A Year of Change

Thanks to Grandma Annette for her comment yesterday, here it is,

Ok since no one commented yesterday, here’s one,

“Apparently, I’m supposed to be more angry about what Mitt Romney does with his money, than what Barack Obama does with mine.”

I have to get the politics in early before Grandma Dixie tunes out! Yesterday was the annual 5 team relay swim meet at the pool. It started at 2 and was over at 9:30pm. Lots of fun for the kids but a long time for the parents. Early in the morning after we dropped the oldest at camp the 3 of us went to Red Rocks to climb the 70 rows of bleachers a few times, Mom’s legs are sore today!

We’re all tired today and will probably take it easy although the oldest is already at camp.

Hard to believe the Supreme Court upheld the mandate that Congress can make people buy something, WOW. This will have long term ramifications on many issues to come. Now I do think everyone should have access to health care but don’t think the government should be able to make a person buy something. Our company decided if this was the decision, we will now probably be dropping health care for our employees and instead give them some money which is too bad as we won’t be able to give enough for someone to buy it without kicking in their own money. We jut can’t afford it under the current scenario as our premiums are up over 100% since it was first implemented. Oh well, it is what it is.

Time to run, have a great day,

I think we have over a dozen fires burning in the state. It was 90 degrees at 10pm and the news channels were all showing houses burning. The latest fire broke out yesterday afternoon around 3 when lightening hit near Boulder. This one looked close but it is 20 miles away. The smoke is almost unbearable. It’s almost to the point where you shouldn’t go outside. They say the big fire down by Colorado Springs will burn for at least a month while the one up north has been going since June 9th. There doesn’t appear to be any end in sight and more could start with the slightest storm. It’s bad.

Here’s a comment from Annette and yes we do love the pouches, thanks!

Yesterday, the oldest came home from camp dirty from the dust, tired from the heat and cranky because the camp guides would walk four feet and point out a tree…walk four more feet and point out a blade of grass. Needless to say….he did not feel that the first day of camp was very informative. The temperature reached a record shattering 105 degrees…UGG! Hopefully, today will be better…the camp and the temperature!  The kids are walking through tall grass today and I have no idea what the guides will be pointing out.. The kiddos are required to wear long pants today…grass cuts or snake bites??  I pray for no snakes and no hay fever…you all can throw your prayers out there as well.

The youngest got out the school directory and proceeded to call friends for a play date.  The first friend was home sick and the second was overjoyed to be invited over…as was his mom..I’m sure.  The kiddos played here for a couple of hours and then we went to the pool for a couple more.

We had an uneventful dinner…no one liked my lemon chicken on a stick but me.  I did make a lemon pie (my mom’s recipe) with the meyer lemons from her yard.  I think the family liked the pie…however, the oldest just informed me that I put more filling than usual….and the youngest doesn’t really like lemon…he would rather enjoy a chocolate bar for desert.

My Dad sent us home fully stocked with smoked salmon that he caught.  We already defrosted a package to gobble up this afternoon…yum!!

The Mister just left with the oldest to drop him off to ride the camp buss to the “Tall Grass”, and the youngest is lobbying to play on the computer.

I need to vacuum…the boys warmed up rice for themselves last night, and by the feel of the floor underneath my bare feet… they got as much on the floor as they did in their mouths! I can’t begin to describe the unnatural feeling of dried rice mixed with “Fido” hair under my bare tootsies…”EEEWWWWWW”, pretty much sums it up.

The youngest has literally hundreds of Legos to pick up from the floor in his room….when you step barefooted on Legos it’s more of an “Ouch” or “@#$%” than “EWW”.  Neither is very pleasant.

Grandpa Jim sent us unexpected and fabulous treasures in the mail yesterday. Two leather powder pouches that his grandpa brought to the USA from France during WW I. They’re really, really cool.  Thank you, thank you Grandpa Jim.  Oh well, time to run….a lot to do today.  Take care and have a great day.

