A Year of Change

We made it! A whole year of posting our thoughts, dreams and daily activities. This is post # 361 so that means with a couple trips to Europe, we missed 4 issues of our family musings or newsletter. Actually I believe we did get 365 posts in, it’s just that some were written under a single heading resulting in 361 “titled” posts.

Thanks to all of you that have followed us this first year. I know that some of you don’t agree with my political views, others aren’t really on board with my economic advice and yet still, you all read. It must be so you can find out what the boys are up to each day! I and the misses both had a lot of fun with this and are excited that someday the boys will be able to look back and have a snapshot into a year in their life. In a way, it was also kind of therapeutic to write about what was going on each day. You had to think and reflect on what you really felt in order to put it into words. We hope it wasn’t too boring and apologize if we offended anyone at all. (except you democrats)

Ok, now to the day. Yesterday I worked in the morning and then had to run up to Vail for some business. I left at 12:30 and was back in Denver by 4. The misses, being the great Mom that she is, took both boys to Big Time, the indoor trampoline place where the oldest had his birthday. The rest of the day was spent taking down most of the Christmas lights outside and getting some laundry finished. We’ve had 50 to 100 mile an hour winds the past few days so we wanted to get as many lights down as we could.

Today we’ll tackle a bit of the inside and continue to de-clutter the house and our lives. When we went out to dinner for my birthday the other night, the boys favorite sitter said she was free tonight so I told her to keep it open. We didn’t have any plans but figured that finding our favorite sitter available was some sort of omen, so we’re going to find something to do. I checked a few of our favorite restaurants and of course, they’re all booked. Then the misses said “let’s go see a movie”. Brilliant, we’ve been wanting to go see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo since they started advertising it. Not only will this be much cheaper than dinner out, but with our new dedication to turning our bodies into Brad Pitt and Angela Jolie (I’m Brad Pitt), we won’t be eating bad food or drinking demon alcohol. On the advice of my Mom, I did buy some black eyed peas as she said that’s what we should eat on New Years. A friend of mine called yesterday to wish me happy birthday and when I told him how old I was he said “Man, I was going to give you shit about getting close to 50”. Yes, that’s right, I may be 55 (still can’t believe it) but I look pretty good. I’ll get over it in a few days but I’m going to have to dig out my birth certificate and check the date for sure. You see, the main reason I don’t think I’m that old is that my Mom doesn’t look a day over 65 and that would make it impossible for me to be 55, Hah!

I guess none of you are making any resolutions for the coming year or maybe you don’t want to put them into print in case you fail. That’s ok as actually they say not to make resolutions but rather make small changes throughout the year as it puts less pressure on you to succeed. For me, I like the pressure and do better when I give myself some sort of deadline or timeline. To each their own.

With it being a new year, we need to change the title of the post, 2011familymakeover just won’t work anymore. We’ll try to come up with something today but will use the current url (that means title in computer lingo) until tomorrow so you can all read about it and get used to it then. I also need to figure out how to change it which might take me a little time. If anyone has any suggestions for a title, please let us know.

Wow is the wind blowing hard outside. We must be getting gusts above 50 miles an hour now as you can hear it blowing down through the chimney. I just saw on the news (5:22am) that Kim Kardashian will get $600,000 just for attending a New Years eve party in Las Vegas! Are you kidding me, I mean I’m sure she’s a nice girl, but who is she, what does she do? Boy is our society out of whack. Ok ok I’ll stop. I don’t want to ruin the last day of the year going off on some tangent. I think I’ll head to the gym before everyone gets up.

So in closing, once again, thanks for reading, we hope you enjoyed our little project. I promise to make the misses write more in 2012. It’s just that I’m up so much earlier and it’s easier to write when the boys are still asleep.

Take care, don’t drink too much and stay out of trouble tonight. We’re going to try to stay up until midnight even though we haven’t made it since the year 2000. We did buy some hats, horns and confetti yesterday so we’ll be having a little party here tonight if anyone wants to drop by. We love you all and wish you good health and much happiness and success in the coming year. We’ll see you in 2012, God Bless.

p.s. I’m officially endorsing Mitt Romney for President of the United States. I’m sure this will guarantee him winning the nomination and election!

