A Year of Change

Good morning.  We are surrounded by another gorgeous Colorado sky. The snow is actually a beautiful shade of rose and as I gaze up rose turns to peach then gold, a bit of silver and finally a pale blue.  It really is pretty.  The Mister and I slept in until 7:00 a.m.  It must be a record  for him.  Sleeping in is oh so nice….the munchkins are still sleeping and boy do they need it.

By the title of the post I am sure you thought it would be my better half writing this morning, but alas it is I.  We are taking one of the Mister’s clients and his wife to the game today (They’re from Chicago).  This is the first home game in six plus weeks.  We are super excited to watch all the players give it their all,  We will need to dress warmly…the temps may be in the 30s which is much warmer than the recent temps, but still quite cold for this CA girl.  We are not doing our usual tailgate.  Our guests have many friends (Bears fans) putting on tailgates, so we will be party crashers dressed in blue and orange…GO BRONCOS!!

The boys really need this sleep they are getting.  We had our Holiday Party which lasted into the midnight hour and the oldest brought down the last guest’s coat…the youngest was up that late as well.  They were up early yesterday and went to a birthday party from 12-2:30.  We noticed a big change in their attitudes upon their return from the party.  Could it be the soda pop and cupcakes???

We hosted the first round of the neighborhood progressive party last night.  Thank goodness we were first and not last.  We had rum and eggnog and of course delicious wines accompanied with a basket of parmesan crisps in the form of lollipops.  Everyone commented on our twirling tree….who knew a spinning tree would be so well received?  We bypassed the rest of the dinner… . relaxed…ate some leftovers….I ran up to Grandma’s with some of the pork from our party and had a lovely mini visit.  We watched a Christmas show and headed off to bed.  I went in with the oldest to talk for a bit.  The youngest was waiting with dad in our bed to snuggle.  When I returned to my room both of my my guys were fast asleep.  I took the youngest to his room….don’t worry mom, I had him walk on his own…I did not carry him….he is much too big for me to carry these days.

The dogs are asleep at my feet…apparently they partied too hard over the weekend as well.

We have a sitter coming for the youngest and the oldest has yet another party to attend today.  This is the “Hippie” theme party.  We are in search of the coveted peace sign necklace…I don’t know which junk drawer it could be in and today is definitely not the day to purge the junk drawers.

I saw a picture of my sister Serena on facebook…boy is her new haircut adorable.  She has new bangs….super cute.

Dad is off to the gym, I am off to retrieve my second cup of coffee and the soon to be 8 year old just came downstairs after an eleven and a half hours of sleep.  He is dressed, happy and very hungry.  He must be headed for another growth spurt.  I hear the oldest walking around upstairs….and here he is.. also dressed…why are they dressed and ready to go on Sunday morning and on Monday they want to lounge in p.j.s?  A question to ponder.

Have a wonderful day and God Bless,

LLF

Last night was a fun filled evening with a bunch of great people, great food and of course, great wine. The pulled pork was out of this world but the best part of the evening was everyone that attended were fun good people. The mix was quite diverse which made for a good time. The misses worked hard on making the house festive, and it showed. One of the best compliments was when one lady was leaving, she stopped to tell me what a really nice family I had. The youngest was upstairs for most of the night, except for the occasional raid on the cream puffs downstairs. Meanwhile the oldest was the host du jour. He was so polite and helpful the whole evening. When gusts arrived, he took their coats and during the evening he served various h’or duerves. At the end of the evening, one of the guest who is hosting another wine party this evening for the Board of the American Wine Society, told us to bring him over to help! Then she even tipped him. He is so grown up.

Today the boys have a birthday party at noon and then the day will no doubt be filled with playing inside and out. I need to get started on some Christmas shopping as the stores will soon be packed with last minute shoppers. It’s going to be a lean year, mostly for me, as I’ve instructed the misses not to buy me anything except small stuff. We’ve cut back everywhere but it’s hard not to go kind of overboard on the boys. Don’t get me wrong, they are getting less but still will be pleased. I know Uncle T and Aunt B went all in for them so that’ll help as to them is the collective haul, not what’s from who. Oh yeah, Grandma also went big time for the oldest guys b-day from what I understand. Don’t fret though, one of Grandma’s unspoken talents, even when we were growing up, is to spend exactly the same amount, to the penny, on each kid. Hence, the youngest will make out just fine too.

I cleaned up most of the kitchen this morning but do have another load of wine glasses that need to go in the dishwasher when the first load is done.

