A Year of Change

We’re all glad it’s the weekend. For some reason we all need a break. The kids from school and birthday parties, the misses and I from work. Oh wait, the kids each have a party to go to today and the misses and I have a bunch of work to do today on the VIP event for Andrea Bocelli. You see as I mentioned yesterday, the misses is taking the lead on this. She’s already made her target list of things to go into the gift bags. Among the items for inclusion in the goodie bags are upscale skin care products, artisan chocolates, baseball caps from Netjets, a Bocelli CD, a gift card from Whole Foods and Maggiano’s and more to be determined.

Now this is just one part of getting ready for the event. The menu has to be decided and finalized, VIP reception needs to be set up at the arena, music for the room backstage after the show needs to be found and arranged, dinner the night before, and the list goes on and on. Oh yea, and the event is 3 weeks from yesterday! She has her work cut out for her but knowing her passion for putting on parties, I’m sure it’ll be great. Who knows, maybe this’ll be the start of a new career. I told her yesterday, who else can say that their first event of the party planning career was for Andrea Bocelli! Should look good on her resume.

As I said, both boys have birthday parties today back at, you guessed it, Big Time, the trampoline place. We should get some kind of season pass there as much as we go. Tomorrow the boys are going snow boarding in the morning and then we’ll rush home for the football games. I’m not sure what the misses and I will do today, other than work, but I’m sure we’ll be cleaning the house and doing laundry. Hopefully we can get in a walk for the dogs. I think I’ll head to the gym now while everyone is still asleep.

Not much else going on. Lots of snow on the east coast but it looks like it’ll all be gone before I get there next week. 62 degrees here today with lots of wind. We’ve sure had freaky weather this year, it’s either freezing or warm like late Spring. You need to be prepared for everything.

Time to run so I can get to the gym. Hope everyone is well, have a great day and do something nice for someone today! God Bless

What do ya know, my Moms dislike of my sweater/coat has resulted in an offer from Aunt Ali to buy it from me for her nephew! (see yesterdays comments) Maybe I’ve stumbled onto a new business. I can wear clothes my Mom doesn’t like and then when others find out, they’ll offer to buy them! I’ll have to look around but I must have at least $129 worth of stuff she doen’t like. This is like winning the lottery, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before! I’ll have to call Aunt Ali today to discuss her offer. It will be a tense negotiation as when you’re dealing with high fashion like my sweater/coat, you just can’t agree to the first offer. After all, according to my Mom, this is the first time ever, she’s ever seen me (according to her) wear something that wasn’t cutting edge and stylish. I can’t let this go too cheap as I figure if I wear it around her a few more times, I can probably get an Armani suit of out of her dislike for it. I’ll keep you posted.

The misses worked cleaning the L.O.L. house all afternoon yesterday for an extra $50 which always helps out. Today both boys have spelling tests and the youngest is up now practicing with Mom. She works today from 8 until 5 and I have a sales meeting at the distributor at 10:50 and then an appt. at 11:30 and hope to be home by 1pm or so.

It’s warming up around here meaning the dogs are bringing in a few pounds of mud each time they go in and out. Not much else going on except lots and lots of work. We have a big Andrea Bocelli event, after his concert in Austin Texas on February 10th, and the person supposedly in charge in our company really doesn’t have a knack for event planning or details and seems a bit overwhelmed. So we’re going to put the misses in charge. I know she’ll be all over it, guests will receive gift bags when they arrive at the hotel, town cars will be waiting, and the private VIP reception with Andrea will be set up perfectly. After all, this is her forte, she lives for planning party’s. Who knows, maybe this will be her new career!

The misses and I did make it to the gym yesterday and we walked the dogs. Today it’ll be a bit tougher to squeeze in some exercise. The kids are going snow boarding Sunday and taking a lesson in the morning before the football games start so maybe the misses and I will ski for a half day. We probably won’t just because it’d be $100 in lift tickets alone. The kids lessons are free from a guy we know who’s doing us a favor.

