A Year of Change

Okay, so it is mid afternoon and I am just getting to the post.  The dogs had a 9:00 a.m. Veterinary appointment for shots, check ups, and Lacey needed a biopsy on a hard lump on her hind quarters.  The doggie doc tells me I have chubby dogs…can you believe it!  Mojo, our Malamute needs to lose TEN pounds and our Labrador needs to lose EIGHT. I guess that will get this family out walking everyday…maybe I’ll drop a few too.  Lacey has severe arthritis as most elderly girls do… The doc gave me a free 14 day supply of doggie arthritis meds and told me the pills run $1.50 per tablet. Wow!! I asked if it was the same meds they give to their human buddies, and of course it is. (the canine version is liver flavored, eww)  I’m counting on one of our readers out there being on these pills. Maybe, you can locate a few extra tablets every month to donate to Lacey’s pain management fund.  Let me know.  Other than that the dogs are healthy…he (the vet) taught me to brush the dogs teeth…hurray…I’ll just hold down the kids and then the dogs on a daily basis and all of them will have pearly whites.

The boys watched a couple of season premier shows with me last night.  Modern Family and The Neighbors. We enjoyed the shows and then drifted off to sleep.

We were a “Plus One” this morning.  Last night one of the neighbors called to see if I could pick up her daughter and take her to school.  Of course that is never a problem and it is quite nice to have another Mom on my list for rides so that it doesn’t always fall upon Uncle T.  We are truly blessed to have all this dna just a stones throw away.  We do need to visit Grandma more…perhaps today.

The Mr. is staying in a fabulous beach house in Seattle.  He has a personal foot massager in his master suite….not to worry..it’s electric. Sharper Image, for those of you wondering about Christmas gifts…it is, almost October 1st.  He will have to fill you in on the details of his trip when he returns.

I’m off to run a few more errands and then to the kiddos school to pick them up.  Have a lovely afternoon.

God Bless.

LLF

Good morning.  It’s quite early…5 something a.m.  The Mr. is packing for his Seattle trip and the oldest is looking over his 1o long division problems and finishing the last 2.  I don’t remember doing long division in 5th grade…nor do I remember fractions, percentages or multiplication tables.  Seems to me, that was given to me in 7th grade.  Better to learn it early and get a jump on it, besides math is really fun.

The youngest had a great Student Council meeting.  The kids voted and passed the idea to have more fundraisers for two fellow classmates.  One boy has had cancer since second grade (now he is in 6th) and  a little girl has a terminal disease (life expectancy of 14-16 years) and now has a brain tumor to go along with it.  Certainly, this gives a new perspective on being thankful for the health of my kiddos.  The medical bills for these families must be staggering.  Anyway, the kids raised about 5,000. dollars for each family last year and they want to double it this year.  Last year, one of the teachers said he would shave his head if the kids raised a thousand dollars…he has really nice hair.  Each student was encouraged to bring in a dollar donation(400 plus students)the kids raised $4,000. I guess they really wanted to watch Mr. Tharp get his head shaved.  The quad was filled with students and parents to see the hair fall.  It took about 30minutes, as I said…really nice, thick hair.  What a gesture from the teacher.  I’ll keep you posted on what ideas the students come up with this year.

The Mr. is out the door and on his way…I have to make breakfast and get the oldest to Intramural practice by 7….so I am off.

Love to all and God Bless.

That’s when the misses surgery is today, 8 hours after her scheduled time. She now goes in at 3pm instead of 7am. This means the boys won’t miss school but I have a lot to do before we go as I’ll have no time for any laundry or other stuff when I get home. My flight to Seattle is at 8am tomorrow meaning the morning will be an early one.

Now to important things, the NFL has become a joke. Last nights game was stolen from the Green Bay Packers, nothing else to say. I guess we can write off this season as like a strike year or something. There needs to be an asterisk next to whoever wins the Super Bowl. Who’d have thought that replacement refs would make such a difference.

I’m trying to stay away from politics but I can’t believe Obama has time to go on the View (tv show) but not meet with Netanyahu from Israel. Maybe Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Wa Wa can stop the violence in the middle east and that’s why he chose them over the Prime Minister of Israel.

Lacey the lab went to the groomer yesterday and Mojo goes in Saturday. As the misses said, we had two extra kiddos here yesterday until about 7pm as their Mom had surgery. The misses made pasta for everyone and the little 5 year old girl said some priceless things. The misses wrote them down so she’ll put them in when she gets up, too funny.