Also it’s so good to not be getting on a plane next week, although I just might have to fly down to Texas for a day, we’ll see.

Well, time to run, we have a big day and then the neighborhood progressive party starts with cocktails at our house at 6pm. Then we’ll bag on the rest of the neighborhood jaunt and head downtown to the American Wine Society party I spoke about earlier. The misses just told me Uncle T and Aunt B will watch the kids if we can’t find a sitter. Once again, they come to the rescue. I don’t know how we would have made it through this year without their help. Oh yeah, everyone also commented last night how good Uncle T looks as he’s really been losing some weight. Time to run,

Have a great weekend, take care, and God Bless.

I really enjoy reading the misses posts as much, if not more than you. It’s interesting to see another persons perspective on the day. It’s also really is a chore to write something different and interesting every single day. Maybe next year we should spice it up and have “guest” authors like some of you, that write a post or two. I don’t know about you but we’re super excited, especially the misses, to learn more from Grandma Annette about her family history.

I woke up at 4am yesterday morning in Seattle and was at the airport by 6am. It was 11 when we landed in Denver and I made my way home as quick as I could. The misses has been working all week getting ready for our party today.

It has nothing to do with the party, but today is my dad’s birthday. I think he would have been 82. I think about him often and I know we all miss him very much, especially my Mom. In a strange way, he’s more of an inspiration and has a greater influence on my life now as I reflect often to things I learned from him while growing up. I take comfort knowing he’s in a good place and believe he’s watching over us and someday we will see him again. Anyhow, Happy Birthday Dad!

We made a Costco run yesterday to get ready for the party. A buddy of mine is smoking (bbq’ing)  40 pounds of pork all day today and will show up around 5:30 with fantastic pulled pork. We’re serving mexican themed food with Italian wine but this is ok as all food goes great with Italian wine. Matt, my buddy is a veteran and although we weren’t in the service together, we have that kind of bond. There’s something different about guys who have been in war together and what friendship means to them. I’ve helped him out with a few issues (he’s in his young 30’s) and we’ve became close friends. Although we’ve known each other only a year or two, the guy would literally take a bullet for me. Those of you that are veterans, know what I mean. Anyhow, he insisted in spending the whole day today doing this for us and I’m sure it’ll be great. In fact it was him wanting to do this for us that made this party come together. I’ve had his bbq before and it’s great. I think he said he’ll be injecting the pork with either cayenne and root beer or else a mixture of white grape juice, apple juice and sugar before cooking. Whatever he does, it’ll be great!

The boys we’re super excited for me to be home. The youngest came running in and jumped on top of me and we hung out for a while. It’s good to be missed.

Mom’s up with me cooking something for the party. I need to run to the gym to get back into my routine. I did make it to the gym 2 of the 3 days I was gone but hotel gyms are never that good so it’s hard to get in a good workout. I have a meeting today at 9:30 and should be home by 11. The misses is volunteering in the youngest guys class from 10 to 11 so we’ll arrive around home the same time.

Hope everyone is well, Christmas is only 16 days away or two weeks from Sunday, wow, time goes fast. Take care, enjoy your day and God Bless.

Oh it’s so nice to wake up after a good night of sleep. The boys are still asleep…it’s 6:30 and the sun is peaking over the horizon.  The temp is 26 and felt really nice when I took out the rubbish. Our rubbish removal guy gets to our house at 7:00 a.m. and if you snooze you lose.

The oldest had a blast at the birthday party he went to yesterday.  It is a trampoline place with foam pits, swinging ropes and various bouncing things. He is thinking perhaps his birthday party should be there in order to invite a few more friends.  We better figure it out since his big double digit day is only 9 days away. Yikes!!

The youngest and I headed off after school to get a special cupcake and yes a frozen  dinner. He had the frozen dinner for a snack and only ate half of the snowman from the top of his cup cake.  He set up Sorry the game for us to play until his neighbor friend came over and they decided to play Mexican Train.

When the oldest arrived he was “Starving” all that jumping and playing probably burned 10,000 calories. He ate half a loaf of bread, two pieces of turkey and two pieces of cheese and then asked, “What’s for dinner”. We had pad thai noodles and apples.  That both finished their homework and we headed upstairs to read in bed.

The Mister is on his way home….hurray.  We have all missed him very much.  Three nights away is a lot. The boys will probably knock him over when they see him…the dogs too.

