A Year of Change

Well it’s here, arrived pretty fast didn’t it. This time tomorrow, (depending on what time you’re reading this) we’ll be knee deep in wrapping paper and gifts. My greatest pleasure is making everyone else happy and seeing them open their presents. I’m at the point in my life where it really is better to give than to receive. Lori is always so worried about me not getting anything and there’s nothing I can do to convince her that I really don’t care.

Sure I’d like a few things,(new car, million bucks, expensive binoculars, new suit, etc.) who doesn’t, but the real joy is getting her and the boys things they would never ever expect to get. The greater the surprise, the more fun for me and the more I want to get it. Pretty sick huh?

Lori works until about noon and I’ll run a few errands and then we’re all going to church at 5. After that we’ll get to cooking as my Mom, Tom and Ali are coming over. I need to check my timing to make sure I can do everything and still go to church. They have an 11pm service but we’re hopefully asleep by then.

Yesterday was busy busy busy. The house is clean awaiting our guests tomorrow and yes the stockings are hung by the chimney, or fireplace, with care, so we’re pretty much ready.

Time to get to the gym, hope you all are well, take care and God Bless, ho ho ho!

Well, here we go, Christmas is coming. We’re now down to counting hours, not days. This morning I’m off at 6:45 to the distributor and then will be at the grocery store at 7:30 when it opens. Hopefully I’ll be home by 8:30 or so and have all put away by 9. Then I’m off up north to Cabela’s and an appointment which should put me home sometime around 11am.

By then Elvia will be here cleaning the house, which really doesn’t make much sense as I always have to clean the house to get ready for Elvia to clean our house, hmmm. Anyhow she does a great job on the kitchen, bathrooms and other stuff I don’t really get to. It’s more of a deep cleaning.

Yesterday Jag woke up with a fever and by the time Mom arrived home she had a sore throat herself. We all took Mom lunch at her office yesterday to give her a lift. After that I left the boys at home and ran out for some wrapping paper. That took about 45 minutes! This afternoon I’ll need to put that to use and wrap some stuff still waiting to be put under the tree.

Tomorrow Lori will work until noon and I’ll start getting the dinner going. It should be a good meal. Of course we have church at 5pm I think, before the festivities begin. Throw in some logistical issues I’m dealing with in Italy and a patient or two at Lori’s work who ignored Dr. Rodgers instructions (probably requiring emergency surgery today) and we’re just trying to get through the next 36 hours ourselves.

So hope you all are ready, it’ll come and go fast, take care and remember, God Bless!

Yesterday Lori and I headed out for some Christmas shopping and during the course of the day we didn’t realize that we would encounter would seem like two different Worlds. First off we drove down to Cherry Creek which is an affluent shopping center of sorts with Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and so on. We valet parked and headed in to a crowded but orderly and polite mass of people. Everyone was so nice, even though you could tell people were rushed. After a good hour plus we loaded up and headed out for some lunch.

Next stop was Colorado Mills, a mega mall out by us, for some wrapping paper at Target and a few last minute toys for the boys. We turned into the mall and bam, it was gridlock. We’d never seen so many cars clogging up every single road within the mall. We knew right away we had to get out of there. There was a noticeable difference between the people, both in cars and on foot. In cars, no one would let anyone else in. It’s as if they were all purposely nudging their car ahead in the roundabouts and not making eye contact so other cars could’t get in. The people walking in and out of the mall looked like they were all on welfare or just came out of the DMV. It took us a good 15 minutes just to work our way in so we could turn around and then another 15 plus to try to get out. Mind you, we didn’t even get out of our car. This was just us trying to get out of the mess in the parking lot. I made a few advanced moves and worked my way up to the movie theater and using my best italian driving skills, cut in here and there to get out or we might still be there! When we finally were making our way down the street we drove in on we looked up and saw a truck we were behind (before I took charge) that hadn’t moved an inch.

Now some might say that this mall was just more crowded but proportionally for the number of stores, the number of cars and people seemed the same. What was different was the behavior of the people and surely this directly coincided with the income level of the people. No two ways about it. The more affluent were more polite, nicer and more orderly while the welfare crowd was (and sorry to stereotype but stereotypes come from somewhere) was rude, out of shape, (yes there were lots of fat people), poorly dressed (you can still be poor and take pride in what you wear!) and overall seemed angry. You could definitely tell there was also a difference in the education of each group of people.