Time for me to run as I’m getting ready to drift into politics as I can’t stand it. There’s so much lying and garbage going on it just makes me sick. Have a great day and get ready for the misses to do the post for the next few days. I’ll probably get it in tomorrow but then it’ll be her Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Take care and God Bless and go buy some extra food this week. There could be some major unrest (or new war) that starts in the next few days as Israel is getting impatient.

Good morning.  The youngest wants me to let everyone know that his brother has 20 girlfriends.  He, the youngest has his first Student Council meeting today and Uncle T. will pick him up at 3:45.  The oldest is going with Jen to run errands with her mom and stop for ice cream. He, the oldest will also be dropped at Uncle T.’s and Aunt B.’s….Thank you again and again and again!

So…..last night at dinner we were all sitting around the table talking about our day and the word “Hawaii” came up.  Nic, the youngest’s friend a said, “I always wanted to go to Hawaii.” The oldest replied. “Nic, you dreeeeeam about Hawaii.” (a long emphasis on the e) Nic, said, enthusiastically, “How’d ya know?”  The oldest answered with, “I’m telepathic!’ Cut to Hanna (the adorable 5 year old)…. Can you fly? Priceless.

It was fun to have everyone over. However, by the time the Mr. and I climbed into bed He said to me, “Thank God we don’t have four kids.” I wholeheartedly agree.  The grocery bill and the dishes would have me under water so to speak all day and night everyday and night.  Thus the phrase, “Family style” for breakfast and dinner.  Also, I don’t know how  Uncle T. and Auntie B. would feel about having 4 kiddos dropped at there house.   It was fun to have all of them for the day and evening and I probably wouldn’t know any better if we had four.  The Mr. did call me in the early afternoon to tell me that I couldn’t go get a little girl. (Frowny face) Oh well….I am very happy to be the mother of two wonderful boys and ecstatic not to have a little girl that will become a teenager.  Ask my mom….that is not the most fun part of having kiddos…my dad would probably agree.

Gram Annette had a hard day yesterday…you are in our thoughts and prayers, Gram Annette. xoxo

Love to all and God Bless.

Looks like it’ll take a few weeks for Peyton Manning and the Broncos to jell. We almost came back but fell just short, again. I had to call out a drunk behind us that spilled cheese nachos on the misses. I would have let this go but he fell on me just minutes before. The misses told me to let it go which I did after I got in a few choice adult words.

Today the misses friend has surgery so she’s taking both kids for the day until later this evening. I have a meeting at the distributor at 11 after my conference call at 9. Then lots of computer work before I head out of town Wednesday.

Both boys are up now and pretty cranky. Not enough sleep I guess. The misses has her neck injections tomorrow and hopefully this will provide some relief. Not much else going on, trying to make it through the month, hard to believe it’ll be October next Monday.

Maybe the misses can pick up from here and say hi, hope all’s well, time for me to go! God Bless.

Hello.  Okay, so what am I going to do with  5 year old energetic girl for 4 hours before the rest of the crew gets here?  I thought maybe the park or a walk with the dog.  Lacey, the lab goes to the groomer up the street at 11, so we will take a mini walk.  This little girl loves, loves, loves dogs!  She is especially enchanted with our big dog.  She hugs and cuddles with him like nobody’s business.  I get a bit worried that he (the big dog) gets a little excited and may be too ruff. (rough)

We have a major delima  tomorrow… I have to check in at 7 and I don’t want the kiddos to miss anymore school.  The oldest needs his cast changed, but that can wait until Friday when they have early release and get out at 12:15.  He has band practice tomorrow and has missed so much school this month already that I really hate for him to miss anymore.  The youngest has his first Student Council meeting and if you miss two meetings the alternate takes over.  I’ll check with Uncle T and see if he doesn’t mind too much getting up at 6:00a.m. and turning on the T.V. until 8:00 when they go to school.  That’s a lot to ask…but I’ll try.

The oldest just left for school…he doesn’t go early tomorrow.  The youngest just finished breakfast and it’s time for me to make breakfast for the Mr.

Have a lovely day and God Bless!

Continue reading →

Alright today we have our second Bronco football home game and the misses and I are going with Libby and Carl, our husband and wife dermatologist friends. They’re such nice people. Yesterday I had to run to Boulder around noon after getting my haircut earlier in the day.