The Geography Bee is today in the Library after school.  My guy was looking through his Atlas last night…I hope a World Map wouldn’t have been a better study guide.  Oh well, I am so proud that he made the cut and is participating in the Bee.

I need to get the munchkins up and get breakfast going…have a great day and the Mister will be posting tomorrow.

God Bless

LLF

I got most of the family room purged yesterday

That’s right I’ve been awake since 2 a.m. UGG!! I thought about getting up to start the de-clutter process on the family room, but as I started to crawl out of bed…you guessed it….four little monkey arms (a.k.a.the boys) wrapped around my neck and that was that.  I tried and tried to fall back to sleep to no avail.  All the events from the day before were running at hyper-speed through my mind as well as the menu for our party…what flowers I need, the appetizer basket of italian cheese crisp lollipops that I want to make. Not to mention how can I remodel my kitchen and paint the family room in the next two days. Oh that crazy horizontal female brain.

So, once again…Thank you Uncle T. and Aunti B for picking up the guys after school and especially for having them get their homework done.  I imagine that if I  had a homework battle last night I may have been 6 feet under toward the end of the battle. Let me explain…I had very rude and cranky people that I was so fortunate to chat with most of the day at work. Then when I left work to get the boys I got off the freeway and realized the milk that I purchased to enjoy with dinner was still in the refrigerator at work.  I debated whether or not we could make it without, but alas…no! Back I went…it only took an extra 7 minutes to get there, pick up the milk and get back in the car to head to Uncle T’s and Aunti B’s.  I got to  their house just to realize that while picking up the milk I dropped a glove…no @#$! way! I calmly went in and relayed my sob story…gathered my clan loaded them up and yes …went back for the @#$! glove.  When we got to the back of the store..there it was outside where I had parked…oh sweet success. Did I mention the the boys whined for frozen dinners or pizza all the way to the store?  That music to my ears was almost as nice as finger nails down a chalk board. Ah, we made it home.  All the extra time traversing to and fro put a bladder strain on the best labrador ever.  She started barking to go outside as I was putting the key in the door and as soon as the door opened she bolted to relieve herself. Such a good girl…no accidents in the house.

The house was just as we left it…the kids p.j.s were on the family room floor… right where they left them.  Dad’s coat was where he left it the day before, tennis shoes and socks were in the foyer and I forgot to run the dishwasher. Joy, Joy, Joy.  “Stay calm mommy” is my mantra for the rest of my life. Boy did I miss how clean the Mister has the house when I usually get home from work. I listened to the phone messages and had 7 three from lol. Her water in the upstairs bathroom would not shut off and she wondered if I could come and help. I had hoped that she had found a way to turn it off, but when I called at 5:50 it was still on.  I went down and kept the oldest on speaker phone since the boys were in no way braving the cold temps again. I got the water turned off after only two strenuous attempts and gave Bunkie his shot.  Home sweet home. The boys had turned on the t.v. while I started making dinner and can you believe the darn cable was out…so on the phone I went while cooking and cleaning and the dogs barking at the door bell (the neighbor boy).  “Just  Breathe” mommy. I fed all three boys, the dogs and myself…managed to get the cable on, clean the kitchen and made hot cocoa (sugar free) for everyone. So you all see why I owe a HUGE…THANK YOU to my brother and sister-in-law for having the boys get their homework done…homework would have led to my demise.  Thank You again.

The oldest has a Geography Bee on Thursday.  His success depends on him.  I am not astute in the area of geography.  I bought him an updated atlas, but he says the information is overwhelming. I totally agree and I can not believe that there was no study guide suggested for him to use.  We shall see.

The oldest is going to a trampoline party today and a hippie party on Sunday.  I’ll have to make arrangements for him since the Mister and I have the Bronco game to attend with one of his clients.  Go Broncos!!!  Go Green Bay!!!! & Go Niners!!!

Time to get breakfast started have a great day and GOD BLESS!!!

Side note….Best Lab Ever just jumped up in the oldest’s lap and snatched his bagel.  It must be her way of reminding me to pick up her ear medicine that Aunt Blondie so graciously got the vet to prescribe.

Good Morning to all.  Oh my is it ever cold.  I ran outside to get the big dog’s water pot in my bare feet and they are still stinging. The air is definitely crisp.  With the wind chill it is about -17, but don’t fret the temp is supposed to reach 20F this afternoon. The wind chill will of course keep the air feeling as though it is still in the minus teens.  I love the snow, but the cold is getting a bit old.