God Bless,

LLF

We made it home from our lost weekend around 6pm. When I say lost weekend, all I mean is it’s Monday again and it doesn’t feel like we had any rest. If I gave the idea that the misses didn’t have fun, that’s not right. All I said was that sometimes reunions are not what you expect, however she did have a good time. It was good for her to reconnect with several of her close girlfriends.

As a side benefit, we did see Grandma Dix, Pa Don, Grandpa Bob and Grandma Eleanor. We made it back to the airport in time for our 1:30 flight which was delayed due to a busted overhead compartment. Thankfully we had first class so it wasn’t too bad.

We had one comment from Annette yesterday and her it is,

You are right Doug, reunions are never what you expect. I have my 50th(OMG) in Sept. and don’t know if I will go. I’m still close with my best friend Kathy and have reconnected with a few people on facebook. I found people at reunions are still playing the same games as high school and who needs that. A best friend of my brother passed away last week and I called a few people I hadn’t talked to since Mom’s memorial and Jean and I are having lunch with 2 of them. Thats a hard way to reconnect with people but maybe we will keep up with their lives a little better now. I’m sure Lori was the most beautiful girl at the reunion and you were the most handsome man.

Today the oldest goes to day 1 of his 5 day summer camp. He goes each morning at 7:30 and gets home at 4pm each day. There are 12 fires burning in the state so we’re a little hesitant about him going but the park he goes to today looks pretty good. The air quality though is not very good. On top of that today will be the 4th day in a row with temps over 100 degrees. This is really bad for June as it’s never this hot. The youngest is lobbying to skip swim team this morning as his brother will miss it all week.

We have a lot going on these days and especially this week. I need to pick up a load of wine today and then have about 200 cases being flown in from Italy on Friday. It won’t be long until we have boxes strewn all over the house again.

In closing here’s something to think about as you go through another day in your life,

We have bigger houses, but smaller families;
More conveniences, but less time;
We have more degrees, but less sense;
More knowledge, but less judgement;
More experts, but more problems;
More medicines, but less healthiness;

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.

We built more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication.

We have become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are times of fast food, but slow digestion;
Tall man, but short character;
Steep profits, but shallow relationships.

It is a time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room.

~ Dalai Lama

Take care,

Did you ever see the movie Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn? It was remade a few years ago with Harrison Ford. Anyhow it’s about this young homely girl that goes away to Paris and comes back this elegant worldly woman. Well, that’s pretty much what the reunion was. It seems that everyone had been stuck in a time warp here in Sacramento while the misses left and now returned as a princess.

We landed in California around 1pm and grabbed our rental car to head to Grandma Dixies. After visiting a few hours, the misses two good friends showed up to visit as they weren’t going to go to the reunion. That should have been our first clue! She had a good time with them and soon it was time to head over to the dance hall. We walked in to 3 people sitting at a table and I was promptly handed my badge as Mr. Sorensen. It was a bit awkward at first until she found her friend Terry. Thank God she was there as this is who the misses bonded with most of the time we were there. Some old friends, boys and girls were recognized but it seemed as though everyone was intimateded by the misses. She just looked like she was in a different league, which she is. It was also kind of like the movie Grown Ups if you know what I mean.

We hung around for a few hours but left early as there wasn’t a whole lot more to it. I’ll let the misses chime in with a comment but wanted to get something up before we head to the airport. It’s good we came to see her friends but if there’s any lessons from reunions it’s you can’t go back in life, there are no do overs and people change in 30 years. I think these events are never what you expect n’or do they live up to your expectations. Anyhow I told the misses she was lucky to reconnect with 3 girlfriends as I didn’t reconnect with anyone at mine.

So, I’ll load up my elegant worldly beautiful wife and head home to our beautiful wonderful 2 boys in a few hours and it’ll be back to our life in Colorado. Sacramento will have to wait awhile for Sabrina to visit again but I’m sure they’ll all be talking about her and her trophy husband!