Well, time for me to run as I slept in and it’s now 6am. There’s a bunch of new movies out we’d like to see and thanks to Grandma Annette and Grandpa Jim for the movie passes the boys received for Christmas, we for sure will be using them.

Ok, take care, have a great day and God Bless each of you, we’ll see you (talk to you) tomorrow!

I woke up at 4am today which I guess is not that abnormal for me. Good news is we went to bed around 7! The misses has a 6:30am meeting at work which is mandatory so she’ll need to get up around 6. She slept a bit better last night but did wake me a few times.

I have lots of work as always and really need to clean out the basement soon. I did get the house cleaned up pretty well yesterday before I picked up the kids and the misses got home from work. It seems to never end around here. I forgot to mention the other day that when we were driving five 8 year olds to the youngest ones party, one of the kids dropped something and blurted out “oh shit”. I turned around and said “what did you say?” to which he replied “holy crap”. I then said “what” and he sheepish looked at me and said as if he was guessing, “oh shucks??”. Hard to believe that in 2nd grade kids are swearing but it was pretty funny. Next up our youngest said to his friends, “my dad went to the leaning tower of pizza, and guess what, they don’t even serve pizza!”. All his friends said things like “what a ripoff” and “that’s not right”. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it’s the tower of pisa, not pizza, as they were having too good of a time. Sometimes if you can stop and just watch or listen to kids, it’s pretty amazing the things they say and do. Lucky his older brother was in another car or he would have corrected the situation by telling them all “it’s not pizza you idiots, it’s pisa!”.

Right after school the boys went straight for a new lego toy the youngest received for his birthday to put it together. Both kids room needs a makeover to the extent that we should probably apply to one of those tv shows. In fact, our kitchen really needs it. The formica on our counter has delaminated and it raised about 4 inches on one end sticking straight up into the air. We just look at it and laugh, what else can you do.

My Mom called me last night to let me know she didn’t like the sport coat or sweater or whatever it was, that I wore to dinner the night before for the youngest guys bday. I thanked her politely for her fashion advice and told her it was a good thing I only paid $19 for it at Nordstrom Rack. Now I personally like it (it’s actually a sweater that it styled like a sport coat) but I guess I can no longer wear it as if you all remember, my Mom is the Coco Channel of Lakewood Colorado! She did say she found a new coat she wanted to buy me so at least I get something out of it. She also said she thought it was the wrong size for me. When I told her that it was the correct size, she replied, “oh, well maybe it’s the way you stand”. It’s always good to get a few words of wisdom each day from your mother. I don’t know how I would have slept last night without this information, thanks Mom!

It’s really windy outside but seems to be warming up. I think we’re about to pay for all the warm weather we had over the past few months. Seattle had a huge snow storm yesterday that shut down the entire city which means it’s probably headed our way on the jet stream.

We’ve done really well with no tv. We don’t miss it at all but do still watch movies. Hence, I don’t have much to talk about regarding politics but I’m sure it’s the same old thing, nothing new. I’m sure Grandma Dix is happy.

Well I’m running out of material so I’m going to go. Food prices sure are going up, milk’s about $6 a gallon now, Wow! Hope you all are well, stay in touch and send a comment now and then. Most of you are really bad about participating, we need some feedback so drop us a line. Take care and God Bless.

The youngest started out the day with a good breakfast which he sure needed to get him through his spectacular birthday. He opened a few presents before school and then was off for the big day. Mom was running late so I went to Subway to get the boys some turkey sandwiches for their lunch. The day flew by as we were getting ready for the big party right after school. We showed up at 2:45 sharp and the misses coordinated all the kids getting in the appropriate cars. We then drove to another school to pick up the neighbor kids and made it to the party at 3:30, right on time. I then ran home to clean the house a bit while Mom stayed with, I think, 19 kids in all. I showed back up at Big Time (where the party was) to pick them up around 5:15. After waiting on a bunch of parents to show up (the last one was there at 5:45) we loaded up and headed downtown to meet Grandma, Uncle T and Aunt B for dinner. Now the birthday boy almost fell asleep on the way to dinner so we knew he’d be fading fast. Both boys did really well at dinner despite being tired. The youngest one was so tired he even passed on dessert which was a first! Thanks to Grandma for taking us to dinner.