Well, we’ve almost made it through another year. With my birthday over the only party left is New Years eve tomorrow night. Then the much anticipated 2012 will be here. I think just about everybody is looking forward to a fresh start. I don’t mean any of us so much personally but rather the World as a whole. It’s been a rough year, economically, with a lot of bad weather, and numerous conflicts worldwide. I don’t know about you but I seem to like even years better than odd ones. In any case, each year January 1 gives us all a chance to make a fresh start. Sometime next year I’ll write about how our calendar was created as it’s a really interesting story.

Ok, I’m 55 years old. I can’t really believe it and I certainly don’t feel that old but I guess I am. (still don’t really believe it!) Last night my Mom, my lovely wife, Uncle T and Aunt B and I went to Elways in Cherry Creek for dinner. We had a great time with fun conversation and great food. As Aunt B said, it was good to get out among some people! This time we left the boys at home with their favorite sitter but we did go to lunch as a family around 2pm since the adults were going out to dinner.

When I woke up yesterday, we all went to the gym and as soon as we all arrived home, the boys made me stay out of the kitchen while they made me breakfast. My meal was made up of eggs, apples, toast with peanut butter and honey, coffee and water with fresh cranberry juice mixed in. It was quite the feast especially since I had just ate right before they made me breakfast. Of course I had to eat it anyhow. Next up was some work for me and I have my last chance today to generate some more revenue before the year is done. At one moment during the day, the oldest came up to me and handed me a $100 bill and said “Happy Birthday Dad, I love you”. Now of course I told him to keep his money but thanked him very much, but how sweet is that? He’s been saving for a few months and decided to give me about 1/3 of his hard earned fortune. The youngest followed up with lots of random hugs throughout the day also telling me “I love you daddy”. Now I don’t know about you but that’s about all I could ask for.

I ran a few errands and swapped out a few things I received for Christmas but other than than that, most of the day was spent washing and vacuuming the car as I was going to be driving all of us to dinner and it was time to get a few months of the kids gunk out of the car. You wouldn’t believe the things I found.

Yesterday the misses and I continued to discuss our ideas for next year and it looks like the resolution of getting in the best shape of our lives is gaining momentum. We decided we’d start off by not drinking alcohol anymore so last night we both abstained from any adult beverages. Yes I know, we’ve done this before from time to time, but this time we’re not deciding to give up drinking adult beverages but rather taking a larger approach to get in the best shape we can both internally and externally and not drinking is just part of it. For us to succeed, we need a goal like competing in the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii or something. Now this might be a little much but you get the idea, we need some goal to reach for or we’ll never make it. It’s not enough to just say, let’s get in shape. So, we’ll look for some kind of physical challenge we can train for and then look out as we’ll be all in! I promise not to make it the focus of next years posts as Im sure most of you don’t want to get up every morning and hear about our workout regime and our hard toned bodies each day. Oh well, we’ll keep you posted.

We’d also like to hear what, if any, resolutions any of you are making. I don’t know how many people decide to do this but let us know either way if you are planning any changes or not. I think my little brother, Uncle T, is planning on quitting smoking once and for all. I’m not sure if Aunt B is all in with him but we hope so. The neat thing is Uncle T already has a jump on the new year as he’s been walking regularly and really cut down on the adult beverages and has lost probably 40 pounds! It’s amazing to see his transformation on the outside but we’re most thrilled about what losing weight will do for his inner health. Great job Uncle T, keep it up, don’t stop now. Quitting smoking is one of the most difficult things anyone can do in life, I know because I did it, but boy is it worth it. I wonder how many millions of people are starting off the new year trying to quit smoking, I’m sure it’s a big number.

Time for me to run, no gym today as I’m super sore from yesterday and think I’ll take a break until Sunday. Let us know what you all are doing for New Years and what, if any, resolutions you’re making. Also if you have any ideas you’d like to see incorporated into next years posts, please let us know. Take care and God Bless,

Happy birthday sweetheart!  Today is the special day for my husband.  50 some years ago at 8:45 a.m. in a hospital  somewhere in Minneapolis… his mom gave birth to a baby boy….that’s right…the Mister.  Thank you Lulu for raising such a kind, thoughtful,  wonderful, wonderful man.