God Bless

Here’s two more comments,

1. Tom says:

   June 22, 2012 at 1:58 pm

   First thought that pops into my head is, must be the most memorable, is being at the cottage in Wisconsin and playing baseball. It was Grandmas turn to bat, she took a full swing and spun all the way around and fell to the ground. We all rushed to her thinking she was hurt and she just got up laughing and was totally fine. As for my Grandpa, my most vivid memories are him coming to visits us in Colorado he would always sit up on the landing close to the tv with his hand cupped around his ear to be able to hear. The other was when Ricky our cousin a good size boy at the time did something to upset G’pa and he being a small man went over grabbed Rick by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. I learned that day not to piss off G’pa. As for the parents, I have to many good times to mention. I will say we had a blast at all the bankers conventions. In all honesty all my memories with mom and dad are special. Christmas was always a beautiful event at our home, birthdays at Taylors supper club and going to the ranch fishing. See I told you I could go on and on.

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   June 23, 2012 at 3:14 am

   My grandma Annette (Mom’s mom) lived with us from the time I was 2mo. old. When we were little Grandma let us climb into bed with her in the mornings and she would read us books. She also had a parakeet that she taught to talk . We liked it when she would let it out of the cage and it would fly around and land on our head. Grandma Annette also hand made and knitted a lot of my doll clothes. My Grandpa Angus lived in San Jose with my step Grandmother Ann. Dad’s mother Serena died when he was about 16. Grandpa and Ann had a 2 story house with a carpeted staircase that we spent hours sliding down. The first time I stayed at grandpa and Ann’s I was about 4 1/2 (I don’t remember but Mom did) Mom really missed me and couldn’t wait to see me. I cried because I wanted to stay at Grandpa’s. I think she wanted to strangle me. Serena did the same to me and Mom was very pleased. Ann had a lot of antiques. I got to sleep in a double bed that I needed a step stool to get into. Grandpa was a carpenter and had a shop in the garage. We watched him make things and it smelled like fresh cut wood in there. He also played the bagpipes. We thought that was really funny. We always thought Grandpa and Ann’s yard was so big. They had a lot of fruit trees. Ann canned the fruit (I got to help) then we put the jars in the spooky old basement. They also had a cat (we had a dog) that would sleep with me when I was there. Jim and I went back to the house a couple of years ago and the yard was a lot smaller than we remembered. Grandpa also smoked a pipe and it always smelled so good.

   I remember clear as day Grandma playing baseball with us, she couldn’t have been more than 4’10” or so but stepped right up to the plate. I don’t know how old she was but when you were a kid everyone looked old. My Mom was writing down some stuff yesterday also that we’ll have to incorporate into the blog next week.

   When I was a kid my Dad also smoked a pipe and it too smelled good, there’s something about pipe tobacco that has that sweet smell unlike cigarettes.

   This morning we’re off to the swim meet and then the misses and I will leave for the airport around 9:30. The oldest and I have had upset stomachs for a few days and today isn’t much better. Oh well, you just have to power through it.

   It’ll be 102 or 103 here today which is way too hot! Hope the fires don’t flare up. I’ll try to write in the morning but it might be tomorrow night when we get home. have a great weekend, God Bless,

Well, at the last minute, we’ve (or should I say she meaning the misses) has decided we’re going to California tomorrow for her 30th high school reunion, Oh boy! We’d talked about this months ago but had decided, or so I thought, that we were not going to make it. I’m not sure what changed but now we are going. The only way this is possible is by using 100,000 United miles for our tickets. For that many moles we could each go round trip to Hawaii or Europe! It just kills me to use that many miles to go to Sacramento as I usually save these for trans Atlantic trips but whatever the misses wants trumps all else. We couldn’t find a flight until around noon so we’ll arrive just in time for the big party and then we fly out around lunch time on Sunday. So, it’ll be a quick trip and sorry that we won’t be able to see any of you but it’s just a quick in and out.