We made it home around 8:30 and everyone was in bed by 9pm. It’s around 4am now and the misses works today at 7 which will be a bit tough as she’s been up all night long. She just couldn’t fall asleep!

We gave Grandma Dixie a call on the way home who scolded me as I omitted her when talking about the biggest 49er fans. Turns out she and Pa Don might just be the head of the Sacramento Fan Club for the 49ers. In fact, rumor has it, she was a former cheerleader for the team, the famous San Francisco 1849 ers! I was also taken to task (in a nice way) for not talking more about the cruise ship accident as I said I would. So here it goes. I had a chance to talk briefly with a few survivors who told me about the actual moment the ship went down. It was right at dinner time, right after they took their first bite (according to the woman I was speaking with) when all of a sudden the ship tipped onto its side. I asked if it was a gradual thing and she said no, it just went very quickly. Apparently what happened was after the hull was gashed from hitting the reef, the ballast tanks filled up with water and when they got to a certain point, the ship just tipped onto its side. Everyone in my hotel seemed to be doing fine and was taking the whole thing in stride. I think the people that suffered the most were the elderly as they were not able to get around as easy as the younger people. Of course this was the talk of the hotel and cheers to Marriott for taking in these people and lodging and feeding them at no charge. I didn’t get many more details but it was clear that it was a mad rush for safety. One person equated the experience to being on the Titanic. I’m sure this was harrowing but the Titanic might have been a step up. That’s all I have on the disaster. Pray for those still missing and hopefully they will be found. I’ve always said I’m not a “cruise guy”. For some reason I just don’t want to be held captive on anything that I can’t get off of when I want.

As I said, today the misses works so I’ll be making breakfast for the boys and taking them to and from school. The youngest has Destination Imagination after school so we’ll drop him off and pick him up around 4pm. We need to let both boys sleep as late as possible this morning as I’m sure they both need it. It’s 4:35 now so I think I can squeeze in a trip to the gym.

Tomorrow it’ll be 22 days since the misses and I had any adult beverages which is a milestone as they say it takes exactly that long to break a habit. Now this isn’t like smoking or anything as it’s just a mindset. We’re both in trying to get as healthy as we can this year. When we were getting the birthday boy his new bike, we were talking to the salesman who told us about a type of race that instead of a triathlon is something like a dualathalon meaning you have just the swim and the bike and no run, or two of the three. The misses is searching for various races to find one she can focus on. She might just go for the full fledged triathlon as she can swim, run and bike with no problem. We saw a beautiful tri road bike on sale as it was last years model. It was marked down to about $2500 which sounds like a lot but isn’t at all for a good bicycle. It’s actually a steal for what it is. For those of you that don’t know, a good road bike today runs between $7500 and $10,000! I’d sure like to get it for her but it seems pretty much out of reach. Maybe I can sell a hunting rifle or something and figure out a way to swing it as the misses really is a strong athlete. She’s one of those with natural ability, just a natural athlete. And while it’s true that 90% or so of your performance comes from training and heart, equipment does make a difference and is often the edge. Maybe we should start a fund for the misses new tri-bike??? Oh well, it’s always something. We’re still working on last years taxes but we’ll make do.

I’m debating whether or not to have a second cup of coffee or just head off to the gym. It’s supposed to warm up the next few days which will be nice so the boys can get some outdoor exercise. My right forearm is still killing me from lugging my carry on bags about 3 miles through 3 airports. It sure takes longer to recover as you get older!

I’m going to run, thanks for those of you that commented for the birthday boy, I shared your kind words with him. He was also very thankful for all his cards and gifts. We thank you too for helping make sure he had a great day.

Take care, God Bless and enjoy each and every moment.