Yesterday the youngest had his DI club (destination Imagination).  The five of them…4 girls and our guy came up with their name and chose their DI challenge. The challenge is to come up with “something”, then transport it somewhere else where it becomes a final product.  There are no limitations on how imaginative it can be…tangible or intangible….maybe like the internet, or fairy dust the possibilities are endless. Now on to their name…BBC…Best Builder Club..of course none of these kiddos know what the “BBC” is.  Too cute.

The oldest had a great day as well, although when I went in to his class to volunteer he looked as if he would fall asleep at any time. I am conducting a book club type group with five kids per group.  A couple of the kids I worked with yesterday had some profound insight on the chapter we read. It was very enjoyable.

I finished purging the oldest’s room and getting it put back together….hurray…did I mention that the top shelf of his built in book case has not been cleaned since his room was a nursery? I hate to admit it, but since I could not reach it on a daily basis and could not see the layer upon layer of dust…I just left it alone.  I put his baby things that were on display on the shelf away.  His silver birth certificate holder, porcelain baby frame adorned with baby booties, his 8×10 two year old picture (you know the one…he is sitting on a suitcase with a crisp white shirt, a black hat and he is snapping his fingers) and the blue and white striped cylinder box with a ribbon that reads J(his name) down the sides. Aunt Jean will remember this since she is the person that creatively made it and gave it to us at his 6 month old baby shower in California.  The box has always looked so nice on that top shelf.  Our guy will be 10 next week, so I guess it is time…okay WAY past time to shift things to the attic.  I’ll give him a box of memorabilia when he is 20 or 30 and he can decide what to do with it then.

All is not as perfect as it seems….the oldest threw underwear at the youngest’s face in the morning yesterday and the youngest retaliated by throwing the T.V. remote at the oldest just missing by a fraction of an inch.  Then there was yelling over who started what…no one was happy with their breakfast and I almost took them to school in P.J.’s. Alas, we all got it together to get out the door and we even made it to school before the second bell.  Success!!

I’ve got to get moving….lunches and breakfast are made, but I have to get ready for work at 8:15.  Tight schedule this morning….dog shot kids to school by 8:10 and me to work at8:15.  A big “Thank You to Uncle T for once again picking up the boys from school.  Thank you, Thank you!!

God Bless to all

LLF

No this is not about Charlie Sheen, it’s about the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos. Sure the Pack is 12 and 0, but I think even more impressive is the turnaround by our own Denver Broncos. Now if you don’t follow football, this might not mean a lot to you but for those of us that do, starting off 1 and 4 and then going 6 and 1 is remarkable! The whole football World is talking about our devout christian quarterback, Tim Tebow. Yes he has a lot to do with our “winning”, but the credit really goes to the entire team. Don’t get me wrong, he was or is the spark or catalyst that everything swirls around, but it takes a team to win. Oh well, fun times for us here in Denver who have suffered mightily since #7 John Elway, retired.

Yesterday the misses spent the entire day, and I mean entire, on the oldest ones room, and she’s still not finished. The closet alone took hours and she found all kinds of old candy wrappers going back almost a year. The oldest ones defense was “those are months old Mom”. I sat on the couch and watched the Broncos and then loaded up the boys and took them sledding again. The misses made some navy bean and ham soup which everyone woofed down for dinner and we were all asleep by about 8pm.

It’s 4:16 right now and we did get a little snow but the story of the day is going to be the cold temperatures. As I said yesterday, the high today is supposed to be in the single digits, or below 10. I’ll leave for the airport a bit earlier than usual just in case, due to the 3 inches of new snow.

I hope my “3 days in Seattle” (sounds like a movie huh), goes fast as it’s about the worst time for me to go since I need about a million dollars worth of orders before the end of the year. We’re having a party the day after I get back so the misses has a busy busy week. Then it’ll be full on Christmas mode. The boys only have this week and next and then they’re out until January 5th or so. Do all of you have the Christmas spirit? No walking around grumpy of feeling sorry for yourself this month, no matter what your challenges. There are a lot of people way worse off than you, so lose whatever baggage you’re carrying and be thankful for what you have. No excuses. The older the misses and I get, the less patient we are with anyone who has a bad attitude, is full of too much drama, or frets over meaningless things that really don’t matter in life. We just can’t bring ourselves to be around negative, unhappy people. Life’s too short. So let’s all get in the Christmas spirit and enjoy this holy time of year while we can because it’ll be gone in a flash!