The misses has been burning up Facebook (I refuse to join myself) with all her friends letting them know she’s coming. I hope she has a good time as mine was kind of anti climatic. It is funny to see how people turned out 30 years later. Often the “cool” people in high school are not so cool now. Anyhow I’m sure she’ll have fun. I’ll tag along and be the trophy husband that I am!

Now on to yesterday’s comments. We’re so glad that a bunch of you are participating. I’m kicking myself for not suggesting some of the ideas that make everyone comment long ago. It’s much more fun to have feedback from everyone than just us rambling on and on. So, here are yesterdays thoughts from some of you!

1. Tom says:

   June 21, 2012 at 2:31 pm

   This is now getting to be a little scary, yesterday Robi and my first thoughts matched and now today I match your thoughts. One correction it was some other kid that came by and looked in the box of fireworks with a sparkler in his hand that set it all on fire. Remember all the fish jumping at the sparks. Another good memory was, I was at Grand Lake one year and they had a huge fireworks display over the lake one went up in the air and didn’t explode and landed in the lake about 20 feet of shore and about 15 seconds later it exploded from under water and the sparks came tumbling down on all the spectators we all had to run for cover. Sounds a little scary but it was one of the coolest sites I have ever seen.

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   June 21, 2012 at 4:25 pm

   When we were little kids Dad would bring fireworks home from Nevada, you could buy anything there (and he did). He and the dads would put on a show in the street for the whole neighborhood. We always went somewhere to watch the fireworks from S.F. and Oakland (we lived in Richmond). July in the bay area was always foggy so you could see the fireworks on the ground or go up in the hills and see the high ones over the fog but not both. One of the most exciting 4th of July’s I spent was with my cousin Lynn and my aunt Marge and Uncle Don. I went with them to a cabin somewhere out of Jackson with their neighbors across the street. The neighbors had a small gold mine up there, also a son about 16. I was about 13 my cousin about 11. We rode in an a small truck with no doors all over the mountains (very exciting). We had to be careful of all the mineshafts that wern’t covered very well . That night my uncle and some neighbors thought since we didn’t have fireworks they would throw TNT at some open space around the mine(I think some drinking was involved). We thought it was great and very exciting. I think my aunt and the neighbor lady were very unhappy. When I got home after the week-end my Mom was horrified and my Dad laughed. My uncle Don was the quiet one. I think my Dad wished he had been with us. When we moved to Stockton we would watched the fireworks from one of the parks and thought it was great because we didn’t freeze. We now take the houseboat to Old Town Sac. or out in the delta to watch the fireworks. If you are on the top deck of the houseboat you can see fireworks from all the towns around the area because the delta is so flat.

   Reply
3. Robi says:

   June 21, 2012 at 4:29 pm

   How funny – while I was reading I too was thinking about Lake George and I think Uncle T is right – it was another kid that set the box of fireworks off. I also remember dad taking us down the street to the fireworks stand and we each got to pick out our own fireworks. I remember loving sparklers and roman candles and I would dance around in the backyard – hehe! The good ole days!

   My Mom also chimed in with a few memories. You see yesterday was not only her dad’s birthday but also the day her mom passed away. (I think I have that right) How freaky is that? So with that in mind, todays homework is to write something about your parents or grandparents. This means Uncle T, Aunt Robi and I can write a memory of our mom or dad or grandma or grandpa. Same goes for Dix and Annette, you can write about your parents or better yet, your grandparents! Let’s keep it going.

   Lot’s to do today, I have a couple of phone conferences this morning then a lunch at 11,  then pick up some pants being hemmed, then a quick trip to the annual Wild West Show since I will not be here this weekend. This is a big sacrifice for me as I wait all year for this weekend and the big auction. It’s not that I buy anything but I just like to go see all the stuff. Sometimes we do trade a piece or two. You might remember last year they sold the only known photo of Billy the Kid for $2.3 million dollars. This was an old tin type photo measuring 2X3 inches. At least we got to see it in person. Oh well, that’s just the kind of husband I am, miss my favorite most anticipated event of the year, anything for the misses!