Our youngest child is 8 years old today, WOW. First the oldest turned 10 and now 1 month to the day, the little guy (can’t say that anymore as it seems he grows every night) is now 8. We have a big day planned to follow up the pre birthday celebration from yesterday. Due to the holiday, the kids were off from school yesterday so we had a birthday lunch at his favorite local place and then took him up to Bicycle Village to get him a new bike. He’s of course very happy as his was actually too small for him last year and he rode his brothers whenever he could. He picked out a blue one with gears which is a step up for him as his previous “ride” had no gears. Turns out it’s actually a great time to buy a bike. Think about it, it’s the middle of winter and new models are arriving any day. So even though it was a tough expense to swallow, we’re really happy we were able to swing it.

Today the kids have school and he will be the toast of the town in his class all day and then it’s off to Big Time, the trampoline place where his brother had his party. There will be 12 or 14 kids, I can’t remember. It mushroomed into this large of a party as some kids overheard him inviting s friend at lunch and bam, the news spread fast. So there you are, 12 or 14 kids will be jumping up and down from 3:30 until 5:30pm. Then we’ll head off downtown to join Grandma, Uncle T and Aunt B at the Buckhorn for dinner. Thanks very very much to Grandma for taking us all out to dinner. The Buckhorn might be the oldest restaurant in Denver dating back to the late 1800’s. There are hundreds of animal heads all over the walls from bear to elk to deer to antelope as it is a true historical western landmark. There was some famous shooting there in the 1800’s which I can’t remember but it still has significance today. For me, I remember going there with my dad many times as he used to love it. This will be the first time any of us have been back since my dad has been gone so it will be bittersweet. Funny how life goes on and on. I hope the kids enjoy this place as much as we do, I’m sure they will. So it’s now 4;15am and soon the big day will start. I’ve been up since 3:30 or so as I’m still on Italian time a bit.

We went up to Grandma’s yesterday and she looks good but is still in mourning for her beloved Green Bay Packers. She’s still trying to make sense of it all as she said, the team just didn’t play like they normally do. We’re all sad for her but are now rooting for the San Francisco 49ers. This of course is the misses team and Grandpa Bob’s and Grandma Annette and Grandpa Jim and everyone else in the bay area. It’s also the only team that I have any attachment to as well, so go 49ers!

I forgot to let you all know how clean the house was when I arrived home as frankly, I was too tired to even see it. The misses really worked hard to get things sparkling. Of course it doesn’t take long for 2 boys and 2 dogs to make a mess.

We had a couple inches of snow yesterday and it’s cool outside now but I’m still heading off to the gym when I finish. I’m pretty much taking the day off with the youngest ones birthday so I can help with all the festivities. I think I’ll run now and get some more coffee and start the day. One more day of cold temps around here and then it’s supposed to warm up a bit. Give the 8 year old a call today if you can. The best time to reach us would be around 8:30 pm our time as we should be home by then. I’m sure the birthday boy will be showered with gifts today with a dozen kids attending his party. Sometimes his older brother gets more attention so we’re glad that it’s turning out to be a big day for  him. His brother came up to me last night and said, “dad, I haven’t got Ty a present yet” so today I’ll have to pick up something for him to give to his brother.

No tv yesterday and the kids didn’t miss a thing. Turns out nothing much changed in the world either. Politics still suck as does the economy and there’s still a bunch of bad people doing bad things. (you see the news never shows anything good as it doesn’t get ratings) We had classical music playing most of the day and I think I now know how to waltz. Maybe today the misses and I will dance!

Take care, God Bless and we hope you all are well and have a joyful day.

It was a great trip but it’s always good to be home. I woke up at 5:30pm Saturday Denver time (4:30 in California!) and was on a plane by 10pm Denver time out of Rome. About 21 hours later I landed in Denver after layovers in Munich and Chicago. All in all the flight was good, just long. It was great to see the misses and the boys waiting at the curb for me about 7:15pm. We all made it home around 8 and after a quick shower to get rid of the plane “gunk” I was in bed and asleep before 9. It’s now 4am here, or noon in Italy, which is pretty good considering my body is still on Italian time. It usually takes a few days to get back on schedule.

