join them! But of course she didn’t want to leave us boys alone as she’s all about our family. God Bless.

Today is a day to give thanks for all we have. Yesterday the boys told me that at the first Thanksgiving they didn’t have turkey at all, but mostly fish. Boy they sure are smart. And if you think I’m joking, I’d bet no one reading this could do their math!

Yesterday we closed on our house so it’s officially sold, yea! Now we still have some work to do as far as cleaning but it’s not too bad. I have the house cleaned out and had the cleaners there yesterday so all that’s left is the garage. We’ll tackle that this morning. Apparently it’s pretty icy on the roads so not sure how long it’ll take us to get down. We’re going to try to leave around 8 am and hope to get through everything that’s left before dinner around 2.

Lori has been working so hard these days. It’s been a week or so of memorial service around here as it’s already been a year since her dad passed away. We have lots of fun pictures of Bob that she found and she has this one on her phone that’s pretty special. She misses him lots which I understand as I still think about my dad too. That’s part of what Thanksgiving is, being thankful for our family and friends and the memories of the joyful times we had in our lives. So we wish all of you a Happy, joyful Thanksgiving.

By the way, Ms. Dixie is living it up in Los Angeles with Auntie Kristin. Lori talked with them last night. Did I mention yesterday that Kristin’s dog Gracie got into a little tussle with Jon Lovitz’s dog at the beauty salon? That’s LA for ya!

God Bless.

That’s what it feels like, wake up, drive to Denver, work all day, drive to Vail, sleep, get up and do it all over again. Hopefully soon this will stop. I made good progress yesterday and have most everything out of the house. We are out of room at the storage unit according to James and we’ve started putting a few things at my mothers, thanks Mom! Once again you saved the day. Now do you have room for a drum set?

It’s 5:12 am and I woke up at 2:46 with my head spinning thinking about all I have to do. I’m in a bit of a fog right now but have to shake it off and do what I have to do. I have cleaners coming at 8 am and there’s supposed to be some bad road construction around Georgetown early this am so I’d better get moving. It looks like a storage unit up here with boxes everywhere. Like I said yesterday, it’s like we’re just moving things around. That’s hard to believe as we must have thrown out over 50 bags of stuff. Oh well, life goes on.

Grandma Dix made it to Los Angeles ok and is with Auntie Kristin having fun in the sun. Glad she made it there safe. Time to run, hope all’s well, God Bless.

Ok, I’m back to Denver this morning, Lori is off to work and the boys will stay here. Yesterday we moved out all the furniture and all that remains are some lamps, clothes, dishes and of course then the dreaded garage. James says we’re out of space at the storage unit but I’m hoping we can fit some last minute stuff in. One thing is for sure, there’s no room up here for anymore stuff at all!

So once we get the house cleaned out then we’ll need to do it again, albeit on a smaller scale, up here. It seems as though we just moved half the stuff or junk around although the amount of stuff we actually threw away would fill a dump truck or two.

The weather on Thursday is supposed to be really bad. Not a ton of snow but real cold. Hope we make it down ok on Thursday. Heck, we have to, not only for Thanksgiving but also to clean out the last little bit of “stuff” as Friday at 5pm is our deadline.

Guess I’ll run as it’s 5:20. Hope you all are well, have a good day and of course, God Bless.

Yes it’s true, we ended up spending another night here in our house as no way could we get everything cleaned out yesterday. We’re getting closer but have a way to go. I think if we’re lucky we’ll get out of here late this afternoon. Time to run as lots to do, hope all’s well, GB, and Go Broncos!

I think this is the last day we’ll all wake up in the house that was our home for over 15 years. It’s a big deal when you think of it that way. Even though we’ve been moving stuff out for a few months, it’s hard to believe your life and all you’ve accumulated can be reduced to a few months of boxing and packing. Then you realize life isn’t about things or stuff at all. Going forward we’ll sure think twice about what we buy. Too bad it takes so long to realize the important things in life are family, friends and memories or experiences. Oh well, at least we know now. The most important things are those that don’t mean much to anyone but you. An old picture or maybe a rusty pocket knife from when you were a kid, or how about a piece of paper with a letter to Santa. That’s more valuable today than the most expensive painting, fanciest dress or piece of jewelry you have unless it was handed down and has some family history attached to it. So that’s what we’re saving, all the other stuff is going away, At first it was hard but now it feels good.

We look at this as a big purge, not just of things but of useless weight bogging us down. It’s a new day and a fresh start which will really sink in when we hand over the keys to the nice young family later this week. Hopefully they’ll have as many good memories and times with their three boys growing up here as we did. We’re leaving them a few nice things like the giant framed poster in the kitchen and my desk in the basement as they don’t have a lot of furniture. I’m sure they’ll do well and have a good time here on our Leave It To Beaver street!

