A Year of Change

Today my little brother is 53 years old, guess that makes me even older! We’ll all get together around 3pm and then I think he and Ali are going out to dinner tonight.

Today is the last real day of school for the boys. Jag had me wake him at 5:30 as he has to finish his homework. He had a lot to do, worked all day and night yesterday and was pretty stressed out about it. I told him to just relax and work hard and it’ll all come together. Ty too had a bunch, guess the teachers are stepping it up a bit.

Yesterday we went to school to watch Ty do a presentation on Black Holes in Space. He created his won Power Point presentation (using Microsoft Power Point) and did really well. Jag too uses Power Point which is a pretty advanced program for kids. I was surprised when I learned they were both using it.

We’ve been cleaning and cleaning around here getting ready for the party tomorrow night. It should be fun although it’ll be a little cold with the temperature in the 20’s or so. I don’t think anyone will notice much or care. Yesterday it felt like Spring but today it’ll be 20 degrees cooler.

A week from today Christmas will be all over so enjoy the next 6 days That’s it for today, Happy Birthday Uncle T and God Bless.

Jag had a great birthday and we all enjoyed celebrating with him. We picked the boys up from school after Lori went to the office and I went to a couple of appointments. On the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen for an ice cream cake. At 3, Uncle T and Aunt Ali and Grandma showed up for his family party. He proceeded to open his presents and finally opened his new Microsoft Surface which is a tablet computer all in one. Grandma Dixie and Pa Don, my Mom and Lori and I all chipped in to make this happen and Jag could not be happier. We were on the fence about getting him this but in this day and age it’s critical that kids have computer skills, plus we trust him enough to stay away from inappropriate things. He’s still ecstatic working on it this morning. Thank you to those of you that helped make this happen.

Jen showed up around 5:15 dressed up in heels and a skirt looking 16! We left for dinner at 5:30 for our 6:15 reservations and boy are we lucky we did as the Christmas traffic was horrible. We arrived at Elways right at 6:15 and were shown to our table. The kids had a blast eating shrimp, steak and finally dessert. I had some Colorado lamb and Lori had red pepper soup plus dessert. We left at 8 or so and were home by 8:30. Jen hung out until around 9pm when her Mom picked her up.

Jag and Ty and Jen are all so grown up. Sometimes when you’re around them every day you don’t realize just how grown up they really are. Kids know a lot more these days than you’d think they do.

Today I have only one more purchase order to get which is from New York. Then I’m done for the year. I think we’re putting up the party tent in the driveway tomorrow to get ready for Fridays big bash. Uncle T’s birthday is tomorrow and then we have a party to go to tomorrow night for a bit. Tis the season for parties!

Time to run, Lori is helping Ty with homework and we need to get the kids lunches packed. We also need to start thinking about getting some presents for all of you! See how together we are this year, we’re starting early!

Hope everyone is well, take care and God Bless.

“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.”

12 years ago today our lives changed in so many ways, and all for the better. Jagger Douglas Fugate was born I think around 3:59 in the afternoon after a 25 minute labor. The past dozen years have gone so so fast, it’s unbelievable.

Today we have his family party after school at 3 when Uncle T, Aunt B and Grandma will come over and then Jennifer will arrive at 5:30 for us to all go to dinner at Elway’s Restaurant. Ty picked out a special present for his brother and is just as excited for Jag as the birthday boy is for himself. He wants me to get him up super early so he can enjoy the entire day but I’m letting him sleep as it’s not even 5am yet.

Yesterday Lori went to the office for a bit and is back down there today. I’m chasing my last few po’s (purchase orders) for the year and dealing with mistakes by a couple of the kids (30 somethings) that work for me.  Sometimes it amazes me how people don’t listen. Luisa, my girl who’s been with me forever and now lives in Lake Placid New York, called me around 7:30 last night saying she can’t believe these two people (who will remain nameless) didn’t read her emails with explicit instructions to follow so we’d have no mistakes. She said its like we’re coaches on a football team and the players are sometimes running the wrong way on the field and we can’t do anything about it! Oh well, after a flurry of emails by both of us to our wayward employees, we should have it fixed, hopefully. There’s always a lot of pressure as the entire year always comes down to the last few purchase orders at the end of the year. Hopefully next year I’ll have enough sales to have a cushion so I’m not so stressed in December. I’ll get it done somehow, that’s why I get the big bucks!

