A Year of Change

Can you even imagine having a headache 24 hours a day for 3 straight weeks? I can’t. After getting a number of shots in the back of her skull yesterday, the misses still has the constant pain. She’s supposed to go back next Tuesday but in the meantime has been referred to another specialist who will inject some cortisone while the misses is under going an xray. I am not going to let her go 5 more days with no relief. I’m not sure what I’m going to do but I have to do something.

Today the oldest has his Jedediah Smith presentation in his class at 9:15 and we’ll all be there. Yesterday was the first day back to school and both boys slid right back into the groove.

We also had a first as Grandma Dixie learned how to comment yesterday, here it is,

Dixie and Don says:

Today I need to make some tough choices at work. I’m probably going to have to let 1, maybe 2 people go, or at least 1 and move the 2nd to part time. I’ll also probably bring back an employee that we let go half way through last year. Numbers don’t lie and sometimes you have to make decisions you don’t want to for the greater good. Oh well, enough of my problems, how about the misses.

We finally made it to the doctor yesterday afternoon and he, to my surprise, was 100% on our side. He told us how the insurance companies want to push you through the system and walked us out to reception to insist that the misses see the in house specialist today at 11:30. At first they said he had nothing available but our doc said, put her down, he’ll get her in and I’ll write a staff referral. Finally some movement. First off the misses will head downtown for a 9:30 appointment on our dime as it’s “out of network” which just means, we have to pay. At this point, money is not the issue. It’s trying to get the misses some relief. The place she’s going is the only place that helped 2 years ago when she had the same headaches. Of course the best place isn’t covered by insurance, right?

The boys had their last play day of the 4 day weekend and made the most of it. Most of the day was at the neighbors while I worked, mostly on the phone. We made some short ribs for dinner but they took longer than anticipated so they kids ended up with Chinese food for dinner.

Today it’s back to school for the kids and lots of work for me. It’s supposed to be really windy tonight and still cool outside. Time for me to run now so have a great day and take care. Hope everyone is well.

I finally finished cleaning one side of the basement yesterday after another couple of hours downstairs. Meanwhile the misses was trying to rest her neck and feel better. The boys played hard all the way up until swimming lessons when I loaded them and the youngest neighbor boy into the car to go. Mom was down the street getting another massage trying to get some relief. Most of her day she was working on the youngest ones dragon head for D.I.

When we arrived at the School of Mines, we were surprised to see we were the only ones there! It seems swimming was cancelled due to the holiday weekend. Obviously we didn’t get the memo, or check the website! I did convince the girl lifeguard to let them get in the  water for 20 minutes or so. The oldest guy is swimming really well and got in some laps while the two younger kids splashed around a bunch.

Our boys and the two neighbor boys had devised a plan to all sleep over at their house so after checking with their parents, we said ok. Now you’d think what fun for us to have a night to ourselves but all we did was go to sleep. It’s almost 6am and Comcast comes between 7 and 8 as we’ve had no home phones since Saturday morning. Lacey the lab tore open a big black trash bag and strew stuff all over the house during the night. I’ve already vacuumed but don’t tell me dogs have no memory as she isn’t coming down the stairs as she knows what she did.

I guess it’s our fault for leaving it out. I’ve got a bunch of phone calls this morning and then the misses and I have self defense class at noon while the little guy is at D.I. Then at 5pm , both boys have class. The misses is determined to go but I think she should take it easy until her neck gets better but her logic is, “it’s going to hurt whether I go or not”!

Alright, Mom’s up working on the dragon head and time to hit the shower. Turns out Lacey was also eating the paper mache off the dragon head as it’s made from flour and water, super. Have a great day, take care and God Bless.