When I arrived home, the oldest was getting picked up by Jen and her Mom to spend the day at her house. The younger guy was across the street after being here most of the day with Ben. Later in the afternoon I opened a bottle of wine to help the misses headache. I know it’s not the best solution but right now anything to give her any relief until Tuesday is the way to go.

She’s still sleeping and the 3 boys are down here with me on the couch. Ben spent the night with the youngest so that’s why we have “3” this morning. I told them last night I’d take them to Denny’s this morning so we’ll see if they remember.

We’ll leave around 1 for the game so we can tailgate a little before the 2:30 start. It’s nice outside now with the high around 80 today. I have lots of work to do tomorrow and a meeting at 11 at the distributor.

Not much else going on, we’ll talk to you tomorrow. Here’s a comment from Uncle T clarifying that he didn’t actually say I’d vote for you know who!

Alright, yesterdays post generated a couple of good comments. So here they are!

The oldest guy is still sick. I took him to the doctor yesterday where they did a strep test and said it was negative. They do let the culture grow for a few days so we still might get a call. Mom brought his homework home and he did it as normal. The youngest seems ok and had a good day at school.

The misses and I left for the party around 4:40. We arrived around 5:30 after dropping the boys at Uncle T and Aunt B’s. Colleen’s home looked great (hard not to if you’ve seen her house!) with a big tent outside with tables for 100. Geena Davis showed up a bit after us and for 56 years old, looked great. She’s pretty tall and actually took her shoes off when she stood up to speak as the tables were all in the grass. Dinner was pretty good although I might have picked a different menu, Colleen said the same thing. We visited until about 8:30 when we left for home to get the boys.

We rushed home and all headed straight to bed. The misses head was and still is killing her. About 2am the oldest woke us up saying he couldn’t breathe. He was so congested so Mom got him some more ibuprofen and went to sleep with him. Looks like he’ll be home with me today.

The misses, headache and all, will go to the luncheon today at the convention center with 2200 women! She’ll head down at 10:30 as she’s one of the VIP’s that gets in early to hang out again and have photos with Geena. Of course this is just because of who our friend is. Then the lunch starts at 11:30 and she’ll probably make it home by around 1. She wasn’t going to go but figures she’ll have a headache whether she’s here or there, so she might as well be there.

Ok, no politics but here’s some thoughts on us and materialism. Check it out, it’s bipartisan. I put some links in for fun!

When it comes to materialism, has any nation ever surpassed what we are seeing in the United States right now?  We define our lives by how much stuff we have, to a large degree our personal and business relationships are defined by how much money we make, and even most of the important dates on our calendar are all about materialism.  Just think about it.  We throw outrageous birthday parties for our kids and we shower them with gifts.  Most of our “holidays” have become highly materialistic, and the biggest holiday of all in our society, Christmas, is an absolute orgy of materialism.  We make lists of the “wealthiest Americans” and we glorify their achievements.  We spend most of our time either making money or spending it.  Even the phrase “the American Dream” reveals how materialistic we are.  When most people are asked what “the American Dream” is, they start talking about a house, a car, vacations, retirement, sending your kids to college, etc.  The American Dream has become all about money and stuff.  Sadly, no matter how big our homes are and no matter how many shiny new toys we accumulate, we never seem to be happy.  We always want more, and we always seem to be willing to go into more debt to get it.  We are the most materialistic society in the history of the world, and our endless greed is going to end up swallowing us alive.

When it comes to materialism in America, there are outrageous examples all around us, but one of my favorite examples is the “Rich Kids of Instagram“.  It is a Tumblr blog of photos from Instagram of young Americans showing off how they are enjoying the vast wealth of their parents.  The following is how the Washington Post describes the blog….

The controversial new Tumblr is a collection of snapshots from the photo-sharing site that depicts the children of wealth and privilege — summering in the Hamptons, lounging on yachts and posing by their luxury cars.

One does a back-flip out of a helicopter near St. Tropez. Others snap pictures of their restaurant bills — allegedly paying thousands of dollars for lobster, champagne and high-end liquor.

In the warm patina of the Instagram, the youngsters appear to be living over-the-top lifestyles — and enjoying every moment.

“Our everyday is better than your best day,” reads one caption, a bit tauntingly. And, “Do you have a horse in your backyard? Didn’t think so.”

But just because you have a horse on your property does that make your life better than the rest of our lives?

Of course not.

Wealth does not equal happiness.

Unfortunately, however, most Americans have totally bought into this lie.

Most Americans believe that more money equals a better life.

