A Year of Change

As soon as we dropped the kids at school we headed south in the truck to the Marriott Courtyard where our new bed was waiting for us. By 9am we were home preparing to get the old one out and the new one in. We enlisted Uncle T’s help and were done in a matter of minutes. I called James (the guy who helped take care of my dad) to give him our old bed as we were sure he’d find someone who’d like to have it. The kids were out of school at 11 and the misses had plans to get some new kind of mattress pad to go on it. So after printing out some Bed Bath and Beyond coupons, we were off to Cherry Creek. I didn’t think much about the bed all day but when the evening came, it sure looked comfortable. Looks did not deceive, we both probably had the best night of sleep we have had in years. In fact for me, it was so comfortable, I kept waking up! My sore back is still a little sore but will hopefully get better.

The boys and the misses are sleeping in. I noticed she was swelling a bit (from making her new bed and other stuff) so she was forced to sit down and take it easy. A bit earlier she had cut her thumb pretty deep on one of our pairing knives. I don’t understand as I did the “penny thing” when we bought it! It was no real surprise though as the misses always seems to cut herself. She said it too wasn’t surprising that she did this, just surprising that it took so long!

Part of her being sore and swollen was that most of the afternoon was spent cleaning the house from top to bottom. Now when I get on a roll, I get on a roll. I start in our bedroom and work my way down vacuuming everything and picking up everything in my way. This of course includes moving ALL the furniture. I didn’t see what the misses was doing but I’m sure she was doing too much. The oldest, broken arm and all, was a big help picking things up. The boys had made it all week with no tv or video games so when they arrived home from school, the tv was on and the Ipad was fired up!

Today I need to get the boys outside. As it turns out, they have Monday, Thursday and Friday off next week, plus the following Monday as it’s Labor Day. On top of that, the oldest goes to Frisco Tuesday for an 11:15am appointment with the specialist for his arm.

So let’s see, the garage and house are clean, and so’s the mud room and my office. I think today I’ll organize the kids winter coats and stuff and see who needs gloves and mittens and who no longer fits in their coats.

After dinner I rested a bit before doing the dishes. This was a big mistake as we had made a chicken in the crock pot and you can imagine how crusty that gets. I guess I’ll go to the gym since everyone is still fast asleep. I need to gas up and wash the car too so I might as well get after it. Hope everyone is well, stay safe and have a great weekend. No politics today as I’m trying to stay away for Grandma Dixie!

God Bless,

Next Tuesday we head up to Frisco to see a orthopedic specialist for the oldest guys elbow. We called Steadman Hawkins, the world famous clinic where the misses went for her neck, and asked who we should take him to here in Denver. To our surprise we were told that they really can’t recommend anyone down here it if was their child. So next week we’re off to Frisco to see Dr.Viola. Hopefully he won’t need surgery.

Thanks to Obama Care our insurance policy’s fine print has deductibles apparently for different types of medical procedures. We had thought we had met our family deductible when we paid $6000 months ago but for specific types of doctors such as a ortho doc for the oldest, there apparently is a separate deductible. The insurance company yesterday told us the oldest hadn’t met his portion for this particular type of doctor. This is surprising as he’s had a few visits this year that included other specialists and lab work that we know we’ve paid for. Apparently the classification is different. One example is we get 4 office visits covered throughout the year with paying a $30 deductible. We’ve used those up so now we pay for the entire visit on our own, regardless of what we’ve paid this year. So long story short is that we’re “covered” meaning we pay the first $750 of this doc and then 20% after that! The insurance lady confided to us that this all changed when Obama Care went into affect. They had to change some rules and classifications to “get around” the Presidents new law, super.

Earlier in the day we went to the misses doctor but not for what you think. You see about 5 years ago, the misses doctor and our long time friend, started her own skin care line that has won all kinds of national and international awards for being the best all natural skin care line as it has nothing in it that is bad for you. Turns out all the stuff most women use and buy (like at Nordstroms and Neiman Marcus) all have ingredients that have been linked to various diseases like cancer. These products of hers are the best and were developed by Christine who had breast cancer herself. She developed these with the main focus of them being good for her patients. She’s tried to launch these on a national level for almost 5 years but unfortunately has been taken by every charlatan there is from New York to Los Angeles. She’s paid out probably $250K to people that have told her they’d do this or that or introduce her to this person or get her in this store or that one and none of it came true. We’ve been talking to her for months about the challenges she has and have known her for years and she’s been asking if I’d take a look at where she’s at and give her my thoughts. So after researching the industry for the past month (which is quite a racket) we met with her to give her our assessment of where she’s at, what her main problems are (packaging, distribution channels, pricing, etc.) and what I think she should do now. The meeting went for a couple hours, which is an hour longer than we all had scheduled, but was quite productive. She’s now going to re-package, re-brand and re-launch. This alone will set her back over $500K but after hearing my views that if she continues on the path she’s on, she’s just wasting more money, and hearing my thoughts on what to do, she agreed that my suggestions are the way to go. Now I’m not charging her any money now as I told her I’d take a look at this initially as a favor. She has however asked if the misses and I would join her and help implement the changes I recommended and of course volunteered to pay us. I told her I really don’t have the time but would see what I could do. This is something the misses could definitely do and do well, once she understands all the ins and outs of the suggestions. So, we’ll keep you posted here as we’re sort of in the skin care business.