First off, thanks Grandma Annette for the following comment from yesterday, she said;

The only time I had fresh bread was when Serena was a little girl and my mother-in-law made home made bread every Wed. We would go over to her house and wait for it to come out of the oven. She would make 6 loaves and we would eat 2. My Grandma Annette and my Mom never made homemade bread as my Grandpa ran general stores . We only had home baked goods at Moms when my Aunt Leona came down from Canada. She would make bread and the best sticky buns in the world. You guys better get real about making your own bread as you don’t have enough time for all the things you have going on now. Bread making is a long time consuming process and has to be done just right. What are you going to cook the bread in with no electricity or gas. You better build a brick oven in the backyard and stockpile a lot of wood or buy a generator and a lot of gas (don’t stockpile gas at the house). Gas here could be $5 a gallon by summer, maybe that will keep a certain someone out of the White House again. I hope Lori’s neck feels better, isn’t there something the doctor can do for it? Take care, love you all.

Now I had to call her and let her know, we already have stoves and ovens that run on kerosene and have about 200 gallons of fuel safely stored. Gas is too volatile to store on sight but we do have some close by that’s treated with “Satbil-ize”, a gas preservative. Grandma Annette is quite the gardner so we’ll be enlisting her help in a month or so when we begin Spring planting.

Yesterday started off with my run and then we were all off to Krav Maga, Israeli self defense classes for the boys. They were really excited as it’s lot of fun and they both broke multiple boards with side kicks at the end of class. Today they have swimming!

On the way home we dropped the youngest at d.i. (destination imagination) and went home. The misses went down the street for a massage while I started to clean up the basement. Next the oldest and I were off to pick the youngest up and then all three of us went back downstairs to go through stuffed animals and dvd’s. We came up with about 100 animals and 70 dvd’s to donate to Children’s Hospital. Meanwhile the misses was trying to stay still and get some relief on her neck. The afternoon went quick and we were supposed to go out to dinner way down south and then to a comedy show that started at 9:45. Now this would have put us home around midnight and we just couldn’t get up for it. We did have our favorite babysitter booked and felt we couldn’t cancel on her, so the misses and I were trying to find something to do.

A few days ago I had read about a new Scandinavian restaurant called Trillium. Since we couldn’t find any interesting movies, we decided to give it a try. Luckily we got a reservation for 7:30 and off we went. Long story short, it was a really great dinner. It’s fun to find a new place where the food lives up the the hype. It was also nice for the misses and I to just have some alone time. So after a great meal and adult conversation, we were home by 9. We were all in bed by 9:30 and fast asleep.

The misses just came down and her head is hurting really bad, we have to get this fixed. She has another massage today but we need to get to the root of the problem. We’ll be asking (telling) the workman’s compensation doctor to refer us to our physical therapy place of choice when she goes to the doctor tomorrow. These doctors don’t care, they rush you in and out as you’re just another name in the system. Time for me to jump in and take freakin charge. It’s supposed to be a bit warmer today, almost 50, so I’m going to try to finish the basement and get the garage done. 200 cases of wine will arrive by plane before we know it.

I’m going to finish my coffee and head to the gym and jump on the treadmill. I have to stick to my routine as I’m an all in or all out type of personality. Hope everyone is well. If you don’t know how to post a comment, just scroll to the bottom of the post and click on “leave a comment” and follow the instructions, it’s pretty simple.

Take care and God Bless,

If you scroll down to yesterday’s post, you can click on “1 comment” and see Aunt Robi’s reply from yesterdays post. Glad to hear she’s happy and in a good place. It’s so cute she actually thinks “she’s the favorite”. This argument has gone on a long time and I’ve come to the point where I just let Uncle T and Aunt Robi both think they’re Mom’s favorite as I know the real truth. Anyhow, back to yesterday.

The misses neck is so jacked up she actually broke down into tears a couple of times yesterday. I’m so pissed I’m thinking of getting a lawyer and suing the physical therapy place that caused this. We finally reached the doctor who called in some pain pills but they didn’t do much. I just took her up some frozen blueberries to put on her neck or forehead to try to sooth her pain. We’re supposed to go out to dinner tonight and then a comedy club but I don’t know, maybe we’ll have to cancel.