I got up with him this morning, fed the dogs, made the coffee and helped get the trash out.  These are the things he does for me every morning, so I thought I would give him a break from the morning routine.

He of course has a lot of work to do today.  When I told the oldest that dad has to work most of the day he quickly replied, “What kind of people make you work on your birthday”?  I had to laugh and tell him to study hard.  Also, if he invents something that everyone needs, that might help in the quest to always have his birthday free from work.

We…the kids and I may go sledding or to a movie in order to keep the noise level down while the Mister is on the phone. He still has quite a bit of calls to make before the year ends. Ugg!

Here comes the sunrise.  The snow has a pink hue and the clouds look like they could have inspired Monet to paint.  I love the Colorado sunrises…the sunsets are truly amazing as well.

The boys fought a bit, played a bit and I took them sledding for a bit yesterday.  They were using the snowboard sled and both boys made it all the way down the hill multiple times. They wrestled in the snow and had a pretty fun time.

Tonight we are heading out for a nice dinner out with Lulu, Uncle T. and Aunti B.  We are leaving the youngsters at home with one of their favorite babysitters, Daniella.  She brings over crafts, ingredients to make puppy chow, (a cereal snack for kids) and a full bag of tricks to keep the boys entertained.

We…the mister and I are sitting here tossing around ideas for the new year of our family makeover.  It looks as though getting in the best physical and mental shape we can is the front-runner.  This includes walking the dogs regularly…kids included.  Reading more….watching T.V. less….the gym or the elliptical. Better food…cloth napkins…family meals…biking, hiking, off the couch and into life so to speak.  We will let you all know after we finalize our plans.

For now, happy birthday once again to the Mister and take care…

God Bless,

LLF

Well we made it to Vail and back safely. It was a fun party which I’m sure went on until way past the witching hour. The misses rallied and was a trooper but I knew she wasn’t feeling well. She probably should have stayed home but put on her best face and went along. Today she’ll probably need to sleep late. I didn’t sleep much as it’s now my usual 5am.

We arrived in Vail at our friends house in Edwards around 5:15 and as we walked in the front door he rushed past us and said “make yourself at home, I’ll be right back”. So in we went and off he was to pick up his wife. About 20 minutes later he and she walked back through their front door. We visited for a minute and then we headed out to downtown Vail to meet our friends from Iceland along with our realtor friend from Denver. It was a cool evening with the temperatures around 10 degrees or so and after a brief walk we made it to Sweet Basil, one of Vail’s nicer restaurants. I was amazed at how thin the crowds were but driving up it was easy to understand as there just isn’t any snow. It looks more like early May rather than late December.

Anyway after a quick glass of wine we walked down the street past Gorsuch (the incredible store) about 5 houses to our friend Eric’s home. It’s a beautiful 4 story home right in the heart of Vail. We walked in and were greeted with wine poured from one of the three giant bottles (equal to about 8 bottles each) he had pulled from his cellar for the party. Eric is about my age, single, and lives the life of royalty. His dad was the CFO of Microsoft when it was founded and so Eric is doing ok. He and his dad travel a lot and do things like race vintage Ferrari’s in Europe and so on. He’s a great guy who we’ve known for almost 10 years and is a good friend. We keep trying to fix him up but haven’t found the right girl for him yet. As the evening went on we ran into friend after friend who showed up that we hadn’t seen for some time. One of our close friends, we call him Bloomer, now sells private jets. He used to run the corporate aircraft division for Qwest. He and the misses were talking and it turns out they need a flight attendant for their demo flights which are day trips and pay $800 a day! Now of course the wife was all over this and with the planes being based in Denver, it might just work out. She just needs to figure out how to get re-qualified. He and I were talking and with the launch of our new Bocelli wines, I’m looking for a sponsor to help defray the costs of a national promotional tour and we agreed to have dinner next week before I go to Italy to try to put this together.

So lots of fun people but the shocker of the evening was meeting a girl who went to school with Uncle T named Liz Sullivan. Apparently she grew up within blocks of us and I don’t know if they dated or what but apparently she knew him quite well from when they were young. It also turns out she was married to the brother of a girl we know from the art museum days who is sort of a socialite in Cherry Creek. Long story but what a small world.