Today I need to run downtown as well. Lori is still not able to really eat a lot of solid food but is having yogurt and oatmeal, but is now down to about 124 pounds! I think I’ll call the restaurant to ask them to put a steak in the blender for her, yum! She’ll probably just have soup and ice cream.

Guess I’ll run to the gym. Christmas Eve is one week from today! Hope everyone is enjoying the season, take care and God Bless.

Happy Birthday Jag!

You might wonder what these numbers have in common, well they are the times that Lacey woke us up last night! Needless to say, everyone is tired this morning.

Yesterday we ran some errands, Jag did some homework, Ty did some playing and that was about it. The wind was pretty bad as it blew down some of our Christmas lights which I’ll need to repair today.

The news of the day was the New England Patriots lost to the Miami Dolphins so we’re back in 1st place! Kansas City won and now has the same record as us but we beat them twice so we own the tie breaker. All we need to do is win the last two games and then we’ll have home field advantage all the way through the playoffs.

Lots going on as I said yesterday, tomorrow is Jag’s birthday, 12 years old, what a big day. Hard to believe he will be 12, it seems like yesterday he was just 2! Life goes fast, too fast!

God Bless

10 days until Santa arrives, are you getting excited? One of the benefits of having kids is the excitement of Christmas and Santa’s pending arrival is alive and in full swing. It’s coming fast so enjoy it while you can.

Last night we were supposed to go to some friends party but Lori’s neck was sore as she just did too much yesterday. Instead we decided to drive downtown and see some Christmas lights in Cherry Creek. We drove through a few neighborhoods of old big beautiful houses that obviously had some professional help putting up their lights. Then the boys were hungry so we decided to drop into one of our favorite family haunts, Crepes n Crepes. It’s owned by Alain, a frenchman, and all they serve is (obviously) crepes. The food is really good but the misses and I passed on food and had a cocktail. On the other hand, the boys each ordered their favorite dessert crepe and a hot chocolate with chantilly cream which is the thickest most luscious whipped cream you’ve ever had. Jag ordered poached pear with Nutella (hazelnut chocolate) sauce and carmel with ice cream and Ty had just Nutella, carmel and ice cream. First though, Mr. Ty had a dinner crepe of his own making, which was just bacon. Rob, our friend and waiter asked if he wanted cheese or anything else and Ty replied “nope, just bacon please”.

Anyhow the boys had a blast and we had a fun family night out and then headed home and watched the 1960’s version of Frosty the Snowman. The boys then went upstairs to watch another Christmas cartoon and Lori and I stayed downstairs. We finally went up and watched a country Christmas show until we fell asleep.

3:20 came early with Lacey barking. Lori said she’d get up as I did the other night. Lucky for me as she walked downstairs and stepped right in fresh dog poop! Next up was Lacey barking at 4:45 and believe me, despite what you may think, she knows she’s barking!  I got up so she didn’t wake the kids. I can’t reward her barking so I put Mojo out and feed him and Miss Lacey in her crate and bed for an hour or so before I feed her. I think she’s learning not to bark as now when I put her in the crate, she stops barking. She’s so old, we can’t be hard on her but I can still try to train her.

Lori put the garland up on our front door yesterday and it looks like its out of a Neiman Marcus catalog. She really has an eye for decorating.

Auntie Kristin (as the boys call her) who is Lori’s best childhood and lifelong friend in California is coming out December 26th to the 30th. She is first going to Austin Texas to volunteer at a women’s shelter Christmas Day and then will fly to Denver. She’s bringing her little puppy so the boys, Mojo and Lacey are all excited! She was married as most of you know, to a guy who didn’t treat her so nice and then took her for a bunch of money in the divorce and is all alone so we invited her out and happily she’s coming. She and Lori  have such a good time sitting on the couch talking about things they did when they were 5 years old. It’s amazing how they remember everything. From what I’ve heard, Lori was kind of in charge and got Kristin in trouble every now and then. There must have been a little devil in her somewhere! Of course now she’s a princess.

