A Year of Change

Ok, the most important thing to happen yesterday, for my Mom anyhow, was that the Wisconsin Badgers (her alma mater) beat Michigan State in the first big Ten Championship game, we’re all happy for them and her! Now on to the events of the day.

It snowed until about noon and then finally let up. I finished up some work in the morning and then we headed off to the school to take the boys sledding. It was so cold outside we don’t know how they could stand it but they just kept trudging up and sledding down the hill. The oldest one was on his snow board most of the day. We’re thinking about getting him a real one for his birthday or Christmas as the one he uses is just a toy his brother acquired somewhere. He also wants to take some lessons this year which we’re going to do for him. We had the youngest ones friend with us and when we arrived home he asked if he could go over to his house and play. We were going to run out to Golden to a mountaineering shop for some new gloves so off Mom, the oldest and I went while he played at the neighbors. When we arrived we were shocked to see the store was open every day except Saturday. We were all hungry so the three of us stopped into Woody’s Pizza for a hamburger. It was nice for the oldest to have Mom and Dad to himself and nice for us too. He’s so grown up, both of them are.

The rest of the day was spent around the house and at 6pm we loaded up and went over to some friends house who we haven’t seen for awhile. We made it home about 10pm and all promptly hit the hay. Everyone of course is still sleeping except me.

Grandma Annette, (she’s so good about responding to questions) commented that she wants the blog to keep going. Here’s her comment,

“I hope you keep the blog going. The blog makes Jean and I feel we are with you all everyday. We really enjoy it. The kids will enjoy it as they get older. I’m working on our ancestry and have a written paper of the everyday life on the ranch in Santa Clara and their life with their grandparents on a ranch in Los Gatos. Their Grandmother had a Chinese cook that was with her for 40 years. He made butter cookies for all the kids. It sounds like Bonanza. I wish we had more of what went on then.”

Thanks for sharing, we’re looking forward to reading up on all the ancestry when she finishes. What was the cook on Bonanza’s name? Was it Chin Lee or something like that?

How about a little politics. Ol Herman Cain finally dropped out, is anyone surprised? I think his wife was about a week ago when it came out that he had a 13 year affair and financially supported some woman for the whole time! Let’s see, 4 women came forward and then this one which was the straw the broke ol Herman’s back. Wow, 13 years and he says he was just “helping her out” and “being a good person” and “nothing went on”. Does anyone really believe this? I guess his wife does as she’s standing by and staying with him. This really bugs the misses. Whenever this happens (infidelity or as the misses calls it, cheating) usually the wives stay with their husbands. Except for Tiger Woods wife, most of these “cheaters” wives look past it and stay with their man. Boy let me tell you, I would never ever cheat (have no desire and why would I, I mean have you seen my wife?) but if I did, the misses would be gone in a flash! My question is, how do these type of people get in such positions of power in the first place? It’s not just politicians either, it happens everywhere. Not everyone is the person they appear to be. It’s hard to trust anyone anymore. You really have to be careful these days.

Tonight around dinner we’re supposed to get more snow and it’s supposed to continue through the morning. They say the high temperature will be 10 degrees tomorrow. My flight is at 8am and I hope I get out! I’m gone until Thursday morning and it’s imperative that my flight takes off on time. Today will be filled with lots of football and some cleaning. The misses made a couple of great batches of soup yesterday which we’ve almost finished off so maybe we’ll need to whip up another batch today. I know the boys are planning on sledding again today too. I guess I’ll run now and get moving for the day, hope everyone is well and getting into the Christmas spirit. Take care and God Bless,

After a brief warm up yesterday, the cold and snow came back around midnight. It’s 5:30am (I slept in because it’s the weekend) and it’s snowing and blowing as I write. As is our routine, I’ve fed the dogs, made the coffee and just let Lacey our lab outside. Mojo the malamute goes out to eat when I wake up but then comes right back in to be with me while I have my morning coffee and write the blog. Lacey eats inside and then heads to the backdoor waiting to go out. Of course Mojo has to escort her as he’s afraid he might miss something if she goes out alone. They were both out for only a few minutes but were covered with a light coat of fine powdered snow when they came back in. I did my best to brush them both off and of course while doing so, they both shook from head to tail, as dogs do, and covered me with a coat of fresh wet snow.

