A Year of Change

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life! Today is the 23rd anniversary of the day our lives changed forever. Fittingly, we are back in Scottsdale where it all started. It’s been a great journey and it only gets better every day. I’m a lucky guy!

Yesterday we did the town. Early in the morning Ty and I ran down past Mom’s old place to Thomas and Hayden to drop of some laundry. Then we picked up Lori and Jagger and headed to Fashion Square for some fun shopping. After that we stopped in to see our life long family friend who owns the jewelry store Mom and Dad shopped at for decades and who we’ve been dealing with for 30 years as well. Then it was back to the hotel before heading out to Robi and Robert’s.

We arrived there around 5:10 and hung out for about an hour before heading out to dinner. We had a blast and it was so good to get together with them. We’re so happy they’re so happy. That’s the way life should be. Dinner was really good and we had a great time catching up. Wish they were closer. We’re going to make a point of seeing them more often. We’re going to all get together for lunch on Monday hopefully, to see them one more time.

Today besides our anniversary is Shelly’s birthday! 70 years old! Happy Birthday Sis! Hope she has a great day. We can’t really get her on the phone these days and I think she’s still in memory care. Hard to tell as there’s little communication with Tasha.

We have a daybed booked at the pool today. The high will be 70 or so which is just fine by us. Tonight we’re going to a great French restaurant at 6:15. Robert said he’s read about the guy and saw him on tv. We can’t wait.

It’s beautiful outside again this morning. I went and picked up a couple Americano’s for Lori and I at the coffee shop. I had to wait a few minutes as it didn’t open until 6am. It’s 6:30 Arizona time (7:30 at home) right now and we’ll head over to the fitness center for a workout soon.

Make it a great day and thanks for the anniversary wishes. Wish everyone was here with us, Tommy….God Bless.

Where to start, the roads were not as bad as we thought as we made it to Tom’s in a little over 2 hours. Jagger was 15 minutes late meeting us there, which we expected so no surprise. Ty though, didn’t answer his phone from 7:30 until 8:40 when we were outside his building. Can you say major stress! Lori and Jagger went in and had the dorm people knock on his door, still no answer. Finally two minutes before we were leaving him in Denver, he answered. Apparently he slept through the alarm which also is no surprise. So, around 8:50, we were all off to the airport.

Upon arrival at the airport, I headed to valet parking only to find out there is no more valet parking! So with the new airport traffic patterns, I had to drive out of the airport to get back in. Lori and I had pre-check but since the boys passports expired they didn’t. We went through our lanes and they headed to the other end of the airport where the lines were shorter. A few minutes later we got a call saying they wouldn’t let Ty through as he didn’t have an id! His wallet was stolen a month or two ago and his new license hasn’t yet arrived. He does have the Colorado App on his phone which is a picture of his drivers license so that helped a bit. He finally managed to get through with that and his school id and insurance card, whew. We all met up and made it to the gate only to have them move the gate. I can hear Tommy saying this is why I don’t go anywhere, ha! The flight was fine as we upgraded to First Class.

We landed, took the train to our rental car and headed out to Scottsdale. We stopped at AJ’s Fine Foods on Lincoln where Mom and Dad always shopped. The same Sinclair station was in the parking lot where I took their car many a time. Finally we made it to the hotel. We had to wait an hour or so for our room to be ready and then once in, unpacked and settled in.

The hotel grounds are nice and the weather is awesome but the rooms are a bit dated for what they charge. Still, we’re really happy to be here together as a family.

At 6am this morning we were jarred awake by the intercom throughout the whole hotel saying, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEAREST EXIT. It was some sort of fire alarm that went off and everyone was in the hall. I called the front desk as soon as it went off not really believing it and it turned out to be a false alarm. Lori met Jagger in the hall and I asked if Ty slept through it! Guess that woke him up too as it was loud. Ok, Tommy, stop laughing!

We’re drinking coffee now and headed to the gym. Robi, I’ll be calling soon wondering if we can do a load of laundry this morning as Ty I think packed all dirty clothes, ha. If not, we’ll find a laundry mat somewhere t as the hotel doesn’t have one.

Scottsdale is great! We drove to Paradise Valley, like Tatum and Shea as my sweet wife found me some rare cigars at a cool cigar place for our anniversary. They also had a Whole Foods there we stopped at. Meanwhile Jagger was taking is final from 6 to 8 pm. It’s so beautiful out our window right now with the morning haze above the mountains in the distance. We do have a great view and nice balcony. We were thinking of buying a winter place in Florida but might just have to get one here instead. Florida is too crowded and too far and has the ocean, while this is closer, but has water issues and no ocean. We’re getting something somewhere as we’re over the long snowy winters. Looks like we’re turning into our parents after all.

Today is shopping, laundry somewhere, and then dinner and fun with Robi and Robert! Can’t wait to hang with them. That’s another big plus for Arizona, they are here, plus I think I could get Tommy to come down if we had a place. You’d love it Tom, we could golf in our senior years, ha!

Time to go, have a great day, on to the adventure! Seems like we’ve been here a week already! God Bless.

Wednesday the floors were all finished up. They look good, just like they should have since the beginning. After Carlos was done we took Harley to the vet for her six day vacation. She wasn’t very happy, poor girl. Snow lasted most of the day and then the sun came out around 6pm. 15 minutes later though, the wind picked up to 40 or 50 miles an hour and along with it was another round of snow. It’s supposed to stop at 8 or 9 and then be all clear.

If you’re paying attention, I’m writing this Wednesday night as we need to leave around 5am Thursday morning just to be safe. We’ll meet Jagger at Tommy’s at 8 and then go pick up Ty and head to the airport. Our flight is at 11:20 and we land, with the time difference, at 12:30.

After Wednesday, we really need some nice weather. I guess it’s been raining and cold in Arizona but is shaping up for our arrival. We’re pretty busy with three dinners and some other fun things. We also have some pool time scheduled as 70 is like a heat wave for us.

Dixie is well but had a little stomach ache. Nothing to worry about, just normal stuff. I’m sure the weather will be nice at home while we’re gone. We have our neighbors watching over things. The Sheriffs office called today letting us know that our permits we had renewed were ready. That didn’t take long as we went in on March 9th for photos and fingerprints. I told them we’d be gone so they said they would check on things for me as well.

That’s it, next post will be from sunny Arizona! God Bless.

Our floors are in and this morning Brian and Carlos will finish up and glue them down. They put them in without glue so we could see how they’d fit and look. We picked which boards go where to get the best color match. They look 100% better.

Snow this morning, maybe 2 or 3 inches. It’s supposed to stop mid afternoon. We’ll decide later whether to drive down tonight or in the morning. We’re looking forward to some warmer temperatures.

Work is going well, our new products are really taking off. Lori is slammed as usual, and Dixie is doing well. We’ll go see her again today (daily occurrence) since we’ll be gone for five days. Lori took her to get her nails done and out to lunch. She had a good day. She’ll be fine as she doesn’t usually remember we see her daily. Her birthday is coming up two weeks from Saturday and we’re having a big party! Jag thinks he’s getting a cold as he’s been studying and stressed wrapping up his mid-terms. There’s only about a month of school after he gets back, and then he’ll be a senior in college!

7am now so time to get moving. Have a great day and God Bless.

Heading down in about 45 minutes to meet my buddy Toby. I should be back my 10am if lucky. Yesterday they started on our floors. Hardwood floors are a bitch to take out if they were installed properly. They glue them down so they come out in pieces. Hopefully they’ll finish up getting them out today. Not sure if they’ll finish putting the new ones in or not as they need to cut them to fit.

Lori will work from home as Dr. B. is in Ireland speaking at a conference. He’s kind of a celebrity Worldwide. He really is that good. Snow tonight and tomorrow ending in the evening. We had a little last night and I’ll see how the roads are in about an hour. Time to get moving, be well and stay safe, God Bless.

Today and tomorrow we’re having three rows of the floor replaced as I mentioned yesterday. Hope they wrap it up by tomorrow. Of course snow is coming Wednesday and Thursday since we need to drive down to Denver. If it gets bad, we’ll go down Wednesday.

We’re up early as Lori needs to go to the Hyatt for a presentation at 8am and then will head home.

Nuggets won yesterday in New York. It was a good game. The boys are well and we’re all excited to get out of town. Can’t wait for a change of scenery, even if it’s not 80!

6:06 now so time to go. Make it a great day and do something fun for yourself, you deserve it! God Bless

I think my sleep bank is finally getting filled back up. It’s taken a few days of rest to do so. This morning Lori is going to Glenwood to get her hair colored. I’ll head to the gym. Tomorrow at 10 we’re having three rows of hardwood floor ripped up and replaced to fix a gap that shows up every winter when it gets cold. Hardwood floors expand and contract with weather and ours were glued down so we have one spot where they can’t breathe. They’ll be done by Tuesday.

It was sunny but cold yesterday. Looking forward to Arizona even if it’s only 70. Temps are forecasted between 68 the day we arrive to 78 on Monday. Spring does officially start tomorrow though so soon it’ll warm up. Time is the one thing that never stops so that means everything always changes.