On to my trip, where do I start. Lots of meetings and good food. Obviously the highlight was meeting with Andrea Bocelli. I could talk for hours here but suffice it to say, he’s a really normal, nice good guy. I have lots of pictures and even video taped him on my phone for a half an hour or so which is pretty interesting. He does a annual concert in his home town at an outdoor amphitheater (that his brother Alberto designed) each year since 2005. It is called Teatro di Silencio or theater of silence. He gave me a DVD of the show and the misses and the boys and I will go in July for the show. He’s really an amazing man who is quite like you and I. We met with a number of importers we interviewed to see if we wanted to use them in other countries to sell our wine. I had meetings with Japan, Brasil, Russia and Kazakhstan, China, and the UK. We stayed in an incredible hotel and spa in Pisa where we had our meetings and were treated like kings. It turned out that I had met the Japan importer 5 years ago in passing at Vinitaly and he remembered me. After he mentioned this I too remembered him too. It looks like soon I’ll be headed to Japan and probably Russia. Oh well at least my frequent flyer miles will be built up. The next day after meeting them and hearing their best pitches as to why they should be chosen to sell our Bocelli brands in their respective countries, we met them at the Bocelli estate and introduced them to Andrea, his brother Alberto (who I’ve known for years) and his wife Cinzia. Needless to say they were all like deer in the headlights meeting Andrea which I understand but boy can those Japanese take pictures! Andrea was very gracious letting them have all the photos they wanted and personally talking with each of them.

We all then headed off to a great lunch (all meals in Italy were of course great) where we all got a chance to talk more socially. Andrea excused himself after lunch and his man about town Piero (who drives him and takes care of him) left as some famous composer from New York was flying in to meet him at his house to go over some musical something or other. I’ll be with Andrea February 10th in Austin Texas for a concert and maybe February 14th in Ft. Lauderdale. We’ll host receptions backstage after the show and introduce key clients to Andrea. He constantly joked with me about how cold Denver is and says he’ll only come back in summer. I wish he was having a show here so I could take my Mom down not only to see him perform but also to meet him.

Now onto the rest of the trip. For the first three days I met with winemakers all day long each and every day. Of course each day was topped off with a huge, and I mean huge, meal. I really didn’t drink on the trip maybe having a total of 3 glasses of wine, as in some situations I had no choice. The misses by the way has not had a drop since December 28th, look out as she’s looking really really good, and that’s not just me being gone for 8 days! We’re trying to find something to train for like a triathlon. I did run a couple of mornings while in Italy after borrowing  brace for my knee which really helped. I’ve never been a runner because my right knee always hurt but it looks like I can  start running with the misses.

This week I have a lot of catching up to do as I’m off to New York for 3 nights next week. I’m making some changes around here that I’ll fill you in on as we go but first off is no tv. We’re starting with none, zero, zip, nadda Monday through Friday and we’ll then see about the weekend. They way I look at it is we are only lucky enough to have a few years with our kids and then their gone, so I’ve decided I want to make the most of them. Now Im a pretty good dad and a pretty good husband ( you should probably check with the misses!) but to me, that’s not enough, I want to be a really great dad and husband. You see, my sole purpose is raising and providing for my family and I had sort of an epiphany while away for a week to make some changes. When in Italy, or in Europe for that matter, no one watches tv much, while here it seems it’s on often. Also “over there”, famila or family IS the most important thing. We could learn a thing or two from the european way of life. Nobody has any hidden agenda. they all just want to do some good business, live life to the fullest and enjoy family. A few weeks ago after I wrote about the french zest for life, Uncle T asked if we were unhappy. The answer is no but we feel, we can always be happier and to do this, it means focusing more on doing things as a family. By the way, the kids are all in as far as turning off tv (surprise surprise) and playing more or doing more things together like reading, listening to music and just spending time together. So off we go, we’ll keep you posted.