Yesterday afternoon, we took the boys and Jennifer to the movies. It was long overdue and they had a great time. We were planning on using Grandma Annette’s Christmas gift of movie passes but of course, when we arrived they told us we had to first book on line to use the passes. So out came the credit card as I couldn’t tell them no and leave, and into the movie we went. There’s always a catch.

Today I’m determined to get some deep cleaning done. I’ve kind of started on the basement but really only picked up so I can now start to clean. I was up at the shop (gun shop) with the guys yesterday, and we were all talking about that National Geographic show, Doomsday Preppers. You see, the gun shop around here is kind of like the local barber shop was in the old days, a bunch of us drop in on a regular basis to hang out. Some people go to Starbucks to meet, we go to the gun shop. There’s Dave, the Wheat Ridge cop, Bill, the FBI agent, Brian and Tom, ex military and so on. We all know each other well and have been friends for years. There’s always a few dogs lying around too. The tv show came up as Tom, the store owner said he couldn’t order any new guns from distributors on Wednesday as they we’re all sold out. We all wondered what was going on but as soon as I got home, the misses said, “it’s because of the show”. Turns out she was right. They had over 4 million people the first week and 5 million the second and it seems a lot of these people went out and bought guns causing an unexpected shortage, Wow!

Now we don’t need any more guns but we do need a Country Living grain mill. These are about $400 but allow us to mill our own flour and make bread for .70 cents a loaf instead of the $5 or $6 a loaf now costs! In the long run , it’ll pay off so we need to get one sometime soon. We’re always looking for ways to be more self sufficient and save money. Nobody makes their own bread anymore, in fact our kids have only had fresh bread, hot out of the oven, a few times, while I’m sure my Mom and Grandma Dixie and Annette had this all the time when they were kids. Wow how times have changed, and not always for the best. I have an idea, if anyone wants to buy us the grain mill, we’ll keep you in fresh bread! Remember, those that donate will be first in line to be taken in once the shit hits the fan, ha ha! (now don’t you Grandma’s get all serious as we know and appreciate all the donating you’ve done for us throughout our lives)

The boys played hard yesterday and are sleeping well. The oldest had so much popcorn at the movies, he had a stomach ache and had to go to bed early. I think he hit a turning point as he said “dad, from now on I’m eating no more junk, only good food”. They’re such good kids, we’re very lucky. In fact, we’re so lucky, I think we’ll win the lottery tonight, wouldn’t that be nice.

Alright, I’m going to run, literally, so I can get my exercise in for the day. It’s a holiday weekend so I hope everyone has some fun plans. Hard to believe it’s almost March, take care and God Bless.

No reactions from yesterdays post. I wrote that trying to see how you all felt about what’s going on. None, zip, zero, nada, reaction from any of you. My lovely wife responded but did so to me in person. What do you guys think about this year? Are you excited (going into Spring gets all humans and animals excited, it’s a scientific fact supported by numerous studies) are you depressed or are you kind of just stuck where you are. For us, it’s all attitude. Listen guys, life goes fast, you have to grab it by the cojones. If you don’t know what that means , call me.

I was talking to a close friend yesterday, the brother of my partner, who’s going through a draining divorce. His relationship has been on and off again for years. I was actually at his wedding some 15+ years or so ago. He and his wife are very religious these days but weren’t always. Anyhow I finally got him on the phone yesterday as I need some computer help and he’s our software guy. When he called, I couldn’t even tell it was him. He confided in me that he’s a wreck, hasn’t been eating much or even drinking water! He said he’s dehydrated and losing weight and every day, and even though he prays, his wife seems to take a pound of flesh from him almost daily (his words). I tried to encourage him to get up and get out of the house, go work out, get on a plane and come visit, anything to move forward, but he wasn’t having any of it. He said he couldn’t help me with my computer problem until today so I said ok, told him to take care and we hung up. I called his brother, my partner, right away to tell him that his brother’s really in a dark place. So dark that he should go over and see him. He listened closely and thanked me saying his brother doesn’t always open up to him. The point here is, life throws a ton of crap at you and while you’re getting hit in the face with it, it’s hard to be positive and look ahead. But I think that’s the time when you need to summon up all the courage and inner strength you can to fight off the demons or whatever they are. Now it’s easy for me to say this today as I’m not going through what he is. I hope that when adversity strikes, and it always does, I can practice what I preach. Oh well, one day at a time.