Soon it was about 8:30 and I nudged the misses letting her know it was time to go as we had the drive back to Denver ahead of us. Eric offered to let us stay the night, he’s always been very generous to us, but we passed with the boys waiting at Uncle T’s. Our realtor friend rode back with us and we dropped her in Genesse around 10pm and then headed to Uncle T and Aunt B’s to pick up the boys. Surprisingly they were both awake at 10:30 but looked ready to pass out. Five minutes later we had them home and in bed and soon they were fast asleep. The misses and I quickly followed.

So it was a great party with good friends, and a long drive. I have a slight headache and hope I’m not getting the misses crud. I only had a couple of glasses of wine as I was driving but maybe that’s it because I haven’t had a drink since Christmas eve, or maybe it’s because I didn’t get much to eat. Oh well, I’ll head to the gym and work it out.

The misses once again was the most beautiful woman at the party which is saying something in Vail as all the girls were pretty and dressed to the 9’s for the party. Of course we all know how pretty she is on the outside but I think what makes her beautiful is how nice she is on the inside that somehow enhances her outer beauty. She hates reading about me talking about her but you all know what I mean. Maybe tomorrow I’ll balance this out and let you know about some of her quirks, wouldn’t that be fun! (just kidding honey, you’re perfect)

Time to run as I need to kick this headache. Both dogs are in sleeping at my feet ad Mojo has seemed to get over his itching. I have a bunch of work today but also want to get the boys outside for some exercise. I sure hope the misses feels better. Hope you all are doing well, better be resting up for New Years as it’s right around the corner. Take care, have a great day and God Bless.

Did I ever tell you that 27 is probably my luckiest number? I’ve always liked the numbers 2 and 7 the most and voila, together they make 27! You can always spin numbers one way or another to get to any desired digit you want. For example, 2 plus 7 = 9 and if you put a 2 in front of that you get 29 which is my birthday. (that’s right, 2 days from now just in case you haven’t ordered my cake yet honey!) 17 is also a good number along with 2, 7, 12, 22 and so on. Just something to think about, I need some new material, huh.

Well after the “she’s coming home, she’s staying at work” saga yesterday morning, they finally sent the misses home at 9:30. She drug herself into the house and managed to make a large pot of white bean and ham soup before heading upstairs to bed for most of the day. Finally around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, she made her way downstairs to the couch. The boys did pretty well for playing inside with little exercise. They ran some errands with me (to get Nook covers, thanks Grandma Dixie and Pa Don) and then spent most of the afternoon playing pretty well together. Most companies and all government offices were closed yesterday so it was kind of like an extra day off. The stores that were open were packed! I couldn’t believe all the people in Barnes and Noble when we went to get the Nook covers. Lots of people exchanging, returning or buying things on sale. Today we’re running to Cherry Creek to exchange or return a few items ourselves.

I’m trying to de-clutter and have finally resigned myself to the fact that there’s no point in keeping things we don’t use anymore. I managed to get 3 drawers cleaned out and have a dozen pair of shorts and 20 or so t-shirts that need to go. I’m determined to tackle the rest of my clothes that are spread out over 3 closets in 3 rooms later this week and clean and reorganize the basement. Just cleaning out 3 drawers gave me that “fresh start” feeling for the New Year. After that, I went to the gym and had never seen it so crowded. I guess it’s because everyone is off work this week. For some reason I can lift a lot more weight in the middle of the day than at 5 in the morning. I lifted so much that by the time I arrived home I could feel my back tightening up so I took some Advil. Last thing I need now is to throw my back out!

This afternoon we’re going to Vail for a party around 6 tonight. I need to drop off some wine samples and then we’ll head over to the party for a few hours before driving home to Denver later tonight. The boys are going to Uncle T and Aunt B’s and we’ll probably make it home around 10pm. I’m not going to be drinking as I’m driving so don’t worry. The weather is also supposed to be nice, no snow this week. In fact, it’s supposed to be in the 60’s by the end of the week! That’s just crazy but we’ll take it.

Have any of you thought about your New Years resolutions? It’s that once in a year chance to make some changes. I don’t believe you need a specific date to make changes but there is something to starting or stopping something on January 1st. I think the trick is not to pick too many things or something that’s not realistic. If you do, you’re probably setting yourself up for failure. We as a family like to sit around and come up with a few things together to do. The boys really like to be involved.