Enough said, I need to get out in the 7 degree below temps and clean off the cars. Yes I’ll be in shorts, too bad none of you are up with a camera! Oh yea, you’re also all very lucky as the misses will be writing for the next 3 days! Take care and God Bless and we’ll see you Friday.

Ok, the most important thing to happen yesterday, for my Mom anyhow, was that the Wisconsin Badgers (her alma mater) beat Michigan State in the first big Ten Championship game, we’re all happy for them and her! Now on to the events of the day.

It snowed until about noon and then finally let up. I finished up some work in the morning and then we headed off to the school to take the boys sledding. It was so cold outside we don’t know how they could stand it but they just kept trudging up and sledding down the hill. The oldest one was on his snow board most of the day. We’re thinking about getting him a real one for his birthday or Christmas as the one he uses is just a toy his brother acquired somewhere. He also wants to take some lessons this year which we’re going to do for him. We had the youngest ones friend with us and when we arrived home he asked if he could go over to his house and play. We were going to run out to Golden to a mountaineering shop for some new gloves so off Mom, the oldest and I went while he played at the neighbors. When we arrived we were shocked to see the store was open every day except Saturday. We were all hungry so the three of us stopped into Woody’s Pizza for a hamburger. It was nice for the oldest to have Mom and Dad to himself and nice for us too. He’s so grown up, both of them are.

The rest of the day was spent around the house and at 6pm we loaded up and went over to some friends house who we haven’t seen for awhile. We made it home about 10pm and all promptly hit the hay. Everyone of course is still sleeping except me.

Grandma Annette, (she’s so good about responding to questions) commented that she wants the blog to keep going. Here’s her comment,

“I hope you keep the blog going. The blog makes Jean and I feel we are with you all everyday. We really enjoy it. The kids will enjoy it as they get older. I’m working on our ancestry and have a written paper of the everyday life on the ranch in Santa Clara and their life with their grandparents on a ranch in Los Gatos. Their Grandmother had a Chinese cook that was with her for 40 years. He made butter cookies for all the kids. It sounds like Bonanza. I wish we had more of what went on then.”

Thanks for sharing, we’re looking forward to reading up on all the ancestry when she finishes. What was the cook on Bonanza’s name? Was it Chin Lee or something like that?

How about a little politics. Ol Herman Cain finally dropped out, is anyone surprised? I think his wife was about a week ago when it came out that he had a 13 year affair and financially supported some woman for the whole time! Let’s see, 4 women came forward and then this one which was the straw the broke ol Herman’s back. Wow, 13 years and he says he was just “helping her out” and “being a good person” and “nothing went on”. Does anyone really believe this? I guess his wife does as she’s standing by and staying with him. This really bugs the misses. Whenever this happens (infidelity or as the misses calls it, cheating) usually the wives stay with their husbands. Except for Tiger Woods wife, most of these “cheaters” wives look past it and stay with their man. Boy let me tell you, I would never ever cheat (have no desire and why would I, I mean have you seen my wife?) but if I did, the misses would be gone in a flash! My question is, how do these type of people get in such positions of power in the first place? It’s not just politicians either, it happens everywhere. Not everyone is the person they appear to be. It’s hard to trust anyone anymore. You really have to be careful these days.

Tonight around dinner we’re supposed to get more snow and it’s supposed to continue through the morning. They say the high temperature will be 10 degrees tomorrow. My flight is at 8am and I hope I get out! I’m gone until Thursday morning and it’s imperative that my flight takes off on time. Today will be filled with lots of football and some cleaning. The misses made a couple of great batches of soup yesterday which we’ve almost finished off so maybe we’ll need to whip up another batch today. I know the boys are planning on sledding again today too. I guess I’ll run now and get moving for the day, hope everyone is well and getting into the Christmas spirit. Take care and God Bless,

After a brief warm up yesterday, the cold and snow came back around midnight. It’s 5:30am (I slept in because it’s the weekend) and it’s snowing and blowing as I write. As is our routine, I’ve fed the dogs, made the coffee and just let Lacey our lab outside. Mojo the malamute goes out to eat when I wake up but then comes right back in to be with me while I have my morning coffee and write the blog. Lacey eats inside and then heads to the backdoor waiting to go out. Of course Mojo has to escort her as he’s afraid he might miss something if she goes out alone. They were both out for only a few minutes but were covered with a light coat of fine powdered snow when they came back in. I did my best to brush them both off and of course while doing so, they both shook from head to tail, as dogs do, and covered me with a coat of fresh wet snow.