So this was like a big sociology study on people. I know there were educated people in the Mills crowd and uneducated in the affluent but the majority of each was as described. We’ve always had this in society but what was noticeable this year was just how much more the divide was. I’m not one for socialism or income equality (forced or distributed by the govt) but it was right there in front of your face and undeniable. The second crowd was also more of a dangerous place to be, you could just feel it. Anyhow rather than focusing on the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer, I think we need to focus on the root of why, which seems on the surface to be education and second but not as obvious, having a strong 2 parent family unit. It was sad to see but from a parents standpoint, you want to make sure your kids are in the first group! This means a good education and trying to hang with the right people. Too many kids these days (and you can even see it now in the boys schools) are already going one way or another, mostly based on the environment or family unit that they come from. That’s why being a good parent is so important.

Today, we’re going to spend a little money we don’t really have, and make sandwiches for the homeless people and take them downtown and hand them out. Up first is some phone calls for me and work for Lori. Ty spent the night at the infamous Vinny’s, and Lori and I wrapped some presents. Aunt Robi, you need to watch for a couple of things arriving Wednesday and so do Dixie and Don. Annette, yours is coming after Christmas as Lori says you’re in Seattle.

Time to run, hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

Oh my God, 4 days until Christmas, Whoa Nelly. (that’s an old expression to make a horse stop in case you don’t know, not sure it ever really worked unless the horses name was Nelly) Today we’re off to church and then we need to try, somehow, to get some shopping done.

We drove down from the mountains last night to beat the storm. Before we left I noticed water leaking on the inside wall in the garage, super. It was from all the snow on the roof. Oh well, I’ll get the homeowners association over their on Monday. Thankfully the snow and cold temps will freeze it today, hopefully.

Ty and I made it to the top of the mountain yesterday. It was cold and snowy and a long long way down the mountain. After the 2 hour trip we decided to have lunch and called Lori and Jag to join us. A glass of wine and a few hot chocolates later and everyone was warmed up.

Last night Lori and I watched a movie while the boys played together well upstairs. I’m glad we came down last night so Lori can have one more day of rest. She sure deserves it and trust me, she can use it! She’s been so busy that she really hasn’t had time to get in the Christmas spirit and when I think about it, neither have we. We’ll need to dive all in now that the boys are out of school. Lori has work Monday, Tuesday and a half day Wednesday so there you have it, time to get busy.

Hope you all are well, enjoy the next 4 days as it’ll be gone before you know it, take care and God Bless.

It’s supposed to snow big time in the mountains so last night after Ty’s basketball game, we loaded ourselves, the kids and Mojo into the car and headed to the hills to beat the snow.

Today Ty and I will go skiing and Lori and Jagger will do their own thing. I’m sure Mojo will get in a half dozen walks or more. I think we’ll head down early tomorrow so we can make church but we’ll see. We might ski again in the morning.

Lori had another drama filled day at work as did I. Too crazy to even describe. Ty had a great party at his school and Jagger did well on his finals. I think on Monday we’ll hopefully get to start Christmas shopping for you all meaning don’t be looking for any gifts before Christmas Eve.

Speaking of Christmas Eve, looks like we’ll be hosting dinner at our house after church. It appears easiest for us to host it so host it we will.

Time to go so Ty and I can hit the slopes, hope all’s well, 5 days to go, ho ho ho, God Bless.

Today is it, the last day of school until January 6th, whoa boy. Yesterday was another blur with us rushing around trying to get all our work done.

Jagger had no lunch (we’re out of food) so I took a Subway Sandwich to the school office which they said they’d deliver to his class. When I picked him up both he and Ty said they had no lunch? I called the school and after some research, his teacher had accidentally given it to the wrong kid. Of course the other “kid” just took it and didn’t say anything. A few hours later his teacher called and was very apologetic and said he insists on buying Jagger lunch today! Ty meanwhile somehow didn’t get a chance to eat as it was Colonial Day and I think they were supposed to have sack lunches and he was going to eat in the cafeteria.

So I loaded them both in the car and off we went to Elway’s for an early dinner. Lori had her work party and wouldn’t be home until 9 or 10 so I decided to get her Christmas shopping done at the same time so off to the mall we went after dinner.

Today is my little brother’s birthday! Tommy is 54 today, whoo hoo! Happy Birthday. He’s not doing anything tonight and Ty has a basketball game and then I think we’re headed to the hills to ski tomorrow.

Lori’s party was fun but long. She said she could have just done with the dinner and skipped the canvas and cocktail part of the evening.

Ty’s school party is today at 1:45 and then I need to run out and pick up Jagger at 2:20 and then we’ll go back and get Ty.