Today we’ll hopefully get the rest of our things packed so tomorrow the big pieces of furniture can go to storage and then the cleaners come on Tuesday. Here again, if it wasn’t an antique, it’s almost all gone, excluding practical things we’d have to replace like the boys dressers or beds. We’re pretty close but still have work to do so time to run, hope all’s well and God Bless.

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Well I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. Jag and I made it down by 8:15 yesterday morning to the house. I dropped him off, rushed to wash the truck and then dropped it off for new tires. One vehicle down, one to go. Next up the cleaning began.

A bit after noon it became clear Lori and Ty wouldn’t be able to make it down as the highway was closed literally from Denver almost all the way to Vail. So Jag and I were bachelors and kept at it. Ty’s room is 100% empty. That doesn’t sound like much but slowly we’re making progress. I sold my garage refrigerator to my neighbor who came over and then cleaned a bit more out of the garage as well. This morning Jag and I are getting haircuts at 10:30 and other than that, we’ll be cleaning away. Our biggest problem is that our storage unit is almost full! Not sure what we’ll do when we run out of room.

Needless to say the World is a mess these days. It’s mind boggling why our govt and Pres won’t acknowledge that we’re at war. Hell, even the Pope says we’re at war with radical Islam but all the Dem’s, current and running for Pres (Hillary the fool), can’t bring themselves to say it. Things are scary though with everyone on edge. My neighbors son who must be in his early to mid 20’s and his wife, both just got their concealed weapons permit. Steve told me none of them leave the house anymore without a gun. Now you have to know these people as they’re pretty quiet and reserved and are frankly the last people, especially his wife Dee, that you’d think would say this. For those of you that live here in town, I’m talking about Steve and Dee next door. Steve’s dad was a Supreme Court judge and worked with my dad years ago.

Anyhow life goes on, remember, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. It’s just sad the kind of World our kids are growing up in and even worse, what it will be like in 20 years or so.

Guess I’ll run so I can get some more work done in the basement before we leave for our haircuts. Mojo slept on the mattress next to me all night and yes, woke me at 4:43. Luckily I convinced him to go back to sleep until 6:30. He’s outside now playing in the snow. Wish us luck, God Bless

We made it home from basketball by a bit before 8 pm. After dinner and heading to bed, I came down to find Jag with his computer and notebook open on his chest around midnight. He was sound asleep. It’s now 5:39 am and I’ve been up about 30 minutes. Jag and I will leave for Denver around 6:30 and Lori and Ty will follow around noon. We have a ton to do and hopefully can finish up by Sunday. That’s it, time to run, God Bless.

Yesterday I made it down to Denver ok but coming back up the highway was closed 1/2 mile from the summit of Vail Pass. I sat there for probably 30 minutes before they opened it but it made me late to pick up the kids. Lori didn’t have a car and the boys didn’t have a key so there they sat.

We made it home about 4:30 and Lori made it home around 6:30 when she was dropped off. She did have an MRI yesterday (lucky we don’t pay for those anymore) and she doesn’t have any bleeding or leakage in her brain, could have fooled me! She does have a concussion though and should probably be laying around watching tv but in our World, that’s not possible.

Today both boys have basketball games in Eagle at 4:15. That means they’ll be over after 7 and we’ll be home around 7:30 or later. Tomorrow morning Jag and I will head down to start working on the house in the morning and Lori and Ty will leave around noon.

That’s it for the day, time to run. We hope to get new tires on both cars this weekend but we’ll see as after checking the cost, they’re not cheap. Hope all’s well, God Bless.

I was off to Denver early this morning but I just heard on the news that I-70 (the highway) is closed at Georgetown as a semi truck blew over in the wind and has closed the highway. Not sure now if I’ll make it down or not today, I’ll have to check in a few hours.

Yesterday I had a nordic parent meeting and had to have my ski boots fitted and pick up the boys ski passes, plus did a ton of work. I ended up getting a deal on the ski passes as the kids get a big discount for being Eagle County students. Lucky I found that out!

Lori still has a headache and I’m sure she bruised her brain and it’s probably a little swollen. As long as it’s not bleeding, we should be ok. Time to run, I’m mostly off politics today as it’s just such a joke. This administration is like purposely trying to ruin our Country. I really can’t believe the things they’re doing and that they’re getting away with it. Thankfully now they’ve gone so far, even democrats (politicians and people) are questioning and disagreeing, finally, thank God!

God Bless, hope it’s not too late!