   It’ll be 100 degrees today and stay that way for at least the next 5 days, not good. We hope everyone is well, take care, remember to write and have a great day. God Bless,

Let’s keep it going, here’s 3 more comments,

1. robi says:

   June 20, 2012 at 4:49 pm

   My favorite summer memories were going to Wisconsin to visit grandma, grandpa, cousins, aunts and uncles. Remember staying at the cottage, sleeping in the attic in the heat and humidity. I remember going to fish frys, and baseball games where the stands were wood with no frills like today. I remember going out in the boat and fishing. Remember those one piece swimsuits you and Uncle T wore? PRICELESS!

   Reply
2. Tom says:

   June 21, 2012 at 6:27 am

   Ditto to Robi’s comment. Thought the same thing when I read the post. I also remember being at G’ma and G’pa’s house, G’ma teaching us how to make bread and play cannasta (sp) the card game. Doug and I stayed with G’pa one time and all we ate for dinner one night was corn on the cob right from the garden, so fresh. Believe I ate 11 ears that night. Don’t forget the little store around the corner for push up pops. Good memories.

   Reply
3. Annette says:

   June 21, 2012 at 7:58 am

   We usually went camping the old fashioned way. Tent, sleeping bags ect. My dad always found the most out of the way places in the middle of nowhere. One year we went to Vancouver B.C. to visit my moms cousin. They had 2 girls, one my age and one my brothers. They took us to the local drive-in and we had french fries with vinager. We thought they were nuts. When I was 7 I got to go to Girl Scout Camp for 2 weeks each summer in Mendicno on the coast in the redwoods. We traveled in a school bus for about 3 1/2 hrs. on a very winding road (someone always got sick). My dad was not very happy about the bus and said he might follow it all the way up there. We stayed in tents with wooden floors, 4 to six to a tent. I was a little home sick the first year but I loved it and went every year until I was fourteen. The last year I went we had a new camp out of Soda Springs near Tahoe. We had one of the only warm lakes in the Sierras. We were the oldest girls that year and slept on the ground. It was a new camp and the only tents were for the youngest girls. I really learned a lot through Girl Scouts. Mendicno was mostly a fishing village then. I loved it then and I love it now. I wish I could afford to live there. The other vacations I remember were over Washingtons Birthday. We went to Disneyland the first year it was open in 1955 and went a lot of years after that on Washingtons Birthday. I also still love Disneyland and would go any old time, with or without kids.

   Great stuff from all of you, thanks.

   I too remember the fish fry’s on Friday nights in Wisconsin. It was a big deal and everyone went. And yes the cabin, I can still see it clear as day and the boat house where Uncle T and I would spend hours with that green boat and fishing on the lake. Lot’s of relatives around all the time and the hole in the floor of the sporting goods store in Cecil where they had fish, what fun.

   Grandma Annettes experiences sound like lots of fun too, thanks for sharing. I love the camping stories, the boys and I are determined to go camping this summer, we’re just waiting until later when the west nile virus and the ticks are gone. Both are unusually bad this year due to the early heat and drought. They say Deet is as important as sunscreen this summer. I don’t remember a year like this with 100 degree temps and almost brown yards in mid June. Hope we get some rain.

   Today the misses is getting her hair done and the boys will be hanging with me for a few hours. I’ll have to work around them. Yesterday Mom cleaned out the fridge as something was really smelling bad. Every time you opened the door, it would hit you in the face. She couldn’t figure out what it was until she had all the stuff out. You should see our fridge now, it looks like it’s brand new all sparkling and clean. We almost hate to put anything in it!

   I went to bed early again last night trying to catch up on sleep. I must have dozed off around a little after 8 and slept until 5 which is a lot for me. I’m going to head to the gym when I’m done writing this morning. It was only around 80 yesterday which was great but today will be back to 100 with no relief in sight.

   Your assignment for today is to tell us about your July 4th memories as a kid. I’ll give you a taste of mine. When we were kids we were at Grandma Miller’s house on Lake George and one of us (maybe me or Uncle T) dropped a spark into the bag of fireworks sitting on the dock and the whole thing went up like a scene out of a movie. I remember kicking the bag into the lake but things were still flying all over the place, it was something else.

   Ok, now your turn, let’s keep the comments coming, have a great day, take care and God Bless, and oh yea, Uncle T and I looked good in those one piece wool swim suits when we were kids. I remember us standing there and flexing our muscles, I think mine was dark blue, I looked like a kid out of the 20’s!

Good morning.  The Mister is sleeping in….he really needs the extra zzz’s.  The youngest and I got up at 5:45…his choice of course.  I tried to persuade him to snuggle and sleep a bit more to no avail.  So…here we are…just the four of us…the youngest, myself and our two four legged friends at… on my feet.

Yesterday, the youngest had a play date right after swim team .  They played hard with only one injury…..my guy ran right through…over a rose bush thad had been cut down but not removed.  Of course he had no shoes on since the kiddos were playing with water guns.  His feet really hurt this morning and I am indecisive whether or not to take him to swim team.  One of the Mister’s friend’s wife contracted the flesh eating bacteria from entering a public pool with an open wound.  I don’t want to be paranoid….and our pool is kept exceptionally clean….so, again my indecision is rearing it’s pretty little head.

The boys had two friends that they haven’t seen for a year and a half come over to our house to play.  The friends moved to Evergreen and their mom is still a teacher at the kid’s school.  The kids had fun…

Our guys were pretty wiped out and both of them came down in their p.j.’s at 5:00p.m.  They asked if they could watch a movie in our bed after dinner to which we replied, “Of course”. The rest of the night was relatively quiet.  The mister and I also watched a movie, “Wanderlust,” very funny.

Here is the Mister to finish up…..

Ok, yesterday must be some kind of record for comments, 6 responses to what did you do on Sunday nights, well, here ya go,

• Tom says:

  June 19, 2012 at 1:17 pm (Edit)

  Sunday nights couldn’t forget those, they consisted of Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom followed by Wonderful World of Disney as we ate either BBQ chicken or ribs.

  Reply
• Blondie says:

  June 19, 2012 at 3:05 pm (Edit)

  I remember watching Disney’s Wild Kingdom and then Tarzan was on after that! I also was lucky enough to see the “Beatles” live on Ed Sullivan! I will never forget that!

  Reply
• robi says:

  June 19, 2012 at 4:29 pm (Edit)

  I remember watching World of Disney with the family and dad always made BBQ chicken or ribs – yummy! P.S. Just for the record I have never, nor will I ever, milk a cow or anything else! HEHE

  Reply
• Blondie says:

  June 19, 2012 at 4:32 pm (Edit)

  A slight correction to my previous post: It was MOA Wild Kingdom and the Wonderful World of Disney, then Tarzan! Mom used to pop Jiffy Pop and we would all sit around and be mezmorized by the TV on Sunday night! There were only a few shows on back then…didn’t have millions of channels to choose from…you watched what was on and had very little other choice!

  Reply
• Dixie and Don says:

  June 19, 2012 at 6:01 pm (Edit)