I had a good day yesterday as I finished up most of my work for our Company meeting in Seattle next week. I have an hour or so to do today and tomorrow but am pretty much set. The misses busted her butt cleaning the house from top to bottom. I don’t know what all she did but I did see her washing the walls in the breakfast nook. She said there’s still a ton of clutter and she has a long way to go, but on the surface, it looks great. It sure doesn’t take long for the boys to blow in like a tornado and undo her hard work. They can literally mess things up in less than a minute!

I picked both boys up from school at 4 as they had chess club. When I showed up they were just finishing. Both boys played really well. I happen to watch the youngest beat one of the oldest ones classmates and he told me he won all his games. The oldest one also won all his matches. They have a code of conduct they have to sign off on and if you get 3 strikes, you’re kicked out of chess club! Now that’s discipline.

Maybe we’ll go to a movie today as it’s supposed to snow until late afternoon. The misses and I are supposed to go to a party tonight but we’ll see as we haven’t been able to find a sitter.

The house with all the misses Christmas lights looks majestic, especially when covered with a fresh coat of snow. The misses really did a good job. Some houses look a little over the top but ours looks like something from a Norman Rockwell painting, very tasteful. It’s now 10 till 6 and I think I’ll head to the gym. You know what they say, use it or lose it!

No politics today, I’m sure you’re all relived. Let’s take another view, what can each of you do this holiday season to help someone you don’t know. How about a random act of kindness. Let’s all do something and then we’ll post them here throughout the month. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, a dollar in the Salvation Army bucket, a toy for Toys for Tots, anything. The only rule is it has to be something for someone you don’t know and they can’t know you did it! That’s right, you have to be anonymous, it doesn’t count if you take credit for it so giving the postman $5 or a bottle of wine doesn’t count. Trust me, the older you get, the better it feels to give rather than to receive.

Alright, hope you all are well. Stay warm and if you’re in California, watch out for those winds! Enjoy the holidays as they’ll come and go before you know it. I just renewed the blog for 2012 meaning we’re going to try to keep it going. We hope everyone enjoys it because it’s a commitment to try to post everyday. I think by the end of the year we’ll have missed 4 or 5 days and this was due to international travel and no computer access. One of the best things is the kids will be able to look back in 2o years or so and read what happened when they were younger. That’s why it’s so important you comment, so you’re included! Oh well, have a great weekend and God Bless,

Looks like the temp won’t get above 25 degrees for the next 4 days, the cold is finally here. It’s too bad the Broncos are not playing in Denver this weekend as we love going to the cold snowy games. Maybe next week if we’re lucky.

Look who’s here, the misses and the youngest just came down the stairs. I think he’s practicing getting up extra early for Santa. I think I’ll grab a cup of coffee and hand the computer over to the misses.

Good extra early morning to you all. The youngest has been asking to come downstairs for the last half hour…bummer… because I feel as if I could have slept until at least 7:30.

The sky is black and the snow is glistening.   There is a beautiful blanket of  untouched  snow covering the multi colored lights on the shrubs. The colors are so lovely shining through that it just makes me happy to look at them.

The youngest is “Starving” this morning and is asking for everything that we don’t actually have in our fridge.  I think perhaps he woke up a tad too early. I have offered oatmeal, Rice Krispies, toast with flat white eggs and even a pbj sandwich. None of these will do for breakfast on this early morning…..it may be a long day.

I am volunteering in the 2nd grade class at 10:00a.m to help in any way that I can. I love helping out at the school and the teachers really appreciate any extra help they can get. The budget cuts for public schools are almost unconstitutional. The class sizes keep growing and the teachers and aides have been cut back for the last 3 years. I feel terrible for the youngsters that have uninvolved parents. School must be really tough for them.