Today we’ll decorate some more around here and tomorrow I’ll start shopping. It’s going to be a lean lean year which is ok as Lori and I will be fine and the boys won’t notice. Last night Ty said, “dad, you know most people think Christmas is about presents but it’s not” and I then asked him, what’s it about, and he replied, “it’s about being with family”. How’s that for our 9, soon to be 10 year old, pretty profound if you ask me.

Before I went to bed I called Diane, one of our friends who went to the Bocelli show last night in Tampa that we were supposed to attend. Everyone got in just fine and it was a great show from what she said. They were all in the limo driven by Colby’s (a very nice older guy from Wichita Kansas who reminds me of my dad) pilot who also doubled as the chauffeur. She said they were lost trying to get out of Tampa and get back to Sarasota which is an hour or so away. These were our friends from Aspen who we were supposed to go stay with. We’re glad they all had a good time. I’m sure the show was great!

It’s now 6am and Mr. Ty just came down to join me on the couch and everyone else is still sleeping. I let Lacey out of the crate and she’s looking at me for food but will have to wait a bit longer. It was sort of windy last night as I heard it when Lori got up with Lacey at 3:20. It’s supposed to be warmer today so we can finish the lights, hope they’re right.

Tomorrow the last week of school begins. Throw in Jag’s birthday on Tuesday, Uncle T’s on Thursday, the kids parties at school on Friday and ours Friday night along with me wrapping up the year, doing all the shopping and cleaning up the house, and we have a full week!

Hope you all are ready for Santa! Hope you’ve all been good! Take care and God Bless.

One week of school left, oh boy. Then kids are then off until January 7th! I’ll be traveling in the new year before they go back to school. I sure don’t remember being off that long when I was a kid.

The boys both did great scoring 100% on their spelling and mid term tests. I picked them up at 4 as they also have chess club on Fridays.

Lori and I made a Costco trip yesterday to get some stuff for our annual Christmas party next Friday. The temps are supposed to be 30 for the high and 15 for the low so I imagine it’ll be 20 degrees or so in the evening. I’m setting up a fire pit in the front yard next to the Paella Tent where Megan (our girl from the restaurant) will be cooking away. We’re excited for this as it’s something different from the normal italian fare we serve each year. The other plus is I don’t have to pick up and then drop off the food and serving dishes.

Today I need to help Lori put up garland around the doors. We have lots to do before Christmas. I’m thinking of getting Jag the new Microsoft Surface which is essentially a tablet type computer. I don’t know if I can swing it as they’re $350 but after talking to Microsoft, it is a good tool for students. We know he’ll play some games on it but he does that now on our computers and their video consoles. The upside is he’d actually be using programs like Word and Excel and in this day and age, you can’t start kids too young as computer skills are a necessity. We’ll see, I’m trying to make a little money on the side by doing a wine tasting or two between now and Christmas.

Our friends from Aspen who also have a home in Sarasota Florida called yesterday and said they think they threw out their $1500 Bocelli tickets for the show tonight in Tampa, as they can’t find then anywhere! Boy are they lucky I’m so connected (ha ha) as I managed to reach my good friend Pete who is the Worldwide tour manager who called Adam (my other buddy who works for the promoter) who is having the ticket agency cancel the 4 tickets and reprint them and then leave them at Will Call for our friends. Pete was leaving Washington D.C. en route to Florida and thankfully on their plane there are no restrictions on cell phone or laptop use so I managed to reach him in the air. I think Pete and I are hooking up for dinner or something when I’m in New York after the tour is over in January. He’s a great guy we’ve worked with for about 3 years now and has saved my butt a number of times. It seems I always have some wayward guest at each show that Pete gets to their seat or backstage for me whenever I call.

Lori had a scare yesterday but it turns out it was just a wheat headache. Any headache she gets scares her (understandably so) as she thinks the 3 year pain is coming back. Turns out she ate some chocolate that had some wheat in it.