  What did we do on a Sunday in Oklahoma? On our farm we had no electricity, running water, nor inside plumbingg. We had an outhouse with three differrent sizes of “seats” (holes in roughsawed wood with old catalogs and newspapers for –well, you know. We had real toilet paper from about 1941 on–after the dustboul was over. On Sunday nights we listened to a battery powered radio to any adventure or ball game that was on. During the day on Sunday we usually had a large special meal with everyone around a very large table that was once a display table in a store. If we had company, the meal was set on the table with real dishes for all the men, then the ladies and children had what was left. The children ate from pie pans or even lids. During the war–the big one–all meals were very quiet because Dad listened to every newscast, we kids knew that we didn’ t dare make a sound. Consequently, allof us grew up knowing what was happening in the world. Manytimes on Sunday , a couple of neighboring families would come over to help with working cattle or butchering. Then, of course, our family was expected to return the favoring. That favor was and still is called “working back.” We kids had a great time playing with our friends and Please overlook my errors because I may be able to milk a cow, but I don’t know how to go back and correct my mistakes

  1

  Reply
• Annette says:

  June 19, 2012 at 8:16 pm (Edit)

  We got our first tv in 1952. We watched what ever was on. Sat. we watched Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, Hop Along Cassidy, Flash Gordan. Mom and I watched The Guiding Light and Search For Tomorrow(soaps). When we moved to Stockton (57) my best friend and I would run home from school to watch American Bandstand and Mickey Mouse Club. Sundays in the summer mom went to church then we went out to the boat to swim and water ski. We always had a bunch of friends with us then we would get home and mom would fix dinner for everyone. We watched the same shows you all watched. Before 1952 I was like Dixie and listened to the radio. I listened to the Sat. Night Fights and the Yankees Baseball games until the Giants moved to S.F. Sugar Ray Robinson was my favorite fighter. I listened with my dad. I listened to the opera from S.F. on Sat. mornings while mom cleaned house. We listened to all the cowboys and mysteries. I still love both cowboys and mysteries. We always ate dinner as a family usually about 8pm. My dad worked late. Sometimes we ate breakfast together depending on what time we had to be at school. When I was a little girl my dad was not home alot during the week because he was a truck driver so it was just mom , my grandmother (she lived with us) and us kids. I’m sure that was hard on my mom.

  Now I remember Wild Kingdom and Disney and Dad’s bbq as well, we ate really well. And it was all on cooked on real coals, none of this gas stuff we all use nowadays. What’s interesting is Dix and Annette’s experience. I can almost see them as girls by reading their posts. I don’t know about you but I think the world was a better place when we were kids. Maybe it’s just because we were kids and had no responsibilities or bills, or stress and so on.

  We don’t talk about it much anymore but the title of this whole thing is 2011 Family Makeover. Behind the scenes we’re still focused on trying to better our family and quality of life. Of course the biggest monster any of us have, outside of health, is big bad debt. Yes we still have it and the misses and I are so focused on it that we know the exact number on a daily basis. You see they (the big banks and credit card companies) have you in a trap. Interest rates and fees are so high that if you can only pay the minimum or even a bit more, like us, they have you for life. If we had no interest, we’d be out of debt in under 3 years but with interest, we’ve calculated it’ll take 22 years! It’s just a never ending bad roller coaster ride. It’s just hard to understand how big banks and credit card companies are allowed to charge you 25 to 30% interest when you can only get 2% or less on your savings account. It’s all screwed up. We’ve cut up 90% of our cards to no avail and when or if we ever get out of debt, this is one family that’ll only pay cash going forward. If we can’t pay cash, we won’t be buying it.

  Oh well, it is what it is. We’ve been in this trap longer than I can remember.

  Your health is more important and we’re trying to stay on top of that at the same time. As most of you know, the misses headache is back on and off and we’re trying to keep her head calm. I think she’s doing too much too soon. Meanwhile I’ve been walking around feeling foggy. I’m hoping it’s due to lack of sleep and stress and maybe the smoke in the air. When we were in Wyoming I was fine but as soon as I was back down here I started feeling woozy again from time to time. I took one of the misses Ambian’s last night and finally had a good nights sleep. We’ll see how I am today.

  Ok enough about our challenges, let’s hear your memories of summer vacations when you were a kid. We’re thinking of making the 6 hour drive to Mt Rushmore. What are you favorite memories from when you were young? Let’s keep it going. Have a great day,

  God Bless,