Don’t get me wrong, things aren’t all rosy here, the misses neck is really jacked up. I’m short a bunch of cash on bills, and taxes are soon coming due. I have tons of challenges at work. I need to come up with $500 for the annual fee for the kids pool this summer, (they always want their money by March 1st even though they don’t open until May 31st!) the house is falling apart and I have a freakin dead brown tooth that needs veneers. So, there ya go, lots of crap here too. However if you look at the positive things, I have a great family, my wife and I love each other very much, she’s my best friend, we have two great, really great kids, I have a job, and we’re pretty healthy. So, is the glass half empty of half full. I think the good things in my life far outweigh the bad. How about you?

Ok, no more sermons, let’s talk about yesterday. The oldest stayed home from school and went down to Uncle T and Aunt B’s while we went to lunch with our friends from Iceland, Bogi and Sola. Sola’s sister is in town from Denmark for 2 months so she joined us and we all had a great time. They’re vey much like us, except from Europe with a whole lot more money, although you’d never know it. They followed us back to our house to get some wine to take up to the mountains and we made them stay outside for a few minutes so we could at least pick up the laundry strewed around the house. We also let Mojo in to divert their attention from our messy home. They of course, being polite, said “this isn’t messy at all!” The wife and I were talking and realized how much we like people from Europe. We know quite a few and none of them, at least the ones we know, have any hidden agendas. They’re all just living, embracing and enjoying life. We think that there’s something about being raised across the pond that gives them a different perspective than we have. Maybe it’s just the people we know, oh well, they’re really good nice people.

Meanwhile the oldest one was still at lunch with his Aunt and Uncle, (he was feeling much better) and soon we had to go get the youngest from school. The the little guy and I were off to get cleaning supplies for our total house makeover which starts today and hopefully ends in a few days. You see, our house is a freakin mess and we need to start in the basement and work our way up. All the furniture needs to be moved and floors need to be cleaned, baseboards, everything. Before we can do that though, we need to really look at everything closely and throw out anything we haven’t used in a couple of years unless it has sentimental value. Toys, clothes, old books and papers, everything. I’m sure we’ll have a big pile of stuff on the curb in the coming days. Part of our motivation is we have 200 cases of wine arriving on the 24th.

After we bought the cleaning supplies, I ran up to the gun shop to pick up my M4 (a military semi auto rifle) that I had a new competition trigger put in, for 3 Gun matches. (3 Gun is a program where you compete against other shooters on a course using a pistol, rifle and shotgun) To compete, you need to kind of trick out your weapons so they shoot faster and are more accurate. It’s just like any other sport except with bullets, you need the right equipment.

The wife has physical therapy this morning and we need to take the truck in for some work. We’re convinced the therapy is what jacked up her neck in the first place so she’s going to tell them not to touch it. We’re going to try to get the boys to the movies today in between our cleaning as we promised last week and ran out of time with swimming. Tomorrow we’re going downtown to Kava Maga (the whole family) which is a form of Israeli self defense and conditioning. (I can’t run everyday) The place is having its annual big open house and celebration. It’s lots of fun for the whole family and sure beats sitting around watching tv.