We made it home around 4pm and had to rush to get the boys. Grandma Dixie has been commenting but for some reason they are going to my email and not here so I need to check my spam file and put these in. I’ll make sure to find any future comments from her as we enjoy them very much. She and all of you folks that are older than us, are very respected as we value your wisdom from having lived through things we have not. Keep it coming as we do listen to you even if it doesn’t always seem like it.

Our new bed which we ordered in May has finally arrived. It’s at a Marriott sitting in a guest room as they had no place to store it. If you remember, our friends who operate 200 hotels across the country with the ranch in Saratoga, ordered it for us in May at their price which is about 80% off the best price any consumer can find! We’re so excited. Uncle T has agreed to help me move the old one out and the new one in. Thanks much as we’re sure it’ll help the misses neck and my back.

Today is a flex day meaning the kids are out at 11:15. Hard to believe it’s the first week of school and they’re already getting time off!

We’ve almost made it through another week, we just need to take everything one day at a time. The misses is getting better, the oldest one too, work is doing well and our future plans are coming together. Lacey the lab barked at 5:15 to go out so we were all up early but it is what it is. Time to run as we have a big day ahead of us. Take care and God Bless and thank all of you for your various help and encouragement these days, it means a lot!

Here’s a comment from Grandma Annette,

Here’s two comments from yesterday,

• robi says:

  August 21, 2012 at 4:45 pm

  My pearl of wisdom is – do not get a cat – he will bring the mice in the house fersure!

  Reply
• Dixie and Don says:

  August 21, 2012 at 9:06 pm

  I was just wishing I could move to Lakewood, but when you mention mice, I going to have to forget about it. However, if you are putting out poison, don’t get a kitty. We are in a bind trying to find someone who can actually take over and keep our yard in shape–I can’t do it!! We have mow, blow and go gardeners, but they just aren’t doing much. Poor Don and Bill both feel bad that they can’t do that kind of work, so just keep a good vision of someone showing up before I become an even worse shrew than I am already. One good thing about my working outside I get to hear all the bird sounds and get to watch the squirrels antagonize the cats. We are very proud of our two little boys and really miss being able to watch them. Your blog helps to fill the void, so please don’t stop. Love, YO MAMA

  Now just to be fair, I guess there are mice everywhere. Thankfully I think I’ve scared them all over to the neighbors houses. Even my Mom said she’s seen some up at her place!

  Ok now to the day. Lots of work yesterday and then at 5pm we headed up to the concert. Billy’s house at the base of Red Rocks was really nice. It was really well done and I guess a lot of the stars stay there or have their family’s stay there. This weekend Mumford and Sons are staying there. (there a really good new band for those of you who are asking, who?)

  They grilled up some salmon and ribs for all of us and we had a glass of wine (or two) before the show. I had run my truck up to the parking lot when we arrived so it was staged ready for us to get out early and drive home. Turns out this wasn’t needed. At 7:30 a guy named Rob showed up in a white van and picked us up. Rob is the guy that drives the musicians to the stage from their mobile dressing rooms. He had just taken the band to the stage and then came to pick us up. He drove us up through all the security gates passing each checkpoint with a wave to each guard. We were delivered right to the stairs at the back of the stage where the musicians also go in. We walked right up to a lady waiting to check our tickets and then right up to our 9th row seats. The band had just started when we arrived. Now it was great but the band sure was old. These guys must be 70 or so and you could tell it in their voices. Still being in the 9th row, it was great. The misses and I said if we were in the 60th row, we probably would have left. Anyhow it was fun. Right before it was over our friend from Iceland and I walked up to get my truck while the misses and the others in our group walked back to the van for a ride back to the house. I arrived at the house a few minutes after the misses and we said our goodbyes and thank yous and jumped in the truck to head home.

  The boys were asleep, thankfully, and we headed right to bed. It must have been close to midnight when we fell asleep. Today I have a meeting at the distributor at 9 so time to run. Hope all’s well with everyone, take care and have a great day.

The boys made it to school early as they were up and showered on time and ready to go. They both enjoyed their teachers and their new class. The day flew by and we picked them up at 2:45 and headed over to the pool for an after school party. Mom had bought a cake and some balloons and set things up an hour or so earlier. Jen went with us and a few other kids joined us and they swam, ate cake and played hard for about 3 hours. It’s kind of a tradition around here to have a first day of school party and Mom didn’t disappoint.

Lots going on around here and tonight we have the concert at Red Rocks. I think Uncle T and Aunt B are coming to the rescue again by watching the boys. I’m trying to figure out how we can leave a bit early tonight so were not too late. The problem is we’re supposed to go to a house at the base of Red Rocks, park our cars and have dinner and then be shuttled up by limo to the concert. After the show the limo picks us back up and takes us to our cars back at the house. This means I have no way to get to our car if we want to leave a bit early. I’m going to try to see if I can take my car up to the parking lot and have someone pick us up and take us to the pre-party, we’ll see.

The drought is in full swing causing problems nationwide. Lots of fires in the west but for once, they’re not in Colorado. The smoke sure is though as it’s blowing straight into our state on the jet stream. The Mississippi river is so low that boats and barges are stuck! There’s over 100 boats stuck right now trying to get ferried through the low spots so they can deliver their goods. In Dallas the west nile virus (a disease from mosquitos) has killed enough people so that they are spraying by plane trying to kill them. Some say it’s almost biblical, we just don’t notice as we’re all conditioned to these things. One thing is for sure, last month was the hottest on record since they began keeping records sometime in the 1800’s and this drought and the fires are the worst that the western states have ever seen. The World sure is changing or at least going through a cycle we haven’t seen before in our lifetimes. One of the fires is north of Sacramento, hopefully the smoke is blowing away from all of you out there.

There are also 715 cases of whooping cough in Colorado this year which is 557 more than last year. Seems like there’s an epidemic of it this year. They think this is also from the drought. I wonder what the winter will be like. It’ll probably be pretty bad as last year it was really mild.

There are also tons of mice around. I’ve managed to eradicate them from around here but the neighbors all have had them too. We have 4 traps and some Decon out and haven’t caught any for well over a week. I also closed up some holes under the driveway where we saw one run so I think (hope) I’ve managed to get rid of them. The Rossi’s caught one in their house! Thankfully ours were all outside. Next door the Erickson’s had some in their garage. For some reason (the drought again??) there are more this year than we’ve ever seen. Luckily I was all over it, keep your fingers crossed that they’re all gone. if not, we’ll go get a cat!

Where are some “pearls of wisdom” from you? Everyone has to have at least one thing to share with the rest of us, let’s hear it.

Time to run, I need to get some emails finished before everyone wakes up as I missed my window to go to the gym. I just don’t have time. Guess tomorrow I’ll need to get up at 4:30!

Hope everyone is well, stay healthy and safe. God Bless.

That’s right, today’s the day, the 1st day of school of the 2012-2013 year. Remarkably both boys were asleep in their beds by 8pm. It’s 4:57 now and we’ll get them up at 6am or a bit after. It’s so hard to believe that the oldest is in 5th grade and his brother in 3rd. Where does the time go!

Yesterday I cleaned the garage from top to bottom, scrubbed our coolers with bleach and then soap and water and on a whim, washed the big blue truck. It was a pretty productive morning for me. The rest of the day was spent doing things around the house and taking it easy. The good looking one is still doing too much. I’m seriously thinking of tying her up. I have lots of calls this morning but will delay the start of the first one so I can go to school with the boys to see them off. I think Mom has an after school party scheduled as she mentioned it yesterday. Hopefully I’ll have most of my work wrapped up by 2:45 when they get out.

Late in the afternoon I was walking out of the laundry room and I slipped on our clean wood floors and my 2nd toe on my left foot slid right into a corner of a wall. Man it hurt and this morning it’s swollen and discolored. Aren’t you glad I shared? I was at Walgreens and they had a big sale on epsom salts so I grabbed a few bags. I don’t know if you know (you grandma’s probably do) but there’s lots of things that epsom salts are good for. There are lots of great things in your grocery stores that cure a lot of ailments. I’m not talking the “butter on burns” thing (thanks Mom) but things like apple cider vinegar. Let’s get some pearls of wisdom from some of you with more life experience out there (meaning you older people) for the rest of us. Tell us some things that work that the rest of us might be able to use. Let’s say it has to be readily available and cure some sort of ailment. It can cure anything from an upset stomach to itching skin to sore feet to just about anything, you get what I’m talking about. So let’s hear it, pass down some good information for the younger crowd that we can actually use.