In response to “the Rich Kids of Instagram”, the Huffington Post recently put together a piece entitled “the Rich Cats of Instagram” that features photos of cats as they “model upscale accessories, lounge with bottles of champagne, sail on yachts and ponder life while relaxing atop piles of money.”

Of course a lot of those pictures are quite funny, but they also reveal a deep truth about our society.

We have spent our lives chasing after the almighty dollar thinking that it will make us happy.  Study after study has shown that we tend to link wealth and happiness.  The following is from a recent NBC News article about one of those studies….

Many parents already know older children can be materialistic. Some tweens not only want the latest games and clothes, but also think owning these things will bring them happiness, friends and popularity. And marketers are eager to get them to buy: Tweens spend $28 billion a year, not including the more than $200 billion their parents spend on them, according to market research company C+R Research.

But even though we have an incredibly high standard of living compared to most of the rest of the world, are most of us actually happy?

No way.  In fact, Americans take more anti-depressants than anyone else on the planet.

It is really easy to get caught up in materialism though.

In the end, our lives should not be defined by what we own or by how much money we have in the bank.

But how do we refer to ourselves in this day and age?

The American people are called “consumers” and the truth is that we consume far more than anyone else on the globe does.

Just look at our eating habits.  Of all the major industrialized nations, America is the most obese.

The next time you go into a store, take note of how many people are overweight.

It has not always been this way.  Back in 1962, only 13 percent of all Americans were obese.

But now overeating is a national sport.  At this point, approximately 36 percent of all Americans are obese, and it is being projected that number will rise to 42 percent by 2030.

While we are gorging ourselves with food, what else do we like to do?

That’s right – we love to watch television.  In fact, the average American watches 28 hours of television every single week.

We have become completely and totally addicted to entertainment, and we have become trained to be constantly “plugged in” to something.

Our lives have become all about constantly feeding our greed and our selfishness.  In fact, that is a major reason for the breakdown of the family in America.  We tend to view marriage as a temporary condition that can be quickly discarded when it no longer makes us happy.

All this is a bad trend. We need to get back to what is important in life which, this might be a surprise to you,  isn’t money but rather faith,  family,  health and living a life that is respectful of others and contributes to society. Oh well, just some thoughts for the day.

Have a great weekend and God Bless,

Alright, here’s 3 comments, close to a record for one day!

1. Annette says:

   September 19, 2012 at 5:01 pm

   My favorite fall food is Thanksgiving. Turkey. sweet patatoes (no marshmellows) and home made cranberry sauce. I also like stew and dumplings. I haven’t made either in a long time. Sometimes I make a turkey breast and cranberry sauce so I can have sandwiches for a week. I also like my sisters apple pie and anything with lemon in it.
2. Blondie says:

   September 19, 2012 at 9:12 pm

   Great hearty soups or stews and corn muffins – for dessert baked cinammon apples!

   and from Grandma Eleanor,

   Our favorite fall foods , are always turkey and my  good stuffing recipe which  was handed down from my  momma. Grandpa bob loves his corn on the cob, every Thursday he goes to the outdoor market and gets his yellow corn,he has a thing for fresh corn. Of course we all know that bob loves his fish he caught in gold beach,Oregon . I bread it , put on my favorite spices and squeeze of lemon, and I fry it up, that’s one of  his comfort foods.

   Thanks a bunch! I too like the comfort foods of fall as it’s my favorite season. How about some recipes girls.

   Yesterday I took off for the distributor around 8am after filling up both cars with gas. There went $240! The misses was right behind me for a pedicure and a massage at our friends spa (meaning no charge, whoo hoo!) while I was carrying wine from here to there. I made it back from Colleen’s (where the benefit dinner is tonight) around 10:30 and then did some office work. A half an hour later I received a call from the nurse at school telling me the oldest guy was in the clinic with a fever. So off to school I went to pick him up. I made him some soup and had him eat his lunch after a dose of ibuprofen. Then it was time to get his homework out of the way and then he could watch a little tv. Normally we don’t allow tv or electronic during the week but I made an exception to keep him calm and occupied while I worked.

   It’s about 4:30am now and I’m up as he woke up saying he had a sore throat. Mom gave him a little more medicine and everyone but me, is back asleep.