Not to end on a depressing note but there’s a lot of crime this time of year. I don’t want to go into specific tragedies around town or the country but there is a new trend among kids with no respect for people or life. They’re playing a game called “knock out”. This is where they walk up to a random unsuspecting person (usually older, mostly male but also female) and try to knock them out with a punch to the head! Unfreakinbelievable, what’s the World coming to? Apparently if the person is knocked out on the first punch they leave, but if not, the whole group jumps in and begins pummeling the person. There are no deaths yet but tons of serious critical injuries as you can imagine. They usually pick on someone alone that looks like an easy target so don’t look like a victim! It’s a sad time when kids will attack someone just for fun. Kids from about 12 on up are in these groups and they usually hang out in downtown areas so please be careful. Personally the misses and I just cannot believe this, what’s next, God help us. Normally I don’t bring these type of things up as there’s lots of crime each and everyday but I felt that you at least need to be aware of this as it’s becoming more and more common. Sorry but that’s the World we live in now.

Ok, back to our family. The boys grew over the last month or so. They’re getting so big, you’d hardly recognize them. Today we’re determined to get them some exercise outside so expect to read about some bike riding, skate boarding and more tomorrow. We still have snow on the ground but it’s melting everyday. Mom and the boys are still sleeping so I guess I’ll hit the cardio machine. Hope everyone is doing well and making big plans for New Years. We call it amateur night and just stay home as there’s too many crazies and drunk people out. I can’t remember the last time the misses and I were out on New Years eve, oh yes wait, it was December 31st, 1999 and we were on a beach in Seattle, now that was a fun night, bringing in the New Millennium, the year 2000. Hard to believe that was 11 years ago this Sunday, WOW. (p.s., you should have seen how cute the misses was that night, I can still see her in her little black skirt, clear as day 11 years later!)

Well time to run, take care, God Bless and please keep your wits about you, and when out in public, act and walk with confidence. Criminals are cowards and always look for easy prey, people that look like victims usually are. Once again, sorry for the depressing note but it’s reality and we care about all of you too much.

Have a great day and get ready for the New Year, it’ll be here before you know it, only about 114 hours away!

As I said yesterday, we were all up by about 6am. The kids opened their stockings and then headed for the tree where to their surprise, they each found a new snowboard waiting for them from Santa. You should have seen the look on their faces, priceless. Next up was their gifts which included some socks (for snowboarding) and a new ski hat each which turned out to be one of the best gifts of the day as neither of them took them off until bedtime. Each boy also received the new Barnes and Noble Nook and boy were they surprised. The rest of the morning was spent playing with the youngest ones new Wii game and their Nooks and then we headed up to Grandma’s about 11am. Thanks to Grandma Dixie and Pa Don who sent some money to the boys to get some “apps” and books for their new Nooks. This sure came in handy as they were ordering up a storm as soon as they turned their tablets on. I received a custom new holster from the misses and some other useful items and she opened boxes filled with some new clothes from me. The highlight of her morning was a new blue dress (you might of remember me telling you about this a month or so ago) from her Mom that I picked up and wrapped for her. She had no clue she would get this and was really surprised. She liked it so much, I thought about taking credit for it. (just kidding)

We arrived at my Moms and after a half an hour or so, sat down to open presents. Now it would take far too long to list each and every gift so let’s just say everyone was spoiled beyond belief and thrilled with their gifts. The oldest received a new BMX bicycle from Grandma which was a combination Christmas Birthday gift for him and he was speechless. The youngest opened a couple of gifts he had been really wishing for as well and had them set up all over her living room as soon as he opened them. We finished up and loaded up our loot around 2:30 in the afternoon and headed home. I then went back to Grandma’s to pick up Aunt Shelly and give her a ride home while the misses and the boys grabbed some large trash bags and went back to Grandma’s to help clean up all the mess.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around the house while the boys played Wii and games on their Nooks. The also did some reading on them which is great as that’s what we hoped for.