I almost forgot, tomorrow night we’re going to a concert at Red Rocks! It’s Crosby Stills and Nash and we have 8th row seats. It’ll be a great show and should be a lot of fun. I think Uncle T and Aunt B committed to watch the boys a month or two ago but it’d be better if we could get a sitter so the boys can go to bed on time. I need to ask the misses this morning.

It’s 5:15, (anyone else up?) so time to run. If I hurry I think I can get to the gym and back before everyone else gets up. Have a fun week, winter will be here soon so get ready. Stay safe and God Bless.

Here you go,

1. Tom says:

   August 18, 2012 at 12:56 pm

   Just a slight correction, Peyton is in his 2 nd game as a Bronco. Probably meant first home game as a Bronco. Just to clarify!

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   August 18, 2012 at 5:02 pm

   49er’s will still beat you!

   Reply
3. Dixie and Don says:

   August 18, 2012 at 6:42 pm

   I did leave a long, pathetic, poor me remark yesterday using Don’s computer. Thank goodness the computer god was watching and for some reason I hit the wrong thing and the whole miserable mess was lost. Today is much better becaudr Uncle B is feeling better and is driving up toShelly’s place to spend the day. He still has some bleeding, mostly at night, in his mouth and throat. I suspect that this condition is caused by his low level of platletes. (Hope I spelled that word correctly. Also hope that muy diagnosis is correct. He has been feeling quite strong since he had a transfusion of two units last Saturday. Just hope he can make it to Monday when he is tested. Don and I are going for some much needed time together and R&R at the Virgeon Sturgeon around 4:30 this afternoon. YE Y!! Please overlook my errors; I’m not good at corrections. Good escuse, you think? Reading the blog remains to be the high point of my day, so please know that your work is appreciated. YO MAMA

   We love getting comments…keep them coming.

   Last night we all went to the Broncos game.

   Both boys were a wee bit tired by Half Time. It didn’t help that Half Time was at 9 o’clock….I was also a bit tired by then. The boys did try to rally the Mr. and me to stay until the end of the game to no avail.  The youngest had stayed and played at his friend’s house until 2:oop.m. and the oldest had been at the amusement park with Jen from 10:00a.m.- 4:00p.m. running from ride to ride….having a great time.  When the oldest returned home from the Elitches he walked through the door holding a plate with the remains of a funnel cake and grinning literally from ear to ear. The youngest had a fun time as well.  He and his friend played outside from the time they finished breakfast (7:30) until the time he came home.  It is no wonder they were fading at the football game.

   Tomorrow is the first day of school….very exciting for all of us.  I’m planning a mini “First Day of School” party. I’ll take the munchkins and a couple of their friends to the pool after school for some fun and of course cake. A party is just not a party without cake!

   There are a few fun things going on around town today.  Golden is having an Arts Festival with fun kids games, live music, and restaurants showcasing their menus. There is a bike ride to raise $$ for a charity and the Mister just mentioned cleaning out the Garage.  The Garage may be the way to go… especially since there are mice living out front and I am sure when the weather changes in the not so far off future the mice will want to move inside. I certainly don’t want the cute little rodents moving in. I have put out de-con and traps…I’ve caught a couple of mice and the Mister plugged all the holes leading under our house.  I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I guess it all depends on where the critters were at the time the holes were closed. I certainly hope they are not trying to find a way in.  Ugg!  Looks like cleaning the garage is the way to go.

   I am of  to cook breakfast and then to give Bunkie his shot.  I’ve been doing the shots for a few days….looks like I’m back on the job.

   Have a great day and God Bless.

    

    

You gotta love Aunt Robi, she commented right away, thanks,

No comments recently? Maybe everyone’s on vacation.

Yesterday I was out of the office between about 10 and 3. Before that we ran to Target to get the boys school supplies and after that we had friends from Steamboat over for a wine tasting. This of course turned into a 3 hour social event until about 6.

Today I’ll be working the phones getting all my last minute orders in. Yesterday I found out that a friend of mine’s mom passed away. The tragic thing was she found out she had cancer only a week ago! Wow, 7 days and then she was gone. It puts things into perspective doesn’t it. I need to call or email him today to see if there’s anything I can do.