The youngest is up with me, (5:30am) while everyone else is still sleeping. Time to run so I can get a jump on the basement while the good looking one is still sleeping. Hope you all are well, we’re looking forward to Spring (we’re humans) but seem to be stuck at 35 or 40 degrees everyday. Leave a comment or send and email or give us a call, or wait, do something you haven’t done in years, write us a letter! It’s so exciting to get some mail that isn’t a bill, if you know what I mean. God Bless.

I don’t know about you, but I definitely have a different outlook and feeling about 2012 than previous years. I can’t really put my finger on it but it’s just a combination of a bunch of things that has given me a more positive feeling about where we’re headed. Maybe 2012 is the actual “year of change” for us. Maybe it took all of 2011, and writing about it, to set ourselves up for the actual change. Let’s take a look at it, so far this year, we’re much healthier, the misses has an opportunity to get into something she really enjoys doing, I’ve basically changed (at least in my own mind which is the first step to implementing actual change) the whole structure of our Company and the way we do things, and most importantly, I now have this inner peace that everything is going to somehow work out and be ok. We still have lots of bills and our home has lots of things that need fixed and the World, well, it’s still a mess, maybe even more so than it was a year ago, but with all that said, somehow I feel like we’re headed in the right direction as a family and good things are on the horizon for us. Just a gut feeling, hope I’m right!

Yesterday the misses was off early and the oldest was not feeling well. He didn’t have a temperature so we sent him to school with the caveat that if he didn’t feel well, I’d come and get him. I had a bunch of errands to run in the morning as I needed to do some things to get some cash in the bank. By the time I got home, it was 1 in the afternoon and soon after, I received a call from the school as the oldest guy was in the clinic with a temperature. I went to pick him up and we stopped to pay a few thousand dollars worth of bills on the way home and picked up some udon soup to sooth his cold. Mom took off from work 30 minutes early to make it to the youngest ones teacher conference where all was good. I meanwhile stayed home with the sick guy cleaning the house. By 4 I had to jump back on the phone and was on until nearly 7pm. I missed dinner with the family (on the phone) so the misses brought it down to me in my office. Next up was all four of us in our bed for an hour and then it was time to go to sleep.

First thing in the morning after dropping the boys at school, I ran to get the oil changed (interesting huh?) and $200 later was back on the road on the way to the carwash. Exciting stuff!

Today I have a call at 8:45 am that’ll go until around 11 and then we’ll run downtown for lunch with our friends from Iceland (she’s a doctor and he sold some biotech business for a bunch) to discuss a joint sustainable food venture and raising some grass fed cows in Wyoming. Just one of the things we have going. In short, we have the connections and they have the money.  I also had a long conversation with my other “little sister”who’s now running a german wine import company and lives in Tucson. She’s also a Master Sommelier, one of 17 females in the World (it’s a big deal in the wine business) and a good friend for years. Her company is based in Carlsbad CA and she said she bought a condo there by the beach but only spent 10 days there last year. She told me that we should go out and use it but she doesn’t have any furniture. You think I travel a lot, she had 202,000 miles last year on United alone and more on Southwest and Jet Blue. That’s a lot of time in airplanes. I’m kind of her mentor so we talk often when she needs some advice but we’ve both been so busy and we haven’t spoke for a few months. My Mom will remember her (Laura) as we all had dinner a couple of years ago in Arizona. Anyhow, maybe we’ll go use the beach condo when it warms up!

It’s now a little after 5 and I need to go get my run in. Hope you all are doing well. Remember half of the battle is having a positive attitude. (it’s an up day for me, can you tell, ha ha) It’s not always easy to do with the problems we all face, but as my Mom says, try to keep your chin up. Take care and God Bless.

My back’s a little sore from running but I shouldn’t even mention it as the misses has had a headache for days, maybe weeks now. We think it’s from the physical therapy that she’s been going to from her injury at work. We have to get her out of retail. She just cannot stand on her feet for 8 hours at a time lifting heavy bags of groceries. We’ve been waiting for the offers to come in to finance her new event business but haven’t received any yet. Maybe your checks are in the mail!