The misses all through this had a 101 degree temperature. In her true fashion, you’d never know it as she’s not a complainer. She’s still not feeling well but is in the shower now as she works this morning at 7:15! Mojo the malamute has something wrong with him as he’s been howling every night since we got him back from the groomer Friday night. The misses touched his foot or tail or something last night that made him jump. He’s walking fine and we think it’s some skin irritation he has as he’s still itching a lot. We’ll call today and see if the groomer knows anything. The misses just came down as is not doing very well, she just said she feels 10 times worse today than yesterday!

We’re going to a party tomorrow night in Vail and Uncle T and Aunt B agreed to watch the boys. I think we’ll just drive home tomorrow night but we have to go and put in an appearance. I’ll be ok driving as I’m not drinking these days since I’m trying to get a head start on the New Year. I also leave for Italy in 12 days so that’s another motivator. My gym is closed until 6am this morning which doesn’t give me enough time to go before the misses leaves at 6:45 so I’ll be working out downstairs this morning. In fact, I need to run now so off I go.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and got everything you wanted. It’ll be 2012 before you know it, get ready for a roller coaster year. Not only do we have the 2012 Presidential election, (non stop tv ads all year, a good reason to kill your tv), the supposed 2012 Mayan Doomsday next December, the potential end of the euro along with numerous countries going bankrupt and other assorted financial calamities. And this is all the stuff we know about, who knows what’ll pop up and surprise us, like some natural disaster. Now for me, I’m trying to think of the good things that can happen as I think positive thinking is very powerful, BUT, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be as prepared as I can, just in case!

Oh well, more on the coming year as we get closer to 2012, for now, let’s all clean up and re-coup from Christmas and enjoy the day. Personally I’m cleaning out some dresser drawers today trying to de-clutter my life a bit.

Hope you are all doing well, I think we talked to most of you yesterday but did miss Grandma Annette and Aunt Robi. The misses will be home at 3 today (unless they send her home earlier) so I’m sure she’ll call then.

Take care and God Bless,

Whoops, quick update! It’s 7:20 and they’re sending the misses home from work! I have a conference call at 9am but dressed quickly and am ready to head to the gym as soon as she pulls in. I already did some cardio downstairs but am glad to get to lift some weights! Have a great day!

7:23, Hold on, not so fast, the phone just rang and the 8:15 girl at work just called in sick so the misses is stuck there after all. Of course I’m all dressed for the gym and have the car running, oh well, I guess that 2012 roller coaster is coming early!

Yesterday went really fast, our beloved Broncos stunk up Orchard Park New York and lost to the Buffalo Bills, the boys and I had 3 or 4 snowball fights, and before you knew it, it was time to go to Uncle T’s. I had offered earlier in the day to go get Aunt Shelly but apparently her friend was going to give her a ride out to Grandma’s. All that changed around 4pm when I found out her friend bagged out (surprise surprise) and she was planning on taking a cab. I told her I’d come get her so the oldest and I jumped in the car and headed downtown. We picked her up and dropped her at Grandma’s and then I rushed home to change clothes to go to the party.

We made it to Uncle T and Aunt B’s around 5:15 which was only 15 minutes late. First we had to deliver bottles of wine to the neighbors for their Christmas dinners. Uncle T had quite the spread. Sushi, ribs, turkey legs, brisket, all kinds of sides and drinks. Aunt B’s parents where there and we all kind of just grazed like cattle on the food and watched some Christmas shows on tv. Before you know it, it was 7pm and the youngest had his coat and boots on saying we need to get home so Santa would come. We made it up the street by 7:30 and the boys got into the pajama’s. Now the highlight of the evening and maybe the year was when the oldest sat by the fireplace and read the Night Before Christmas to the family. He patiently read each page and then held it up so we could all see the pictures. He would then also add any explanation where needed for his little brother. It was one of those magical moments where time seemed to stop and nothing else in the World mattered. He did a fantastic job and it looks like the torch has been passed. From this year on, he’ll be reading this story to the family on Christmas Eve until his brother is ready to chime in, then we’ll have to alternate years. We then we watched a bit of the Sound of Music and headed off to bed. Soon we were all asleep and it’s now 5am.