Anyway on to nicer thoughts. I didn’t get to the house the other day because I was having too much fun playing with Christmas lights. When I get back from Mrs. B.’s  class I will dive in head first.  There are closets and drawers to purge before I can even begin to put the 6 loads of clean laundry away.  It always feels so good to get rid of old useless junk that is just taking up space.  I won’t throw away any treasures….I’ll just shift them to the attic.  Good times.

The youngest is melting from the couch to the floor, so I better run…

I’m back, the misses is trying to deal with the youngest and it’s now 6:07. He just didn’t get enough sleep. Lots of work to do today and Monday I’m off to Seattle until Thursday, then I think (hope) I’m done traveling for the year. We’ll see. Alright, have a great day, take care and stay safe. Hope you all are happy and well, God Bless

Ok, first up is the weather. After a weirdly mild fall with temperatures in the 70’s as recently as last week, the wind and snow along with single digit temps has arrived. Right now it’s 4:38am and we have maybe 3 inches on the ground but it’s still snowing and the wind is blowing. It’s supposed to keep up until mid afternoon and then temperatures will drop under 10 degrees. I was talking with a man in New York yesterday morning as we were boarding our flight for Denver and we were both in agreement that sooner or later we’d have to pay for all this warm weather, well here we go.

When I landed yesterday around 9:30 am, the sun was shinning as if it was a spring day. I pulled up to the house to find the misses 25 feet up a ladder putting more lights on the top of the house and big red bows on the upstairs windows. It seems she just wasn’t happy with what we already had up as it seemed only “half” finished. Personally I think Grandma Annette asking for pictures spurred on this second wave of decorations. Anyhow the house looks great and I love the fact that the misses (and the little kid still inside her!) gets all excited about Christmas. Today she works and when I woke up around 4am she was awake and told me she hadn’t slept all night. I hope she’s getting a few zzz’s right now.

Now on to “get out now”. This in case you haven’t guessed it, means call your stock broker or money manager (if you have one) today and get out of the market! Yesterday with the U.S. and China agreeing to prolong the inevitable for a little bit, the stock market shot up almost 500 points. Folks, this is a short term bump created by a temporary bandaid from big government and big banks saying they’ll “loan” some money to Europe who will never pay us back, at less than normal rates. The only problem here is someone sooner or later, will have to pay it back. Guess who that is? When this doesn’t happen (which it won’t) things will come crashing down worse than they are now. Some noted economists suggest that everyone should have let Greece fail or default rather than continuously propping up a failed system that will eventually go down no matter what you do. Here’s the view from the experts as to where we’re really at that pretty much sums it up. Take it for what you will.

“Today’s move by central banks changes nothing except the ticks on the Dow Jones. The debt is still there. The people are still broke. The system is still collapsing. Believe the mainstream hype at your peril.”

Let’s really look at what happened yesterday to make the stock market soar almost 500 points. Did you wake up today and find some new money in your wallet or bank account? I don’t think so. Did some of your bills magically disappear overnight? Mine didn’t (I checked). Did you get a call from your bank or credit card company telling you they’d like to loan you a bunch of money at zero interest to help you consolidate all your debt? Good luck. The point is, all that really happened was a short term fix to prevent a global collapse from happening now. Everything I just asked you above of course isn’t going to happen for you but it is what was passed out to failing economies and countries that cannot pay their bills. A couple questions come to mind, first off, why is America giving money to failed economies in Europe when we have no money of our own? Whose money do you think Obama and the Fed are giving to countries like Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal? Well the answer is it’s our money they’re giving away, yours and mine. This is so because the government doesn’t have any money, they are actually borrowing (by printing) money that we, the taxpayers, are on the hook for and will have to pay back. Do you really think Europe and countries like Greece, will ever pay us back? I don’t think so. Second question is, what’s going to happen when this bill comes due and they can’t pay? Hmmmm.

So with this short term bump, you need to make a move today! Not tomorrow, not next week, but now. Like I said earlier in the week, let’s say I’m wrong (highly unlikely), what do you have to lose? But if I’m right….. you can and will lose lots of money. You really ought to pay me for this advice or better yet, if your financial advisor is worth a shit (excuse my language) he or she should be calling you telling you the same thing I am. I doubt this will happen as it’s not in their best personal interest for you to pull money out of the pool of money they manage, I mean how then will they get to charge you the fees they do as they have been for the past few years, while the value of your portfolio goes down. That’s right, they’ve been charging you and collecting fees all this time while you’ve been losing money, pretty good job they have huh. The only way they lose is if you pull your money so I highly doubt they will tell you to take all your money out of the market. What do you think? Now let’s say you have a really good trusted advisor, maybe just maybe, they’re fooled by all this maneuvering by the Fed’s and don’t see this coming. Does this mean you have to go down with them? No, it doesn’t. Once again, and for the last time, taking your money out of the market is a no lose situation, leaving it in is a potentially devastating decision. Wake up people, you are running out of time. At least we don’t have to worry about this as we have no money in the market!

Ok, now back to more pleasant things. Don’t you just love how the misses describes the colors in the morning each day. It’s pretty easy to tell who’s writing the post just after the first few sentences. In my defense, it’s always dark when I’m writing and who wants to hear, “it’s nice and black outside, with the sky like charcoal”. I do love how she first sees the colors when she wakes up though, that’s great.

Today we’ll need to get out all the coats, gloves, hats, snow boots and other assorted gear for the cold outside. It’s 5:20 right now and I think I’ll head to the gym for 45 minutes as I need to get the cars warmed up anyhow. Both dogs are sleeping at my feet right now which is their normal routine after breakfast. Today I get my haircut downtown at 9:30 and then I have lots of work. In fact I have so much work, I just need to take it one day at a time.

I hope everyone is well. I heard that Grandma Dixie and Pa Don aren’t having the best week as both of them are not feeling well. You two better shape up now and get healthy right away, that’s an order! For the rest of you, I hope you’re all doing well. Send us an email or post a comment. I heard from the misses that the Muppets movie was great, maybe we’ll have to go catch it in a week or so after I’m back from Seattle.

Ok, Take care, stay warm, stay safe and God Bless you all,

Good Morning to all and a “Happy Day After Birthday” to Gram Annette.  I’m looking out the back window as I write and the sky is amazingly beautiful. The cloud cover looks like a giant plume of orange and peach smoke. There is only a sliver of robin egg blue sweeping across the horizon. Stunning!

The Mister should be on his flight home from New York by now. I am going to work on getting all of the empty Christmas boxes back up into the attic before he gets home. I also need to do some major cleaning.  As Uncle T and Aunti B are well aware our two boys can destroy a clean house in a matter of minutes and since the dogs are enjoying a fun game of tug of war with one of the munchkin’s socks there will be a fair amount of hair to chase.

Thank you Uncle T and Aunti B for picking up the boys from school yesterday and a special “Hurray” for having them do their homework. Yea…big smiley face for me. When I picked the boys up I got to see how absolutely fabulous Uncle T’s xmas lights are. Oh my gosh…shooting stars, icicles Santa’s mailbox, a golden doodle all lit up, snow flakes and much much more. The house and backyard are so tastefully done that I know he will win the neighborhood first prize.  I am  going to figure out a way to put lights across the top of my roof and I still need to decorate the shrubs.  Anyway I look at it, the best I can hope for is 3rd place….

The youngest is up and he is hungry and cold, so it is time for me to close.  I have physical therapy for my hip today at 10 and then I will be back working in the house and maybe up on the roof top….ho, ho, ho.

The boys have their coveted Rock Fair going on at school.  This is a fundraiser for the 6th grade to keep the outdoor lab.  The boys are excited because they can purchase rocks and other items with their own money for Christmas gifts. They did ask if I would add ten or twenty dollars to their pot. That’s not going to happen…maybe I can add five dollars to each and we will all feel good about it.

Have a wonderful day and say a prayer that what or whom goes up does not necessarily come down.

Love to all and God Bless

LLF

Ok, even for me, traveling is getting old. At least I’ve been upgraded to first class for my return trip home tomorrow am at 8am EST. (that’s 6am Denver and 5am west coast) I then go to Seattle next week for 3 nights and booked a flight yesterday for a day trip to San Francisco the day after I return home. Luckily after I booked the trip, I spoke with a guy who works for us and we decided he should take the appointment in San Fran instead of me. Hopefully I’ll be done for the year after next week although I might meed to hop down to Phoenix and/or Dallas for a day.

The misses is still not up to snuff but is going to work today. She’s off tomorrow and then back at it Thursday if her back and hip hold up. The youngest had D.I. (destination imagination) yesterday after school. I picked him up at 4:30 and the Mom in charge was telling us all how creative he was out of all the kids. D.I. is where the kids pick their own theme and then build and present everything on their own. He’s done this before and had a lot of fun. It’s part of a national organization and kids all across the country participate. We’ll keep you posted on their theme.

Big stuff going on around here, we’re back in that “change” mode for whatever that’s worth. Even we don’t know what that means but opportunities are presenting themselves that might be too good to pass up. Not much else to say about that except if and when we have more information, we’ll let you know.

I don’t have time to jump into politics but again, know that the economy is going to get worse, there will be more social unrest (like the Occupy movements) and you, if the government has its way, will have less and less individual rights. I’ll be conducting a class on this subject and how to prepare and survive the coming turmoil in a few weeks if anyone is interested. You’ll be able to participate on line if you like. I’m really interested to know what you all think. Are you worried about the direction of the Country? Do you feel your money is safe in the bank or wherever you have it? Do you feel safe and secure when you walk the streets or in your own home? Have you made any changes in your life or preparations based on what you see going on around you? Now I’m not too optimistic that many if any of you will answer (maybe Grandma Annette), but even if you don’t, perhaps you’ll at least think about it. You need to be aware of what’s going on in the World and not just in your little suburb to really see what’s coming. I’m not preaching here n’or trying to scare anyone but feel it is important to try to let those of you who think everything is the same as always, know the trouble we’re in. Now don’t fret, the World is not going to end or anything like that but for those of you that remember the Great Depression, you haven’t seen anything yet. Most people think the Great Depression was caused by the stock market here crashing (as we were taught in school), wrong, it was caused by Europe not paying it’s debts and defaulting which then spilled over to America. Look out because the same thing is happening all over. The crash or problems will all start (already have) in Europe. When Greece falls, and it will, there will be a domino effect that will sweep through Europe and then head to our shores. Just a little history lesson. Does anyone remember what it was like right before the Great Depression? It would be interesting to know what everyone’s frame of mind was right before things came crashing down. I wonder how similar it would be to our climate today and if we could learn anything, hmmm.

Ok ok I’ll stop, time to run anyhow. I probably shouldn’t go off on these sermons because most of you don’t believe it or don’t want to hear it. Oh well, I need to at least try to inform you of what we think is happening as sooner or later it’ll be too late to do anything about it.

A big thanks, once again, to Uncle T for picking up the boys. As I said before, the misses would have had to quit her job without his and Aunt B’s help, thanks again!

Take care, have a great day, stay positive, and do something today to help someone you don’t know and help make the World a better place! God Bless

That’s right, between the football games yesterday we headed to Lowes to get some more Christmas lights for the house. I wish you could see us now, I’m sure passing airplanes can. But alas, we just might not be through. The misses hasn’t even pulled all of her gear out of the garage yet. Her arch nemesis Roxanne also stepped up her game yesterday by adding a herd of lighted deer to her front yard. I told the misses if you want to sabotage Roxanne all you need to do is go Nancy Kerrigan on her boyfriend Jimmy. One or two good whacks to his knees and he’d be out of the game and Roxanne would get nothing else up as Jimmy does all the work, Roxanne just directs. Being serious though, it’s really not a contest, Both girls just like going all out for the holiday’s, no matter what the occasion. As the misses pointed out yesterday, thankfully we don’t live across the street from Uncle T as his house even has shooting stars hanging from tree to tree!