This week I need to probably take a run up to the mountains depending on the snow as I’m (with help) building a mile long fence up on the ranch where the fence line was inadvertently moved about 10 years ago. I first noticed this when my dad couldn’t find the old indian tepee and I soon discovered our neighbors had fenced off 40 acres for a bull pasture. After pointing this out, and having it resurveyed, we (the neighbors and us) are splitting the cost of changing it back. Turns out to have a fence builder do this, it’s over $15,000! I think I can get it done for about $3500 each. I already bought some fence posts but now need some more and a bunch of barbed wire and connectors. The boys are excited to go up there and help which really just means run around in the hills. Hopefully I’ll have this done by late April so we can put some cows on there to graze until October. We’ll keep you “posted”, get it, ha ha.

I hope to see my Mom, Uncle T and Aunt B today and the youngest one’s birthday is tomorrow, whoo hoo! He’s really excited and has about 10 kids coming to his party. I’m sure he’ll haul in lots of loot. I think Grandma is taking us all to the Buckhorn which is a really old famous restaurant here in Denver, that should be fun! My back is somewhat out from 3 flights and walking a few miles with my carry on so I think I’ll skip the gym today and maybe try to rest it up. I have some laundry going now and both dogs are sleeping at my feet, it’s good to be home. Also I have music on instead of tv but the coffee here sure is weak. Maybe I’ll run to Starbucks for a doppio espresso (double espresso). Andrea and I were commiserating about how bad Starbucks is and how hard it is to get a good cup of coffee anywhere, even in Italy. Coming from a guy who can’t see, I’m sure this is true as  his other senses, like taste and smell have to be heightened. It’s good to be home and I promise I’ll let the misses write more as I’m sure you all enjoy reading her posts as much as I do. You can tell by the way she describes the color of the sky, she looks at the world and life in a happy healthy way, seeing the beautiful and not the bad. I need to try to do this more, in fact we all do.

PS, I was also right where that cruise ship went down and a bunch of survivors were sent to my hotel in Rome so tomorrow I’ll share some first hand accounts of the whole thing, pretty scary.

Have a blessed day, take care and hopefully we’ll talk soon.

Good morning.  The Mister is on a flight home and he should arrive at 6:00p.m.  The boys and I will load up to retrieve him from DIA….hopefully the snow doesn’t start falling until tomorrow.  We are all very excited to have him get home.  The boys were both saying how much they miss him and how hard it is not to have him home. I’m sure he will be thrilled to know how much we all missed him.

The Mister woke up at 2:00a.m. Italian time to watch the Broncos game.  He should have stayed asleep.  The Broncos did not seem to bring their “A” game to New England, but it is still an accomplishment to have made it as far as they did in the playoffs.  Maybe next year.

My Dad had all but thrown in the towel during the niners game…oh…ye of little faith.  If you didn’t watch the game you missed a really great game.  Both teams played so well.  The Saints looked fantastic….but they have not won a playoff game at Candlesick in 4 tries…let’s make that 5 now, and the last play that the 49ers made was text book beautiful.  I had the 49ers picked to win against all odds…the oldest asked who I wanted to win because we do like both teams.  He said he really liked Drew (the Saints Q.B.) but since Grandpa Bob is a tried and true 49er fan he would cheer for the 49ers.  My Dad was so happy when I called him.  I’m sure Gram Annette and Uncle Jim were just as overjoyed. Now we just need the Green Bay Packers to win. Put on your Cheese Heads.

Both kiddos are still asleep and hopefully they will stay that way for a while.  Boy were they cranky last night. The youngest had the cutest “Mean face” you’ve ever seen.  The oldest and I couldn’t look at him because we might giggle and really make the youngest mad.  The oldest had his moments as well, but once his brother fell asleep we had some quality “Snuggle” time and then he asked if I would take him in to his room and tuck him in.  He doesn’t like to sleep in my bed…it’s not big enough for both boys to sleep sideways…understandable…it’s a bit difficult for me too.

The kids seemed to enjoy the gymnastics center.  They were quite sweaty when we left.  They climbed, jumped, ran and swung on and across everything their hands or feet touched.

We have a bit of work to do around here today…and we have to walk the dogs.  The boys don’t like to go on the walks because they can’t hold Mojo.  I can barely hold Mojo…135 pounds of furry excitement is difficult to contain.  I’ve tried treats in my pocket to keep the big guy’s attention, as Anti B. suggested, but there is no comparison…a treat or a moving squirrel…hmmm.  He is much better behaved with a passing dog… as long as Aunti B. is not the person on the other end of the leash. We’ll give it a go anyway.