Today at 5pm we go to school and find out which teacher each boy has for the upcoming year. Then we’ll drop their supplies and Monday morning the new year begins. It’s a bit cooler which is nice. You can almost feel a hint of fall in the air. I don’t know about you but fall is my favorite season. The trees changing, hunting season, football, Halloween and Thanksgiving, all make up a great time of year. Someone the other day told me that they love fall because of the new tv season. I was thinking, boy they need to get out more!

Everyone’s still sleeping so I guess I’ll go get in some cardio. I just saw Geena Davis on a tv commercial and it reminded me that we’re going to the Colorado Women’s Foundation  dinner September 20th at our friends home in Cherry Hills. There will be about 60 of us and I donated the wine as it helps single women who are trying to get back on their feet.

Time to run, Labor Day is fast approaching, how about we all post a comment on our plans for the last holiday of summer, whatcha got? let’s hear it.

I arrived home from Vail around 6:30 yesterday after a long productive day in the mountains. Today I have an appointment across town at 11am and then one at 2:30 in the Highlands and then we have some friends from Steamboat coming over to taste and order a few thousand dollars worth of wine. They’re older but I’ve known them for years. In fact, they knew my biological father some 45 years ago when he built some condos in Steamboat.

The boys and the misses did some cleaning and then I showed up with a suburban full of clothes and stuff from Minturn to further clutter up our house. We have so much stuff strewn around the house with no place to put it. We need to have a big sale!  Good news is the misses is doing fine. Meanwhile the youngest is covered with huge mosquito bites that have swollen up on his arms and the back of his neck. Hopefully the benedryl will make them go down.

The misses stirred at 4am and got up to use the bathroom and bam, I’ve been up since. It was cooler last night, finally, which was nice and allowed us to turn off the a/c and sleep with the windows open. It’s hazy outside due to fires in Washington state. It’s amazing how the smoke travels thousands of miles. The oldest has a 25 mile bike ride Saturday that’s in jeopardy from the smoke and air quality.

Tomorrow I’ll be on the phone all day collecting the final orders from our 6 weeks of pre-sells. Hopefully we’ll sell about 1 million dollars worth of wine.

Straying away from politics for a moment, did any of you know that the government is preparing for economic collapse and unrest? One big thing recently causing concern is that the dept of home land security has bought 1 billion, (yes 1 billion) rounds of ammo. Many people are asking why a domestic agency needs 1 billion bullets? Are they going to Afghanistan? In fact the social security administration just ordered 176,000 bullets and get this, the N O A A, (the weather people) just ordered  tens of thousands of bullets too! Why do all these government agencies need so many bullets? You have to ask yourself this question.

Look here, now they’re trying to cover it up, hmmmm. This is straight from the govt website.

The Department of Homeland Security has redacted (meaning blacked out) information relating to the quantity of bullets it is buying following a controversy concerning the agency’s purchase of over a billion rounds of ammo, which many fear is a sign the federal government is preparing for civil unrest in the United States.

…

Despite the fact that documents are only supposed to be redacted if authorized by Congress or for national security reasons, a solicitation posted on the FedBizOpps website yesterday concerning ammunition purchases made by the DHS on behalf of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) contains numerous blacked out sections.

…

The Department of Homeland Security’s decision to black out sections of the document, including the number of bullets being purchased, is likely to be related to a massive controversy which has snowballed over the last few weeks pertaining to concerns as to why the federal agency has purchased well over a billion rounds of bullets over the last 6 months alone.

…

Given the fact that the DHS is also acquiring riot gear in preparation for civil unrest which could take place at the upcoming DNC, RNC and presidential inauguration, the purchase of ammunition in such massive numbers has stoked fears that the federal government could be preparing to use force against the American people.

This screenshot illustrates how the DHS has blacked out information pertaining to the amount of bullets being purchased.

The trigger for this could be an economic collapse that causes angry Americans to flood the streets similar to scenes witnessed across Europe over the last two years.

As Mike Adams writes, “The U.S. government clearly sees the writing on the wall. What lays ahead for America is a day of unbearable reckoning. The financial collapse will wipe out savings accounts, pensions, investment funds and equities of the working class, all across the nation. Imagine bank accounts being reset to zero, “bank holidays” enforced at gunpoint. That will unleash a wave of violent protests, social chaos and even talk of revolution. The government will almost certainly respond with a declaration of Martial Law, the rolling out of highway checkpoints, and before long, the use of live ammo on unruly protesters.”

Wow! Better hope this means nothing but even if you are not preparing, your government is. I’m not sure for what but they aren’t taking any chances apparently. They want to be ready for anything. Strange times we live in. I guess this is what transparency is.

Take care and have a great day,