I had a good day yesterday as I finished up most of my work for our Company meeting in Seattle next week. I have an hour or so to do today and tomorrow but am pretty much set. The misses busted her butt cleaning the house from top to bottom. I don’t know what all she did but I did see her washing the walls in the breakfast nook. She said there’s still a ton of clutter and she has a long way to go, but on the surface, it looks great. It sure doesn’t take long for the boys to blow in like a tornado and undo her hard work. They can literally mess things up in less than a minute!

I picked both boys up from school at 4 as they had chess club. When I showed up they were just finishing. Both boys played really well. I happen to watch the youngest beat one of the oldest ones classmates and he told me he won all his games. The oldest one also won all his matches. They have a code of conduct they have to sign off on and if you get 3 strikes, you’re kicked out of chess club! Now that’s discipline.

Maybe we’ll go to a movie today as it’s supposed to snow until late afternoon. The misses and I are supposed to go to a party tonight but we’ll see as we haven’t been able to find a sitter.

The house with all the misses Christmas lights looks majestic, especially when covered with a fresh coat of snow. The misses really did a good job. Some houses look a little over the top but ours looks like something from a Norman Rockwell painting, very tasteful. It’s now 10 till 6 and I think I’ll head to the gym. You know what they say, use it or lose it!

No politics today, I’m sure you’re all relived. Let’s take another view, what can each of you do this holiday season to help someone you don’t know. How about a random act of kindness. Let’s all do something and then we’ll post them here throughout the month. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, a dollar in the Salvation Army bucket, a toy for Toys for Tots, anything. The only rule is it has to be something for someone you don’t know and they can’t know you did it! That’s right, you have to be anonymous, it doesn’t count if you take credit for it so giving the postman $5 or a bottle of wine doesn’t count. Trust me, the older you get, the better it feels to give rather than to receive.

Alright, hope you all are well. Stay warm and if you’re in California, watch out for those winds! Enjoy the holidays as they’ll come and go before you know it. I just renewed the blog for 2012 meaning we’re going to try to keep it going. We hope everyone enjoys it because it’s a commitment to try to post everyday. I think by the end of the year we’ll have missed 4 or 5 days and this was due to international travel and no computer access. One of the best things is the kids will be able to look back in 2o years or so and read what happened when they were younger. That’s why it’s so important you comment, so you’re included! Oh well, have a great weekend and God Bless,

Looks like the temp won’t get above 25 degrees for the next 4 days, the cold is finally here. It’s too bad the Broncos are not playing in Denver this weekend as we love going to the cold snowy games. Maybe next week if we’re lucky.

Look who’s here, the misses and the youngest just came down the stairs. I think he’s practicing getting up extra early for Santa. I think I’ll grab a cup of coffee and hand the computer over to the misses.

Good extra early morning to you all. The youngest has been asking to come downstairs for the last half hour…bummer… because I feel as if I could have slept until at least 7:30.

The sky is black and the snow is glistening.   There is a beautiful blanket of  untouched  snow covering the multi colored lights on the shrubs. The colors are so lovely shining through that it just makes me happy to look at them.

The youngest is “Starving” this morning and is asking for everything that we don’t actually have in our fridge.  I think perhaps he woke up a tad too early. I have offered oatmeal, Rice Krispies, toast with flat white eggs and even a pbj sandwich. None of these will do for breakfast on this early morning…..it may be a long day.

I am volunteering in the 2nd grade class at 10:00a.m to help in any way that I can. I love helping out at the school and the teachers really appreciate any extra help they can get. The budget cuts for public schools are almost unconstitutional. The class sizes keep growing and the teachers and aides have been cut back for the last 3 years. I feel terrible for the youngsters that have uninvolved parents. School must be really tough for them.

Anyway on to nicer thoughts. I didn’t get to the house the other day because I was having too much fun playing with Christmas lights. When I get back from Mrs. B.’s  class I will dive in head first.  There are closets and drawers to purge before I can even begin to put the 6 loads of clean laundry away.  It always feels so good to get rid of old useless junk that is just taking up space.  I won’t throw away any treasures….I’ll just shift them to the attic.  Good times.

The youngest is melting from the couch to the floor, so I better run…

I’m back, the misses is trying to deal with the youngest and it’s now 6:07. He just didn’t get enough sleep. Lots of work to do today and Monday I’m off to Seattle until Thursday, then I think (hope) I’m done traveling for the year. We’ll see. Alright, have a great day, take care and stay safe. Hope you all are happy and well, God Bless