The big dog kept us up all night long. The misses was up and down at least 3 times letting him in and out. The oldest just came down (it’s 5:30) and is on the couch with Mom. She’s feels and looks (sorry honey) terrible! Her throat is sore, eyes are puffy, she’s stuffed up, and overall just feels like crap. Now she’s a pretty tough girl so when she says she feels bad, you know it’s really bad! She’s going to take a shower to wake up a bit and then hopefully she’ll feel better. We’re supposed to go up to Grandma’s around 10:30 or 11 which seems like an eternity from now. I remember getting up early when I was a kid too. The oldest is waiting patiently for his little brother to get up which knowing him, could be awhile.

I’m going to sign off now but I’ll jump back on around 9am and give you an update as to what Santa left the boys. (I see two snowboards under the tree from Santa but the oldest hasn’t spotted them yet!), Merry Christmas and God Bless,

Mojo woke us up at 1am to go out and then 2am to come in and then again at 5am to go back out. I broke down and took both dogs to the groomers yesterday as they really needed it. I think he was a little itchy or something from his bath and so on as he kept scratching most of the night and he’s still at it this morning. On top of that, Lacey the lab got into a bag of trash and had it strewn all around the kitchen floor when I came down this morning. But you know what, I don’t care! That’s right, the Denver Broncos play at 11am and if we win and the hated Oakland Raiders lose, we’re in the playoffs. This is all that’s important, nothing , nada, zippo else. So put on your orange and blue and get ready for the game. Make sure all your chores are done, find the kids someone to play with and take the phone off the hook, it should be a good one.

Hard to believe it’s Christmas eve, it sure came fast and it’ll be here and gone before you know it, so savor it while you can. I’m all done with my shopping, the little that we did this year. I hope (don’t think) anyone will be disappointed but we really didn’t buy a lot of things or spend too much money this year as times are tight. This includes the boys, they really didn’t get much, maybe 3 or 4 presents each but I think Santa brought them something pretty special. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow or the day after to find out as he’s the only one who knows. Uncle T and Aunt B and Grandma will all have presents for them so fret not, they’ll make out just fine. The misses is worried that she didn’t get me much as I got her as she’s been eyeing a bunch of packages under the tree that have obviously been wrapped by me! I don’t have to put name tags on her presents because it’s easy to tell just by the wrapping job, which ones are for her. Little does she know that I shopped really hard and found a lot of great bargains for her. It’s a known fact that there’s always more stuff and great deals on women’s things than men’s. I think this is because women just shop more than men. I told her to get over it and just enjoy the season and her gifts and I’ll be just fine with anything.

She worked yesterday and has today and tomorrow off and then is back at it Monday the 26th. The oldest one went over sledding at Jennifer’s Grandma (with Jennifer) while the youngest and I went to lunch and then Mom took him sledding too while I went and helped out at my buddy’s shop to make a few extra dollars as he had a big sale. I’ll run downtown and get Aunt Shelly after the game and then she’ll spend the night at Grandma’s so she’s there in the morning. Uncle T and Aunt B will be busy preparing for the party at their house tonight. Aunt B’s parents are coming and all of us so it should be about 10 people in all.

My nose is still stuffed up (really pisses me off) but I’m going to the gym anyhow. I just can’t take it anymore and have decided to just ignore it and get on with life.

Lowes (the hardware store) had a huge one day sale yesterday with big discounts and no interest for a year so I finally broke down and bought a kerosene heater. I’ve been watching for a good deal on one for over a year and finally found it. You might wonder why do I need a kerosene heater, well we have always kept some kerosene on hand along with lanterns and stoves in case the power ever goes out, (better safe than sorry), and now we have a way to heat the house too. After all, a good heater on sale is less than $100 and is frankly good insurance. I can hear Uncle T laughing now and that’s ok but if the power ever does go out, especially in the winter, it’ll be warm here and of course we’ll let him come over. I’m sure some of you older than I remember kerosene lanterns and heaters quite well as they were very common in the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Oh well, must just be the boy scout in me.

Time to run and head to the gym. Maybe I can sweat this damn cold out of me. Have a wonderful evening, take care and God Bless. We’ll call you all tomorrow and talk to you then.