I am off to make a pot of coffee to get me going… I really just want to curl up on the couch and watch a movie…not today L.

Have a great day….Go Packers….and God Bless,

LLF

Oh my, here in Colorado it’s Bronco mania.  The excitement in the air is absolutely palpable.  The media is talking about the Broncos and the Patriots game on every station. The media is not on the Bronco wagon of hope, but as you know…”Any given Sunday”. That of course means anything can happen on “Any given Sunday”.  I will hope a little and pray a little that the final score is in the Broncos favor.  I think the Mister is going to wake up in Rome at 2:00a.m. in order to watch the game.  He can sleep on the plane on his way home.

The youngest and I slept in until 6:50a.m. when the Mister called to tell us he was walking past the Roman Coliseum and the ruins. That is a perfect time to wake up.  The sunrise is just beginning, the clouds are filled with purple and pink and the horizon is glimmering with golden orange.  I would love to go for a run under such a beautiful sky…maybe on Monday  after the Mister is home.

The youngest just invited the “Big Dog”, Mojo up on the couch. He (the dog) seems quite content to be lying in the middle of the youngest and myself  absorbing all the love the  munchkin is offering. The mister just called again and we just got trampled by 135 pounds of furry vengeance.  Ouch!

I am taking the boys to an open gym for tumbling and gymnastics today. I hope it’s a fun time for them.  We were going to see a movie after school yesterday, but they were both taking turns at complaining about life, each other, how unfair I am and so on.  I think they were both hungry….after I got some food in them, they turned back into the sweet boys that we all know and love.  Buy the time they came back around I had already removed going to the movies from the evening options, so we just hung out.

I am planning on a fun day with my mini crew.  Maybe one of our friends is having a playoff party we can crash.  I’ll make some calls…Grandma…Uncle T.  any parties going on?

Well I am off to make breakfast and do a bit of housework. Hurray.

Have a great day…Go Broncos…and God Bless.

LLF

Good morning.  The dogs are in and climbing all over me lobbying for their a.m. rub down.  It is quite difficult to type with 200 plus pounds of dong on you.  The Mister was our wake up call this morning…at 6:00 a.m. He had just finished lunch with Andrea Bocelli and was taking a walk with some friends.  The meetings sound like they went well, but I will have him fill you in on the details.

So, the wind…45 mph gusts with the wind chill  making the temps feel more like the 20’s instead of the 40’s. The Weather person said to bring in from outside anything that you don’t want to fly away.  The wind just blew so hard down our chimney that it blew out the pilot light. Too cold for me…I will have to really bundle up to get the dogs their walk. Ugh!

The youngest stayed home with me yesterday.  He read multiple books to me and wrote out his spelling words and sentences three times each.  I let him know that if he stayed home there would be no television…and there wasn’t.  I asked him at about 10 a.m. if he was really sick or if he just wanted a Mommy and Ty day.  He said. “I just wanted us to have a day together….do I have to go to school now?”  I told him that since he told the truth  he could stay with me, but we would get his work from his teacher and he would have to complete it while the oldest completes his homework. We all had a good day and both boys went right to work on their homework after school…finished by 4:30.

I volunteer in the 2nd grade today and then I have a P.T. appointment at 1:00p.m. The doctors and p.t.’s have cancelled every appointment I have had since before Christmas.  Unbelievable.  We will see what they have to say.

I think the boys and I may go see a movie tonight or tomorrow….before the game. It is “Orange ” friday here in Colorado to show our support for the Broncos.  I am going to have to  search for Orange for the boys to wear.  I may raid dad’s shirts to throw over the top of whatever the boys choose to wear.