   Tonight at 6 we have the benefit dinner at Joe and Colleen’s with Geena Davis from Thelma and Louise! Colleen said to come early to hang out with her before the 80 guests arrive for the dinner. She said it’s an early crowd so we should be finished by 8pm. The big luncheon with Geena is tomorrow and even though Colleen has to jump on a plane in the morning, she asked the misses to go and be at her table. The misses has attended 3 years in a row now. Colleen is so sweet and funny (you might remember me telling you a year or so ago about her trip to India where she was almost kidnapped!) and she said she scanned my business card and is thanking us tomorrow at the luncheon and putting our names up on a big screen. The misses will love this as she just loves being singled out and having to stand up! ha ha. Anyhow it’ll be fun for her even though she still has that damn headache.

   Thanks to Uncle T and Aunt B for watching the boys tonight, they always look forward to going down there!

   This morning I have something important to do but I can’t remember right now, hopefully it’ll come to me. I’m staying away from politics but have to let you all know, we’re forced to change our insurance company again this year. The enrollment date is always October 1st so we all (everyone in our company) will have to switch coverage in about 10 days. We just have to do it due to the rising annual premiums.

   Lacey the lab is limping bad. We’re taking her in to see the doctor for shots and a check up. She’s just getting old as she’s over 12 now. The oldest helps her up the stairs and the youngest pets and plays with her when she’s in her bed downstairs. She loves the attention as all dogs do!

   Time to run, I’m sure there’s more to tell you but I can’t remember, maybe the misses will chime in.

   Take care and God Bless,

The misses has an appointment next Tuesday for another round of injections and/or a rhizotomy which is the procedure where they burn the nerves at the base of her neck. We’re not sure if they managed to get them all the first time around. Luckily this is Tuesday as I’m off to Seattle next Wednesday. The same morning the oldest has a check up at the Steadman Clinic in Vail to get a new cast and some x-rays. This means we’ll take off around 6am and drop Mom in Frisco and then head to Vail. By the time we get through and get back to Frisco, she should be waiting for us. I think I’ll need to probably just take the youngest with us as I don’t know where I’d drop him at 6am. Hopefully everyone should be back in school by 11:30.

Today I need to run to pick up some wine and drop it off for the big Colorado Women’s Foundation dinner tomorrow night. Meanwhile the misses is going to our friends spa for a massage to hopefully get her some relief. After that she has a check up appointment at her chest doctor at 1:30. This means she’ll pretty much be gone most of the day.

The oldest guy had hurdles yesterday am at inter-murals. He made me go in and tell his teacher personally that he could participate as he didn’t think that he would be able to without my permission. The youngest thought he had student council yesterday as I said, but it isn’t until next week so we had to go back to school and pick him up as he was an hour early. His older brother had heard the date wrong, oh well, what’s another trip to school.

Both boys are in bed with Mom right now as the oldest woke a bit ago complaining of a sore throat. Hope it’s not serious. The youngest is all excited as Uncle T is taking his school fund raiser (where they sell wrapping paper and stuff) to the bank this morning. Last time around he took the oldest guys so this time it’s his turn. Lucky for you out of towners or you’d be buying something from him! Thanks Uncle T!

I do have to say, we’re really disappointed in the lack of participation from most of you. It doesn’t take that much time to write a few thoughts, come on now. Maybe it’s the subject matter, let’s try something else. How bout you post your favorite fall comfort food recipe. What’s your favorite comfort meal? Can you take the time to share with the rest of us? Let’s see. Don’t make me shame you into participating.

Until further notice, I’m suspending all talk of politics. In closing all I can say is support your country and your fellow man. We all need to pull together in these trying times, dem and GOP. It’s going to get much tougher out there before it gets better, I hope you understand that, but have faith as we as a people and a country will prevail. I don’t think life will be the same when it’s all said and done as there will have to be some sort of correction economically for us to heal and move on, but hopefully we will all be ok. If you still want to hear some political views, let me know and we’ll send you some emails! I will still post some non political (economical) thoughts, like get out of stocks and go buy some silver and gold! But, I will for now, stay out of politics. Grandma Dix should like that!

Wait, we have a late addition to our comments, this is from Grandma Eleanor, I think it’s her first, thanks a lot! She says,

“I can’t do with out my coffee, that’s what gets me going beside grandpa bob  loves his sweets he would miss that, grandpa bob would have to get out shot gun bring home some birds to eat, and his fishing pole to get some of that Oregon fish.
Grandma Ellee and grandpa bob send our love.”

Thanks much!

Take care and God Bless,

Well Grandma Annette should win some kind of prize as she participates more than any of you! Here’s her comment,