Yesterday was busy as usual. It started off with the oldest one in the clinic when we arrived home from the gym. I quickly ran over to school while the misses went down the the L.O.L. house to give Bunkie his shot for the 408th day since she started. Yes Bunkie is still around and the misses is still giving the shot but getting really tired of it. I mean come on, I don’t care what it is, try doing ANYTHING for almost 400 days in a row. Giving a bitting little dog a shot every day wasn’t meant to be a part of anyones daily routine. It’s right up there with taking a shower or brushing you teeth each and every day. Ok, I’ll stop venting but I feel her pain. But, she refuses to ask the neighbor (who sometimes does it when we’re out of town) to do it for awhile. That was my suggestion.

Anyhow, I heded right over to school and went to the oldest guys classroom to check on him. He was working away decorating his Valentines Day box with the rest of his class and even though he didn’t feel well, I could tell he wanted to stick it out as the big party (last one of the school year) was coming up in the afternoon. He thanked me for coming and told me he felt like throwing up but was ok now. Later in the day, this would catch up with him.

The misses and I made it through our day, me mostly on the phone and the misses running here and there. At 1:30 she headed over to the school to host the youngest ones classroom party. I made it there by 2 as I was supposed to help. When I walked in, she had everything handled. (of course she did, I mean she just pulled off a successful party for Andrea, what’s an 8 year old party!) So I went down the hall to join the oldest guy in his classroom. When I arrived they were having an impromptu dance party with the teacher and all the kids dancing to music while exchanging their Valentines. Soon it was 2:45 and school was out. We all jumped in the car and headed home and we could tell the oldest wasn’t feeling well. I had to run an errand and then we ran up to Grandma’s to say hi for Valentines Day. When we arrived up there, the oldest one was really dragging. We stayed for only a few minutes and went right home to get him some tylenol and dinner and send him to bed. Everyone feel asleep fast except me who stayed up switching the channels between National Geographic’s new hit show Doomsday Preppers and the Nuggets basketball game. Turns out 5 million people are watching this new show that shows regular people preparing to take care of their families as they don’t trust the system for various reasons, hmmm. They (the government ) says there are over 5 million people who are serious “preppers” in the country meaning they are learning how to grow their own food, and other skills in case things in our little hand out world don’t continue as is. Enough on this but if you have a chance, tune in to Nat Geo on Tuesday mights.

Now back to me, ha ha. I’m down 8 pounds since we arrived home. Egg whites, chicken breasts and vegetables only, plus running at least 2 miles (30 minutes) each day, seems to be working. I’m on a mission and am now afraid to even look at anything like a donut. Next time you see me, especially those of you out of town, you’ll see a new slimmer trimmer version. Ok ok, I’ll stop, at least until tomorrow!

Time to head to the gym. The misses works at 7:15 so I need to get there and get back quick. No time for weights today, only a 30 minute run. Take care and God Bless, have a great day.

In this day of texting, emails and everyone in a hurry, where has all the romance gone? Why are we all in such a hurry? I can’t remember the last time I received a letter that wasn’t a bill. Does anyone write letters anymore? Oh wait, Grandma Dixie does. When was the last time you went out to dinner as a couple, just to go out to dinner to be with each other? As we’ve advanced technologically, it seems we’ve forgotten how to interact on a personal level. We’re all in such a rush to get this or that done that we’re missing out on enjoying the moment. Well for today, take a breath and just stop. Take time to enjoy life and be with those you love and care about. Or do something for yourself, take an hour and read a book or go for a walk, anything, just step out of the fast lane of life for a moment. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did. Happy Valentines Day!

Yesterday we were back to the grind. I spent most of the morning on the phone while the misses was running from here to there trying to get caught up. Today she has the youngest ones Valentines Day Party at school. Of course, as you might remember, she’s the room Mom because no one else volunteered. Thankfully she, as always, stepped up. I don’t understand why people don’t get involved with their children’s lives. Uncle T and Aunt B do more for our kids than some of those parents at school do for their kids, not cool.