I am sure both kiddos grew in the night.  They both came running past me…yes running and I am quite sure that their legs are longer today.  The dogs think it is a chase game and I am chanting “Stay Calm Mommy”.  I am trying not to micro-manage everything the boys and the dogs do.  I can remember when I was a little girl, running through our T.V. room and seeing how far I could slide on my jammy clad knees on our kitchen floor.  The kitchen floor must have been 40 yards of polished linoleum…great for sliding.  Sometimes I would  start at the halfway point in the kitchen…there was a swinging butler door that connected to the dining room.  I would bust through that door like a cowboy entering a saloon and then sprint though the dining room and living room, around the corner of the foyer through the family room and then sliiiiide… It was so much fun, especially after a dry coat of Future Floor Wax. Super slippery! I also climbed up in every door jam around the house.  I would just hang out there with my back leaning on one side and my legs crossed and braced on the other side.  It was always nice to be at eye level or above with my Mom and Dad.  I don’t remember being scolded or asked not to do any of these things, so I’ll just chant and let the boys run until something gets broken.

If you have a childhood memory or two…please share.

I am off to find orange shirts for the kiddos.  Have a great day and God Bless

LLF

Good morning.  We slept in until 6:15 when the youngest decided it was time to go downstairs.  The oldest is still asleep and I won’t wake him until 7:00.  He was up reading in bed last night and I am sure he was awake until at least 10p.m.  He is reading “The War Horse” and when he is finished with the book we’ll go see the movie.

Both dogs are in getting their morning rub down.  There is a lot of hair coming off these critters.  I didn’t vacuum yesterday, so the more hair the better. I’ll get their walks in sometime today…so far so good on the New Years resolution.  Lacey was sleeping with her leash….just a subtle doggie hint that came trough loud and clear.

The boys babysitter from years gone by, Sarah, came over to say hello and get in a quick visit yesterday.  You would have thought the boys were made up entirely of testosterone.  They wrestled…they ran… they jumped on each other and on the couch…they showed off their 6 pack abs and they both had a sparkle in their eyes that I haven’t seen before.  They were definitely flirting.  Ugh!!  While Sarah was here the youngest decided to call his dad at 4:00p.m….12:00a.m. dad’s time…sorry.  We had a nice visit with Sarah and the boys calmed down after she left….thankfully.

The boys were wound up from no recess due to the cold and snow.  The oldest shoveled our walkway and sidewalk for me for only $5.00.  I told him that this is a one time deal and the snow will now be his chore since we have passed the backyard dog duty on to the youngest.

The snow is beautiful…shimmering with gold and pale pink.  The sky is so blue it looks like it was painted.  Not a cloud to be seen…that’s a good thing.  I hope the snow melts today, especially since the lovely, glistening, white powder is covering the dastardly ice. As you know the ice threw me a curve ball so to speak.  I was driving at 10mph on the way to drop the boys off at the Harris’s before work yesterday.  I turned the corner and started sliding.  I was pumping the brake so hard and holding onto the steering wheel so tightly that I thought I was Fred Flintstone and my foot was going to go through the floor board and the wheel was going to come off in my hands.  I thought about turning into the slide, but  I would have taken out the whole front end of the Suburban.  We almost stopped in time…bummer. I said the “F” word and the “D” word during the slide and after we hit the iron fence. The youngest said “Mom, please don’t say the “F” word again…followed by the oldest asking me not to say the “D” word again…”It’s just as bad Mom”.  The boys seemed fine other than being exposed to my foul mouth.  I was a bit shaken,, but it could have been worse…a car could have been coming the other way or someone could have been crossing the street.  All in all, we faired okay.

I took the trash out in my bare feet….I most certainly won’t do that again.  Our trash guy comes early…7:00a.m. and I didn’t have time to put on shoes.  I can  not believe how much the cold snow hurt my feet in just a minutes.  I had to wrap my feet in a blanket and jump up and down until they warmed up.  My feet hurt so bad that I am going through my gently used shoes to donate as soon as the Mister gets home.

Well, we are off to school.  If you have any old, gently worn shoes I’ll be happy to pick them up and drop them off for people in need.

Update…the youngest doesn’t feel well and wants to stay home….no T.V. and no junk food. I’ll keep you all posted on his well being.

Have a great day and God Bless.

LLF