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” – Matthew 1:23 (KJV)

Man, I’ve been stuffed up for almost a week! I just can’t seem to kick this cold or whatever it is. Every year there are more and more new strains of viruses and colds out there. Doctors have been overprescribing antibiotics for years which they say has allowed viruses to mutate into super bugs that we have no defense or cure for. Now being two days before Christmas, I’m not going to go off on some depressing diatribe about germs, bacteria and viruses, but I am going to tell you to just wash your hands often, as this is your best defense.

Yesterday the good looking one (the misses) worked from 7 until 3. We did drive her due to all the snow but today she’ll drive herself. It’s about 5 degrees outside right now and the high temperature between now and Monday the 26th, is supposed to be only in the mid 30’s. This means, yes we will have a white Christmas! The boys played hard yesterday doing flips into giant snow piles created from the neighbors shoveling their driveways. I had a bunch of phone calls and a few last minute errands that I needed to run so Uncle T took the boys to lunch and watched them for an hour, thanks!

Around 5:30pm, LOL (June) and her 66 year old son and daughter in law, who are here from Seattle until Christmas day, came up for a glass of wine. The misses did this really for June who likes to get out whenever she can. The boys each had a small present for her from the rock fair at school. She had already given each of them a few things like a book light for their rooms and a couple of other small things I forget. She gave me a black scarf I think must have been her husbands as it seems old. The misses received some chinese dolls and $100! She’s a very nice lady who’s doing quite well for 90 years old and would be lost without the misses. Bunkie loves the misses as much as June and it’s almost been a year now that she’s been giving him his shot twice daily. I don’t know if I could do this day in and day out like the misses does, but she knows the little dog would probably die without her. I’m sure there’s a special place in heaven for the misses.

I’m supposed to work today at my friends shop for a few hours if I have time. The biggest issue is I don’t have anyone to watch the boys. The oldest has been invited to Jennifer’s Grandma’s house to go sledding this afternoon so maybe I can find a play date for the youngest one. If not, I’ll take them with me.

Time to get some more coffee and see if the paper is here. We need to call Grandma Dixie today and see if she made it to Palm Springs. We hope everyone is doing well and all set for Christmas. I’ve been making it a point to say Merry Christmas to everyone instead of Happy Holidays, just my little way of rebelling. So, ho ho ho, have a great day and we’ll see you tomorrow! God Bless

OMG means “oh my god” for those of you still in the dark ages. Anyhow, I can’t believe how much snow is outside. Of course the misses works this morning at 7:15 (90 minutes from now) and we’ll probably have to drive her. It’s going to take some work just to clear off the car and shovel the driveway and sidewalk. One thing for sure, we will have a white Christmas! It might not snow again but no way this’ll be gone by Sunday. Luckily most of my errands are done. Oh yea, the temperature this evening will be right at zero!

The big dog is playing outside right now not wanting to come in as he’s made for the snow being a malamute. It’s supposed to stop around 11am or noon but with this much snow I’m sure a lot of people will be stuck at home as it’ll take time for the plows to get to the side streets. Here comes Mom in her little blue robe, fresh out of the shower. Of course now the big dog wants in as he’s seen her. I need to wrap up pretty quick so I can get out there and start shoveling, Uncle T will get some good use out of his snow blower today!

Yesterday I ran a ton of errands from around 8am until about 3pm. Thankfully the oldest and I hit the grocery store for our last stop. The misses made some risotto with parmesan and chicken breast and roasted cauliflower for dinner. We also managed to sort of clean the house which is a daily chore around here. Our neighbor Cindy brought over a tray of freshly baked cookies which the boys were all over like a cat on a mouse. (don’t know where that analogy came from) The misses thinks she’s driving herself this morning but I don’t think so. At least she gets off at 3pm.

Sorry about going off into politics yesterday, I’m really really trying to stay away from the subject for the rest of the year. In fact, I’m considering a moratorium on politics for all of 2012 but with the Presidential election in October, I don’t think it’ll be possible. We hope Grandma Dixie and Pa Don are doing well on their drive to Palm Springs. Auntie Kristin is driving down to see them Christmas day as her husband will be working. She lives in L.A. so it’s pretty close. She and her husband Frank are then going to San Francisco and renting a house for a week (I think) over the holidays. Well, I’d better get moving as it’s going to take some time to get the car cleaned off and the walkway shoveled. It’s also trash day so I need to get that out too!

Take care, stay warm if you’re in Denver and God Bless,