Other than that the most exciting news of the day was the Broncos and Tim Tebow’s victory over the hated San Diego Chargers yesterday. Once again our team came back in the 4th quarter to secure the victory. WOW!

This morning at 5:30 (it’s 4:30 now) I’m headed off to Vail to renew my license plates. I hope to be back in Denver by 9am. Then lots of computer work during the day to prepare for my trip to New York tomorrow morning. The misses cold seems a bit better but she had a ripping headache all day. Today the boys head back to school. They have 15 days of school left this year and 19 days off. Hold onto your hats, at least the weather has been nice so they can play outside. They even spent some time in the neighbor’s hot tub yesterday afternoon.

Time to get ready for my morning drive. It’s actually a real nice drive to the mountains early in the morning. Traffic is pretty light and there’s lots of wildlife to see plus you get that beautiful sunrise. I’ve made the drive so often I could do it in my sleep.

Hope you all have a great day and week. December arrives this Thursday and before you know it it’ll be 2012. Hard to believe we’ve been doing this blog for almost a whole year, it sure has gone fast. God Bless,

How early do you all wake up? Am I the only one up at 4:30 to 5am everyday or are some of you up too? Just thought I’d check and see who if anyone, is awake. The way I see it is if I wake up around 5 am every morning, I can squeeze out about an extra 3 years of living over the next 20 years! You want to start getting up early now don’t ya? It’s a peaceful time as the house is quiet. First I go through my normal routine, feed the dogs, start the coffee and throw in any remaining laundry lying around. Next up I check for the paper (which usually doesn’t arrive until 5:30 or so) and then I hit the blog. After that, I’m free. I can go to the gym, read a book or just have some time to think about the day and any other things without distraction. It’s also pretty great to see the sun come up. When was the last time any of you saw a sunrise? It’s really something to see and never gets old.

Ok, enough musings on the early morning hours, onto the day. Yesterday I went to the gym and then had to run a few errands in the am while the misses and the boys finished putting the final touches on the Christmas tree. Then we were all headed off to Target to check out some new led outdoor lights for the house. We calculated that if the lights cost a total of $30 or less, we’d break even over the next month as they use 40% or more less energy than our old lights. This means a cheaper power bill and almost a break even scenario. On the way when turning into Target, there were 3 young girls (young 20’s) in short shorts and tight t shirts (almost looked like bikini’s) standing on the corner waving signs promoting a new restaurant that just opened. I forget the name of the restaurant (does it matter?) but the oldest was checking them out (the scantly clad girls) and as I made a joke to the misses about how cold they looked, he laughed and high fived me! Oh oh, time to have “the talk”. Anyhow we made it home and the misses began opening the boxes of lights while I got out the ladder and began stringing them up. After it was finished and dusk came, I have to say, our new lights put our neighbors homes to shame. The led lights just seem to stand out more and are much brighter than the old lights. The misses put up some additional touches like two wreaths and a hanging star she bought but will add some more later today as there’s this unspoken competition between her and Roxanne Rossi across the street with every holiday. I call Roxanne Ms Griswold after the Chevy Chase character in the Christmas Vacation movie. The misses is quite pleased her lights look better than any neighboring home.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around while the boys played outside and across the street. They came bounding in at 6:30 sharp asking “what’s for dinner?”. The wife and I are eating leftovers but I ordered up a pizza for them and ran up the street 20 minutes later to pick it up. It sure was a good pizza. We all headed up to watch a little tv and hit the hay (as they say in the midwest) for the night. Both boys have become quite the readers. They automatically grab a book before bed every night. The oldest is really a good reader and the younger guy has finally turned the corner as to where he now wants and likes to read too. It’s funny as you can see the same things and mannerisms in the little guy as we did in the big guy a few years ago. We’re thrilled they both like reading. The oldest will usually read to the youngest or vice versa. They’re getting to that age where they really enjoy spending time together and will just hang out but don’t fret, they still can go at each other like cats and dogs on a moments notice!