I had an early afternoon appointment at the dentist to get my dead tooth checked out. It looks like insurance will cover a couple of thousand dollars of the expense but the rest I’ll have to come up with if I want to fix it. We’ll see. I had bought some crab the other day when it was on sale and the misses and I cleaned it up and had a crab omelette for dinner while the boys had pasta and sauce. Then we worked on their Valentines for them to take to school today. I think we were all asleep by a little after 8.

The youngest is up with me right now and has been since about 5, as had a runny nose that woke him. It’s now 5:45 and I’m debating whether to go to the gym now or wait until after we take the boys to school. It’s still cold outside, around the mid 30’s with no end in sight. The youngest just told me my hair is getting a ‘little grayish”  and asked if he has an armpit hair? Too funny. I was supposed to go to NY next week but I think I’ll pass as I have about 200 cases of wine arriving via air freight. I will be in Italy again around the end of March and who knows where else before then. I’m somewhere around 20,000 miles so far this year.

Time to run and decide what to do this morning. We hope everyone has a great Valentines Day. Take time to smell the roses as they say, enjoy.

Wow, I didn’t realize I wrote 2500+ words yesterday, sorry for the long post. Grandma Annette commented that it sounds like we both did a great job but once again, all the credit goes to the misses. For me, I just did what I normally do which is basically develop relationships and sell stuff. It was my beautiful wife who made it all come together. Ok, I’ll stop now as I’m sure your all getting sick of the love fest and show details. We’re very lucky to get to do some of the things we get to do and we know it.

Yesterday it was back to reality. We spent most of the day cleaning the house. Tons of stuff is broken around here, faucets upstairs, big drafts in the doors that needed to be plugged for the cold temps, and so on. Winter swim also started yesterday at 4pm and will go on every Sunday until Spring when Spring swim starts. I cannot believe how all those kids just jumped in the pool and swam laps non stop for an hour! The wife and I joked that we would haven’t have made it 10 minutes. They both swam great but the oldest one really has a fluid smooth, almost effortless stroke. He must get that from his Mom. His long lean frame is really built for swimming. The youngest one is still half in play mode but has a real strong kick. They finished up at 5pm and then it was off to pick up Chinese food for them as a reward. The misses and I had chicken breast and cauliflower. After showers we were all off to be before 8pm.

Today I need to come up with some extra cash for some extra bills, some things never change. I also am going to get my front teeth finally fixed. I have this dead brown front tooth that I’ve had since I injured it playing basketball when I was about 18 years old. I’ve kind of forgot about it but 3 people literally asked me what happened to my tooth when I was in Texas. That’s it, I’m not that vain but time to get that damn thing fixed. I think they shave it down and put some kind of veneer on it. Another unexpected expense I’ll have to find the cash for. I should have taken my Mom up on her offer a few years ago when she said, “I’ll pay to have your front teeth fixed!”. Bad decision to pass. We’ll keep you posted.

Time to run as it’s a little after 5 and I have to get my 2 mile run in. I’m on a freakin mission, 100% committed. (some of you are thinking maybe I should be committed!) We have dinner tonight with our friends from Iceland at 6pm and still don’t have a sitter, anyone available???

Take care, have a great day and I was so wrapped up in telling everyone about what we did that I forgot to send out a HUGE thank you to Uncle T and Aunt B for letting the boys stay with them while we were gone. Nothing would have happened without their help! They’re the real heros. We were talking when In Texas about what a great Aunt and Uncle they are and how they’ve saved our lives many times in the past year. Plus they’re really good to the kids and it’s good for them to stay with them. Sure they give the kids candy, big deal, but they also make them shower, brush their teeth, and keep them in line teaching them right from wrong. You guys would have made good parents.

Ok, take care, God Bless and bring on the warm weather.