6 days until Christmas, ho ho ho, God Bless

Yesterday was a good day to turn 13. Jagger and all of us had a fun birthday. We wrapped it up with dinner at Sushi Sasa with a fun, tasty dinner.

Today is Colonial Day at Ty’s school. Yesterday his class was rewarded with no homework for the rest of the year as everyone turned in all their work during the week. Today Ty is dressing up as an indian, just like his brother did when he had the same day.

Today after work, or about 4pm, Lori and everyone from her work will go out to dinner for their Christmas celebration and then to a place called Canvas and Cocktails where they drink wine and paint, on a canvas.

Meanwhile I’ll be working away trying to get my last purchase order in from Texas. It’s $112,000 and I have to have it. The back and forth on this one has been going on for 2 weeks but I think I have it all done, cross your fingers.

Last Lori fell at work yesterday as she somehow had computer cords wrapped around her leg and when she stood up, down she went. She’s sore but hopefully ok. We’ve both had stomach aches for a few days and think it must be something we’re both eating, hmmm.

That’s it, we overslept and running late, God Bless.

Well today Jagger turns 13 years old. Talk about time flying, wow. Today is full of activities, presents this morning before school and then out to dinner for sushi tonight and then going up to Grandma’s to wrap the day up. In between of course we have school. Throw in a quarter of beef arriving around 1:30 this afternoon to put in the freezer and there you have it.

Yesterday was of course busy. The highlight of the day was the Beatnik Club at Ty’s school where all the kids read poems they wrote. In beatnik fashion, everyone snapped their fingers instead of clapping. Ty wrote and performed a nice poem about trees. Then at 6:30 Jagger and I went to the Manning Christmas Concert. He of course can’t play but had to go for his grade. The orchestra and band improved a bunch from the last concert right after school started. Ty came with us but Mom picked him up on her way home from work a little before 7pm when the concert started.

I still have some straggling purchase orders that must come in today. It’s a constant battle of back and forth with purchasing departments to get them to issue the documents. All documents must be in order as they have to pass both Italian and U.S. customs and immigration to have the container leave Italy on a ship and then be admitted to the U.S. upon arrival. Hopefully today I’ll wrap it all up. Cross your fingers.

Hope everyone is well, take care and God Bless.

I’m leaving at 6:45am this morning with Jagger to get him another x-ray on his arm. Hopefully we’re continuing to make progress. I need to be back in town by 9:30 so it’ll be a quick up and down trip.

Yesterday was another fun filled, pressure packed day. I was off to the distributor early and then here and there and everywhere. Finally I had to sit down on the couch at 4pm for a rest. Lori worked late and was also tired. The best thing about Christmas is maybe we’ll get to sleep in, oh wait, the kids will get up early for sure!

Guess I’ll run, hope everyone is well. Take a moment to sit back and listen to some holiday music and look at the lights as it’ll be over before you know it.

Take care and God Bless.

The day started off with me going to the gym and then stopping by the grocery store to pick up an almond croissant for my Mom. She’s usually still sleeping when I come back from the gym so I just make a loop in the plastic bag and hang it on her screen door for her to find when she takes her dog out in the morning.

Once I arrived home we all hurried to get cleaned up to go to church. This week we decided to visit the church where Jagger goes to Youth Group on Sunday nights. Turns out it was very fun and seems to be a good fit. Ty went downstairs with the other kids and had fun with all the Christmas activities and then was watching a Charlie Brown Christmas in the movie theater, and eating popcorn, when we came down to get him after the service. The associate pastor was a real nice guy and we knew some people as it’s pretty close to us.

Once we were home it was time to make chili and then watch some football. It started to snow about 9am or so and was going on and off all day long. I’m up 30 points or so in my fantasy game but the other guy has 3 people playing tomorrow night. So barring a total collapse by Jay Cutler of Chicago, which could happen, I’ll probably lose.

At 5pm Lori dropped Jagger off at the Youth Group Christmas party at church. It went until 8pm and he had a good time. Finally around 9 we all headed to bed.

Today I still have some purchase orders to get in and then a bunch of phone calls. It’s going to be a busy week as tomorrow Jagger and I have to drive back up to the mountains for another x-ray. Then Wednesday it’s his birthday, and he wants sushi for dinner, cha ching! Ty has 3 events at school this week with his party on Friday and then, bam, they’re off until January 6th!

So there you have it, a busy week and then Saturday we’ll start our shopping, if I last that long. Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.