They both like to be tucked in at night which is usually my job as the good looking one is usually fast asleep. They’re both so sweet telling me “I love you daddy” and “let’s do something fun tomorrow” when they go to bed. The youngest always throws is “can I come in if I have a bad dream” to which my answer is always, of course you can. They’re really good boys and we’re very lucky.

Time to get moving so I can make it to the gym and get in my 30 minutes of cardio along with some core exercises. I hear the misses coughing but hopefully she’ll keep sleeping. Have a great day, take care and we’ll see you tomorrow, God Bless.

That’s my opposite of Black Friday if you’re wondering. We hope it’s sunny today, which it’s supposed to be, but you never know. Yesterday the misses kind of slept in but was up when I took of for the gun shop to work retail for the day. I didn’t know what to expect but was hoping for the best as it was my advice that lead to spending money on ads in the Denver Post and putting this whole thing together. My buddy really needed to move some inventory and isn’t the smartest when it comes to business so after some convincing, he followed my suggestions. We ran some specials (in an ad I wrote) and had manufacturer reps and a contestant from the tv show Top Shot on hand so all we needed was some customers. I pulled up and there were 3 guys standing out front a half an hour before the store was to open. Not a huge line but better than no one. We opened at 8am and had around a dozen people right off the bat. At then end of the first hour things were looking good but from 9 to 9:30 it was pretty sparse. Then all of a sudden, it hit. We had non stop customers until 2pm when we shut the doors. We probably sold $25,000 worth of weapons and accessories which was a really great day for this shop. Better yet we had people that drove from almost an hour away to find the store and had never been there before. Everyone was thrilled to find the place kind of like when a bunch of women stumble on a Prada outlet mall. I’m sure many of them will be back. We had couples in their 70’s to father and sons to women wanting to buy their hubby’s a Christmas gift. We also had a strong group of seasoned veterans from the Rangers and Special Forces (active and retired) as this place is a real pro’s shop as well. My buddy and his wife (who showed up an hour before closing) at the end of the day were thrilled and thanked me profusely for my advice. Today is day 2 and although I won’t be working the store, we’re hoping for a repeat of yesterday. He had a party at his home 30 minutes up the hill into the mountains after work but the misses still wasn’t up to par so I passed.

When I arrived home she was patiently sitting in front of the Christmas tree trying to figure out why one strand of lights wouldn’t work. Finally though her persistence, she fixed it. I ran down to a local dive restaurant for some tacos as we were all too tired to even fix some leftovers. The boys wanted to start hanging ornaments and we let them do a few but most will go on the tree today. We also plan to hopefully get the outside lights up. Ours are so old and broken we’re going to check out what the new led lights cost but might pass depending on the price.

The oldest slept in until 9:30 am yesterday! I told you he’s in that teenage sleep mode didn’t I. The youngest was up early as usual. Yesterday felt like a Saturday and today feels like Sunday so it’ll be nice to get that extra day of rest. It’s almost 5:45 and I think I’ll head to the gym so I guess I’ll sign off. We haven’t even thought about Christmas shopping yet and won’t until around mid December. I think Uncle T is all through. I need to call him as he bought the oldest a gift for his birthday and it looks like the misses best friend bought both boys the same thing! Oh are they spoiled, lucky lucky boys. This will also give Uncle T something to do as he’ll have to shop some more. We joked we should wait until the day before the oldest ones birthday to tell him so he’ll have to shop with the crowds in mid December!

Time to run, hope all’s well and that everyone’s stomach has shrunk back to normal size. Have a great day and God Bless,

Hope everyone had a great day and that you don’t have too much of a turkey hangover. Our meal was great thanks to Uncle T and the misses. Everyone arrived between 2ish and 2:30 and stayed until round 5pm. The boys were extremely well behaved at dinner. We just have to remember that sometimes kids are kids. The only major casualty of the day is the misses. Her cold is back in full force twice as bad as it was yesterday morning. Mine is a bit worse too but nothing like hers. It’s now down in her chest and she has that deep guttural cough. Both boys seem to have it as well but it’s hard to tell in kids as they seem to keep on going like the Energizer Bunny!

I managed to get the dishes cleaned up as we went so by the time everyone was leaving, the house was pretty much clean. Today I’m helping out at my friends store from 8 am until around noon and Mom and the boys were going to start getting out the Christmas decorations. I think I’m going to have to ask the boys to wait until I get home so Mom can get some rest. It’s still almost 70 degrees around here but is supposed to be a bit cooler (in the 50’s) today.

On the news they’re showing all the people out for Black Friday. I don’t know if the crowds are so big because no one has much money and they need to take advantage of the deals or because people are planning on spending more this year than usual. I suspect it’s the first as the overall forecast is that spending will be down. The news right now is saying the same thing, that too many people shopping on Black Friday can be a negative sign. Oh well, either way I told everyone last night to give us their Christmas wish list by about December 15th or 20th as that’s when we hope to have a little bit of money to shop. No chance we’re going to have any extra cash before then as we’re still fighting the endless pile of overdue bills around here. It sounds like Uncle T and Aunt B and Grandma are all over getting the boys a bunch of stuff which is good as it’s going to be lean year around here.

I have two more trips scheduled this year, New York next week for 1 night and then Seattle the following week for 3 nights. Hopefully after that, I’m done for the year but who knows what’ll come up.

At dinner, I was pleased to hear Aunt B ask me about a previous post telling everyone to get their money out of the stock market. At least she’s thinking about it. Now you all have to decide for yourselves but let’s say I’m wrong about this, what are you going to lose by taking your money out of the market for a year or so, maybe 1 or 2%? Think about it, not much. On the other hand, what if I’m right and things get worse or heaven forbid, the economy crashes and you lose 80 or 90% or all of you savings! What will you do then? All I’m saying is as a precautionary measure, get out while you can and park any money you have in a bank account for the next 12 to 36 months until things settle down. It’s a no lose move, I mean come on, it’s not like you’re going to miss out on 20% gains or something. Enough said, I’m not the smartest guy in the World but I am the best looking, or something like that! Seriously, (oh oh, here I go again!), there are a lot of really smart people moving out of the markets which are basically a scam and these days too volatile for individual investors. If or more likely, when, the big pension fund managers decide to make a move out, the market will nose dive. Don’t be caught riding the wave down trying to get out after these guys and the billions they manage jump ship. You ought to pay me for this advice, trust me, it’s inevitable. I mean look at the stock market just over the past two weeks, one day it’ll go up 150 points and the next it’ll go down 300. The apathetic public (you) have become so desensitized to these huge swings that years ago would have prompted mass panic. Does anyone remember Black Monday in October in the late 80’s? The market lost something like 500 points in one day and everyone freaked out, now this happens every few weeks and no one bats an eye. I’ll stop now as I’m sure many of you think I’m crazy or over-reacting but I just feel I have to say something to you even at the risk of you thinking I’m nuts! Ok, if you don’t get it by now, I’m not going to change your mind, (MOM) but please at least ask someone else or do a little research yourself, enough said. Like I said, what do you have to lose by getting out, not much! What do you have to lose by staying in, oh yea, everything!

The youngest just joined me on the couch at 5:35am. The oldest has been in teenager mode for about a year now meaning he’ll sleep as long as you let him. The misses thankfully is still in bed although I’m sure she’s up as she was most of the night. I guess Grandpa Bob was alone yesterday as Eleanor went to her daughters or something and he stayed home as he was having heart palpation’s which is brought on by panic attacks. Hope he’s doing well, it was probably the 49’ers losing to the Ravens last night that set him off! At least Green Bay won so my Mom was happy. I was praying for this as if they lost she would have been in a bad mood for dinner.

I guess I’ll run now and get the little guy some breakfast and get showered and ready to go work some retail, whoo hoo! Have a great day and weekend and if you’re looking for something to buy the misses and me for Christmas, think gold coins or ounces of silver! We can tell you the name of a reputable dealer where you can order some up!

God Bless,