I’m staying away from politics for the season but here’s a dire warning. 2014 is going to be a year of economic unrest. Don’t let the stock market fool you as what happens there has nothing to do with what happens in our daily lives. When the gov stops printing and injecting  money (currently $85 Billion a month) into our economy, things are going to get bad. They’re sending test signals to the markets now saying they will taper, or slow down, this cash infusion, to see how the markets will react, and the news is not good. Throw in China now passing the U.S. dollar with their currency being traded more than ours and trouble is brewing. I know this doesn’t mean much to most or all of you and you probably don’t care but you need to make some changes to stay ahead of the never ending game governments and bankers are playing.

Health care is the biggy! The gov is trying to nationalize our health care. Even though Obamacare was born as a law, the Pres has changed it so many times through Executive Order by moving key requirements and granting waivers to political groups, it’s hardly recognizable from what it first was. The administration is now telling insurance companies what to do, like they own them, mandating they cover people January 1 even if they haven’t signed up. This is all because only 350,00 out of the needed 7 million have signed up! Watch for a huge campaign in ads trying to get people to sign up. They’re using celebrities to do so and we (the taxpayers) are paying for it all. Its propaganda in its purest form. Never before has the U.S. Government resorted to such pandering at the taxpayers expense to push their agenda. Don’t be fooled , their end goal is a single payer system where we all have the same insurance plan and all wait in the same line and have the same coverage and doctors. Hospitals and doctors are pissed off as they should be. I personally know some doc’s that are retiring due to all of this. It will not be pretty so stay healthy!

Ok, that’s enough politics for the day, I’ll try to abstain until the New Year but don’t ignore what’s going on around you or you will be caught off guard and be sorry.

Have a great weekend and God Bless.

Yesterday was a blur, not sure what all I did. 6pm came quick and then it was time to go to Jags concert. I was bummed I was going to miss the Bronco game and he told me it was ok to stay home but I wasn’t going to miss his performance. Turns out the Broncos performance wasn’t any good anyhow and Jags was great!

We sat around for about an hour before it started in a gym that any Fire Marshall would have shut down in a second due to the size of the crowd. Anyhow once it started the orchestra was so bad it was laughable. Thankfully the songs were less than a minute long and you have to remember that these are grade school kids playing for the first time, so we all cheered after each song even though we couldn’t make out what it was. Then the band started with our guy. There must have been 150 kids in it and our guy was the only bass clarinet. He had a couple parts that stood out during the 9 songs they played. Thankfully he was up front so we could see and hear him. He had quite the crowd of students around him asking him questions and talking to him like he was some sort of celebrity. I guess they video taped him for middle school or something. He looked so grown up in his suit and he wore a Santa hat the whole time. He was definitely the best dressed guy there!

We made it home and by that time, for the first time this year, I thought the Broncos might not pull it out. Turns out I was right. My brother had texted me a bunch saying he was nervous as I never miss games. It was just one of those nights. Oh well, we’re still 11 and 3 but our defense better get it together.

Lori rushed in the house when we got home at 8:15, grabbed a bottle of wine and headed out to Amy’s for the all girl party that was going on. The boys and I watched the rest of the painful game and then headed to bed. I guess Mom made it home around 10:30 although we were all asleep.

Today I need to decorate the house a bit more for the misses, outside that is. Lori is doing fine and she looks great. It’s been three weeks today since her operation and her bandage is off and her neck doesn’t look that bad. On the upside, she has no headache and has lost probably 10 pounds, which she loves! Not wanting to be left behind, I started only eating what she eats this last Monday. Being a liquid diet of protein shakes and soups, I’m down 8 pounds in 4 days! Lori’s making healthy soups like broccoli cheddar that taste great and protein shakes with dairy, protein and fruit so we’re getting the nutrients we need, plus we’re saving money by not running to the grocery store every day!

I thought I’d be much hungrier but I actually feel pretty good. I guess your stomach shrinks and you can get by on a whole lot less food than you think you can. We’re going to Belize for Spring Break next year as our friend Peggy from Aspen has given us her palatial home for the week at no charge so I need to get in shape anyhow! Your body is really amazing at how fast it adapts and bounces back with the right diet. Shannon Sharpe, the great Denver Broncos tight end always said, “you can’t out exercise a bad diet”. This is so true meaning no matter how much you go to the gym, if you don’t eat right, you’ll never get in shape. Anyhow I’ll give it a few more days and then work back in some solid food.