Tons of crap being spewed out by our government. so get your shit together. One of the scariest things last week was when Janet Yellen said, after bailing out SVB, that the board of the Fed and her alone will decide what banks to save and bailout and what ones she won’t! This is unbelievable. She flat out said that she will decide which survive and which fail. So, if you bank at a bank that doesn’t subscribe to their woke agenda or are in a red State or have depositor’s that they feel are not on their side, look out. Just look at how well they stepped in to save Palestine Ohio after the train derailment. Imagine if that happened in let’s say, San Francisco. The trick is to bank at a bank that has sound management and diverse holdings. Tom has done a great job with our little bank but sometime down the road when the govt. decides it wants to switch everyone over to their new Fed Coin, and eliminate cash, look out. Remember, he who controls the food and therefore the means to buy the food, “money”, controls the people. Biden’s new digital currency will eliminate all privacy as the govt. can and will then control not only what you buy, but how much you buy too. Scary times. I wish I could talk to Dad and get his take on this whole mess. Oh well, keep preparing. The trick to stop all this is to vote these people out of office. I just hope we can last another year and 9 months until they can be voted out. If by chance, they win through votes, by stupid people that don’t see society crumbling in front of their own eyes, or cheating, it’s all over for the Country, as I don’t think we’ll survive another four years of what we’re going through now, ugh.

That is it, time to get moving. It’ll be an interesting week. Let’s see if Credit Suisse gets bailed out tomorrow as UBS wants assurances from the govt. that they’ll back them, meaning another bailout, hmm. If they don’t watch for a huge market collapse. Then we’ll see if the crazy DA in New York arrests Trump on Tuesday for some alleged payment to some porn star years ago. Hard to believe with all the crime in NY, this is what they’re focused on. Some say, including Elon Musk, that if Trump is arrested, he’ll win in 24 in a landslide. Can’t make this stuff up. Hard to believe it’s real. Strange times, and we haven’t even touched on China, Russia and Ukraine, ugh.

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst! God Bless.

Since Daylight Savings time started, we’ve been trying to catch up on our sleep. Finally last night we managed to get some good rest. We need to be rested up for our Arizona trip! Looks like we’re going to try to take the boys somewhere around the end of May after they’re out of school. We’re thinking Switzerland and Italy but we’ll see. Then in June, I think ten of us from the Company are going to France for our sales meeting. I have a great estate along with the French Minister of Agriculture who is going to pay for the entire trip. It’ll actually cost me less than having everyone go to Phoenix as we did last year. So, a little travelling coming up. Thank God I fly first class wherever I go.

No gym for me today, I need a break. Nuggets and Av’s are both on at 11.

Quick note on our government that represents you and me. The man who used to be a woman who is head of the department of health and human services said yesterday that “she” hopes that in two years, gender altering surgery will be the norm for kids as young as 10 years old! Man, I’m fine with people being who they want to be, but 10 years old? Give me a break, too young to make a life changing decision. How about all the millions of dollars that were wired to the Bidens from China? Imagine if it was a Trump family member, hmm. And Hunter is suing the guy who he abandon his laptop with but is not admitting that it’s his laptop, wow. Can’t make this crap up and the worst part about it is the media covers up everything. It’s like Soviet Russia propaganda, good God.

It’s 7am now and they say return of mountain snow on the news, what? We just got rid of it. Can’t wait for April, 2 more weeks to go. It’s been a long winter. Guess I’ll get moving. Have a great day, God Bless.

Today we’re home which is a nice break from driving. We made it to Denver with the snow by about 9 to drop off my truck. It was ready to go by 1. In between we ran errands and went to our appointments. Around 5, six of us met up at James house for cigars and to watch the Nuggets game. He’s in Miami for a Cuban wedding on Addy’s side of the family. When he’s out of town, we all still go use the cigar room and hang out.

The boys are busy with school getting ready for Spring Break. Ty’s is next week and Jagger’s the week after. Dixie is fine and I think Lori is taking her to get her nails done today.

Warm weather is finally coming. Looks like Spring temperatures all through next week. Looking forward to that! The house cleaners are coming at 9:30 so we need to get moving and head out to the gym. Enjoy the day and have a great weekend. God Bless.

We’re off to Denver this morning. Lori has a derm appointment at noon and I’m getting the truck serviced this morning. We also are meeting up with Toby for a few minutes. We had some snow but not a lot. Hope the roads are fine going over the pass.

I went to the gym twice yesterday, once with Lori and once by myself. In a week we’ll be in sunny Arizona! We need to leave by 7 so I’d better get moving as it’s 6:15 right now. Make it a great day and God Bless.