I’m officially out of the money league in fantasy football. I’m still in my ESPN league but it doesn’t pay out anything if you win, oh well, maybe I’ll get a trophy.

So there you have it, a painful loss, a great concert, Lori doing well and me trying to save money on food and lose a few pounds at the same time.

God Bless

Last night was Ty’s last game of the season and he and the team played great. They overcame a 12 point deficit to end the game in a tie. Tonight Jag has his music concert at the middle school at 6:30. I’m going to have to get Uncle T to text me the play by play for the Broncos game tonight. I can’t believe they scheduled this during a game. The schedule was out last summer before they scheduled the concert. Jag says for me to stay home and watch the game but I can’t do that, I need to go watch him. He did have a strep test after school yesterday so if he’s sick, we might both see the game, not that I’d ever want my kid to be sick!

We skipped the party in Colorado Springs last night. Lori and I were both gone until around 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon and then Ty’s game was at 5pm so it was a no go on the party.

Today I have computer work to do this morning. I’m not sure what Lori has going on. Yesterday before she went to the office she did get her nails done for the holidays. I’m happy when she’s happy and she’s happy when she gets her nails done, so there ya go.

Still trying to find Jag the perfect present. He’d like a computer with a built in detachable tablet but that’s $700. He’d also like, and needs, a new bike, but they’re $500. He also says he just wants cash to save so maybe, even though it’s not a gift gift, we’ll give him some cash, we’ll see. I always said everyday you wake up, it costs $500. This sounds far fetched but if you add it all up, its pretty much true. Ty’s shopping is almost done with a few big things and then some littler ones so he has lots to open. He’s easy as he loves Lego’s and all kinds of toys. He does want a horse and has literally been asking for years. Someday we’ll get him one somehow, and I want one too!

Time to run, lots to do to see if we can make it through another day. Take care and God Bless.

I told you so, time flies, Christmas is two weeks from today, it’ll be here and gone before you know it. Can anyone say 2014? It sounds so futuristic.

Yesterday we managed to get a little shopping done for the youngest. We’re having a hard time finding something for Jag. I did get my Mom a gift for him (probably should have kept it for us) but we’ll find something. Again, he’s at that in-between stage where toys are too young and clothes are too old. No worries though, we’ll find something perfect, it’s just a matter of time which is hopefully less than two weeks!

The Broncos play tomorrow night and it’ll probably be our biggest challenge left in the year. Their performance will also determine whether I advance in my football league too. There’s $1000 on the line if I can win the next two weeks, wish me luck.

Today I need to help clean up around here, it never seems to stop. We’re supposed to go to our friend Glenn’s party in Colorado Springs tonight. He’s the guy that has the great house above the Broadmoor Resort that we stayed at but Ty has his last basketball game and I really don’t think Lori should drive that far in a car. It’d be a 3 hour plus drive for about a 2 hour party.

It’s warming up around here and was kind of slushy yesterday. It’ll be warmer today so soon the dogs will have muddy paws. We called Uncle T yesterday and said we’d do Christmas Eve here and said to bring along Aunt B’s parents if they’re here. It’s a lot of work but in some ways it’s easier having the kids at home. I think we’ll order out from this great french restaurant this year to make things easier even more. If everyone pitches in it’s only about $25 per person.

Lori is getting her nails done today at our friend Tina’s spa. It’ll be a once break for her. Her head is still great and I’m very thankful. Nothing else really matters if you don’t have your health. I need to run to the distributor and pick up some Bocelli wine. I’m putting some in the store window of the Ralph Lauren store downtown which will be great exposure.

That’s about it, just trying to make it through another day, hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

37 may not seem warm but it’ll be the first time in over a week that the temperature has been above freezing! They say we should hit 50 by the weekend. Before I go any further, here’s a comment from Aunt Robi,

robi says: