A Year of Change

Today we’re back at it with lots going on. The boys have their last 4 hours of school from 8am until 1pm. I have a huge conference call with my team where I need to figure out how to bring in 1 million dollars in revenue in June. This is about 35% higher than forecasted but is necessary to make up for shortages in previous months. The misses has to start preparing for the L.O.L. 90th birthday party this coming Saturday and it’s going to be hot hot hot all week.

Yesterday after I returned home from the gym, we loaded up the kids and headed up to Red Rocks for a good hour of climbing steps and trails which was quite the workout. The boys of course wanted to venture off the beaten path (as they say) and climb the rocks even though the signs said “area closed”. This was hard for them to understand as they saw other people blatantly ignoring the signs. What’s up with people anyhow! At the base of one trail heading up the rocks, the oldest spotted a 5 foot snake cruising across the rocks. At first we thought it was a rattlesnake but it had no rattles so we determined it was a bull snake. Instead we stayed on the roads until we got to one trail that was open and cautiously climbed up that watching for more snakes. We then headed down into Golden for a sandwich at a small deli before heading home for showers. The oldest went down to Uncle T and Aunt B’s and ended up staying the whole afternoon until we all arrived for a bbq at 4pm. The youngest jumped on his bike and headed across the street to play with his little friend for most of the day. Mom and I then tackled the huge mess commonly known as our house. We all met up for the bbq at 4pm and Grandma soon showed up as well. We had hamburgers and hot dogs with baked beans, and potato and fruit salad. It was real sunny but real windy. The wind was also very cool, in fact, out to the east, 30 or 40 miles from Denver, they had a bunch of tornado’s and thunderstorms with large hail. You wouldn’t have know this being where we were.

Lots of snow melt headed down from the mountains this week. With 80 degrees and above all week, a bunch of that snow will melt. Water is such a precious resource and you either have too much or not enough. After all the rain we had a few weeks ago our lawn is now cracked like the Mojave desert. Personally I think water will be more valuable the gold in 10 or 20 years. We’re already seeing groundwater (one of the planet’s main sources of fresh water), face unsustainable demands (according to a new study just out) in places like the Sacramento-San Joajuin Valley in California to China, India and Africa. Point is we’re running out of fresh water. Grandpa Don (who’s a water expert) could tell you all about this. Anyhow I just started the sprinklers a few minutes ago so it made me think of this.

Well tomorrow is June 1st! Hard to believe we’re already almost half way through the year. I’m out until about 2pm today but we need to do some sort of celebration for the end of school. The neighbors are having some sort of water slide impromptu get together I’m sure the boys will go to. Mom will probably get a couple of cupcakes or something.

Today the government is voting to raise the debt ceiling by 2 trillion dollars! Thankfully it looks like this won’t pass with republicans and democrats alike, both voting against it! This is because it contains no spending cuts. Maybe if we’re lucky, they just might be starting to get the fact that they cannot continue to spend money they don’t have. Of course the White House will tell you the World will come to an end if we don’t raise the debt ceiling as we might default on payments to China. Personally I say stop paying them until we get our country in order, I mean what are they going to do, take back all their worthless stuff they export to us each month? If this happens, they’ll be forced to reorganize our debt and payments just like a bank and a customer that goes through bankruptcy. After all, as a country, we are bankrupt, yet we keep trying to just borrow and borrow more and put the problem off for future generations. How’s that for jumping back into politics!

Ok you’re lucky I have to get to my desk and prepare for my conference call as I could keep going for a while. Mark my words, it’s coming to a head, something will happen as our current course is not sustainable. Remember no one saw the housing crash coming either. Who thought banks like Lehman Brothers or Washington Mutual would go out of business? Not very many of us and those that did, refused to believe it.

Anyhow back to sunshine and summer, we hope it’s a nice week where you are and that you have a great day. Take care, give us a call to say hi, and God Bless

Today is a holiday when most of us think of beer, brats and bbq’s. It’s a time honored 3 day tradition that kicks off the summer. I think most of us have forgot or don’t think about the actual meaning of Memorial Day. In previous generations, soldiers or those that volunteered to serve our country, were respected and revered as great Americans. When my Mom was a kid, about the most honorable thing you could do was join the military, it was kind of a right of passage to adulthood. Nowadays it seems everyone kind of ignores or doesn’t pay any attention to the young men and women who put their lives on the line for our country. I think a lot of this is because decades ago it was clear if we went to war, why we went to war. Today it seems we are forced into conflicts that most Americans don’t really understand or support and thus, really don’t support the troops. I think that regardless of the situation, young men and women still putting themselves in harms way, deserve our support and respect. It’s so sad to read the obituaries and see that most of those who die are between 20 and 30 years old. Today no parent really wants their children to join the military when in the 40’s and 50’s, parents would boast about their kids signing up. What’s even worse is the way we treat or take care of those that come home, injured or not. I think this all started with Viet Nam as most of the country didn’t support that war and we really haven’t, as a country, supported one since. So just for today, say a prayer for those family’s that have lost loved ones or thank a vet for their service, as if it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t be enjoying your burgers, brats and beer.

Now onto the day. In honor of the holiday I’m going to give you all a break from politics. Today I want to focus on the older generation, meaning those of you out there older than me! First I think that the younger generation (any of us younger than you!) owe you a big thank you. You see sometime over the last century our society shifted from one that respected and look up to the eldest generation as leaders, to learn from their wisdom and experience, and instead decided to praise the younger more boisterous generation believing they were now the ones with all the answers. (technology has a lot to do with this) For a minute let’s think back throughout history and remember who was looked to for leadership and answers. It was the oldest most wise ones in any society that had the most life experience. Instead today it’s who’s the most charismatic or who talks the best game that sways the people. (ok watch it, I could be heading into politics) I don’t care who you are, if you take two people on this earth, of equal education, I’d usually (of course there’s always exceptions) rather put my stock into the older person who has lived through 30 more years of life that the younger one who talks a good game. It just seems that having lived more life, they’ll have a better shot at having better answers. It’s the old story of when your a kid you never listen to your parents but 30 years later you have this epiphany and it hits you, WOW, they were right! Anyhow specifically to our little clan, I do listen to, watch and hear what you say, even if at times it doesn’t seem that way. They say history repeats itself and if true, which I believe it is, what better thing to do than pay attention to those that have lived through it. (that’s how old you old people are!) So to all my elders out there, thanks for your patience, wisdom and unconditional love to all of us younger know it alls out here. I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions on everything from raising our kids, how to spend and save money, and just how to live our lives in general, your words are not lost.

Ok to yesterday, the misses was pretty much worthless on the couch all day (she could have used some elderly advice on how many adult beverages to have the previous night!) and I wasn’t a whole lot better. She did “man up” and get the kids to the pool but the trip was cut short by the oldest boys ear aches from allergies. One thing about her, she’s always there for the boys! I waited for Comcast to come fix the phones but they magically turned themselves on about 15 minutes before she came home. Today we’re going to do much better! We’re planning on starting the day hiking around Red Rocks, the great natural amphitheater a bit up into the mountains, for some fun and much needed exercise. Then later in the day we’re headed down to Uncle T and Aunt B’s for a bbq with Grandma. The misses is off until Friday and the last day of school, officially, is tomorrow. It’s now 6:12 and I’m going to get to the gym before everyone wakes and the day begins. We’re expecting 90 degree temperatures this week and with snow packs in the 250% range for the year, everyone is bracing for a lot of runoff and flooding. Fortunately we don’t live near any rivers.

I need to squeeze in some work today for my weekly conference call tomorrow. While we’re doing good as a company, we need to do even better. These days you really need to plan and work extra hard as with the economy so volatile, things never go as planned. I still think the economy is in big trouble and implore everyone to get their house in order! Try to get out of debt, cut your spending and save a little bit of money for hard times. (boy have I changed huh?) Personally I think everyone should stock up on food a bit too. When I was a kid I remember my grandparents having their own garden and a well stocked pantry of canned food in the cellar. Today most households would be in dire straights if the grocery stores were shut down for 3 days! Oh well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Lacey is doing well and seems to be back to her old self, and Mojo is as frisky and playful as ever. The garden and lawn is green and it look like a great day. So have fun, stay out of trouble and have a great day, and until tomorrow, God Bless.

For those of you that read this early in the morning, our phones and internet have been out of service since last night. I just managed to get the internet going but the home phones are still out. Comcast is coming between 1 and 3 this afternoon meaning I need to clean the basement so the technician can get in.

Yesterday afternoon we went to our good friends house for a holiday bbq and too many adult beverages. The food was great! Miss C boils here ribs before putting them on the bbq. Also her homemade sauce is to die for. The boys decided to spend the night there and we’ll go pick them up in an hour or so.

We’re doing pretty good on the family makeover for being almost half way through the year. Our debt is down, mostly on schedule (we’re where we want to be for almost 6 months through the year) through a lot of hard work, a change in attitude (we now pay cash or don’t buy it), and some divine intervention. We’re playing with the kids more, especially me with Mom working now, and we’re pretty healthy.  The worst thing about alcohol for me is the calories. You just can’t lose weight and get in great shape when you’re drinking. I’m kind of an all in or not type of guy meaning I just have to draw a line in the sand and commit to not crossing it or it’ll never happen. So as of today, I’m pretty much through, except maybe a glass of wine on the holidays, I’ll keep you posted. In these trying times it’s easy to have a drink to relax but we need to just “cowboy up” and face things like stress, bills, etc., head on. My philosophy is you should be at the top of your game with no distractions (which alcohol is) to cloud your mind if you really want to accomplish your goals. Plus we’ll feel a whole lot better and look better to. Remember we’re kind of the George Clooney and Angelia Jolie of Colorado!

All of us are facing difficult times and I was of course sharing my worldly wisdom with everyone last night (you know me, not afraid to voice my opinion). I was trying to make the point that we all (maybe not you grandma’s and grandpa’s who’ve seen this before in a different decade like the 1930’s) were living beyond our means. We didn’t mean to or didn’t even know it in some cases, as we were conditioned by the government and society for many years to go out and buy things on our credit cards (which the banks literally threw at you!) like fancy cars, designer clothes (remember how we used to all buy Polo shirts at $90 or more apiece) and big houses. No one ever considered the fact that sooner or later the bill would come due and the good times would come to an end. I don’t think the government still realizes this. It’s just us people who can’t print money, (to get out of debt), that are really facing reality. It was bad timing for all of us but the correction we are now facing as an economy and society was long overdue, and we’re not out of the woods yet! In closing here, all we can do as individuals is start to pay as we go, try to pay down debt, try to save a little here and there and keep on going. Trust me, the government is not going to be there to help you, you must help yourself. Ok, enough economics 101.

The misses is out of the shower now and I’m jumping in. It’s cooler today and we have a bbq at Uncle T and Aunt B’s tomorrow. We’re going to try to take the boys to the pool today. I did get them there yesterday while Mom was working, but only for about 45 minutes. There were only 6 kids, including the boys, in the pool as it was cold. They didn’t seem to care and had a lot of fun. I also spent $$ on new shorts and shirts for them. They looked so nice and hip in their new Tony Hawk (he’s a pro skateboarder, not a designer) plaid collared short sleeve shirts and new shorts. They had a blast last night playing hard outside and we’re glad the little one got to stay the night too.

I have to run now as I need to pick them up soon but wish you all a great holiday weekend and hope everyone is doing well.

God Bless,

We picked Lacey up from her tooth extraction yesterday around 3pm. All went well but she was still pretty drugged up when we got her home. The misses caught a $40 error on our bill which brought the total down to just under $400. Not the kind of cash you want to spend without planning but necessary for a member of the family. She wandered around most of the evening but seems back to her old self this morning.

It’s 6:30 and I just got off the elliptical (exercise machine) and Mom’s getting ready to head out to give the dog a shot and make it to work by 7:15. She did go to the doctor yesterday (the only reason she went as I told her I’d call her mother if she didn’t!) and they cleaned up her wound and gave her some antibiotics. She felt bad asking L.O.L. to pay the $45 bill but I insisted. I mean come on, she’s doing her a favor and her dog bites the misses and we’re supposed to pay??? Am I right or am I right? Anyhow L.O.L. volunteered to pay (I’m told) before the misses even had to ask so all worked out. ($45 is half a bottle of french champagne!)

The boys and I are heading to Mom’s store for breakfast and then it’s off to Costco. If we get our work done around the house, I’ll take them to opening day of the pool for a couple hours until it’s time to go to the bbq. Yesterday was the last official day of school. The boys are officially 2nd and 4th graders, WOW! They do go on Tuesday for 3 hours for party’s and to clean out their desks, but they’re really all done for the year. Both boys brought home a years worth of artwork and you’d be surprised how amazing some of the stuff is. From Picasso look a likes to watercolors to oil paintings, they really did a great job. I don’t remember getting to work with so many different mediums when I was a kid.

Grandpa Bob sent us a dvd from his TV preacher, Dr Charles Stanley, on how to raise kids. We’ll have to find time to watch it as it can’t hurt and it’s the thought that counts. He’s headed up to Oregon to hook up with Scotty and his new girlfriend for a few weeks of fishing. This has been an annual event for as long as the misses can remember. She’s estimating over 40 years so far. The misses managed to get the weekend after next off so looks like we’re loading up the car and heading down to Durango for a mini summer vacation. We’re already looking all over the internet and calling customers of mine (who have wine shops and restaurants there) for advice and deals so we can do it on the cheap. One fella, who we just took to Spain 3 weeks ago (on the trip I bagged out of) has a wine shop there for the past 33 years and is a really good guy, so he’s hooking us up! We found some little cabins 9 miles out of town on a river that are pretty reasonable but we’re waiting to hear if they can squeeze us in. It’s Animas River Days and the Western Festival with a rodeo, bbq and Ute indian dancers with all kinds of free activities for the kids. More to come later on this but we’re all excited.

We’re also signed up on this web site called “Airfare Watchdog” and right now tickets to Maui are $447! You can travel anytime between now and March 2012 so I think we’ll look and see when the Marriott time shares are available as we’re swimming in miles, all we need is the plane tickets, maybe for Christmas??? hint hint.

We’re hoping the weather holds out today but of course our 80 degree forecast has now turned into the high 60’s with a chance of afternoon showers. What kind of job is a weatherman anyhow, where do they get their training? I mean they have a 50/50 chance right? Let’s see, if it’s spring time should I say rain or no rain? If it’s winter should I say snow or no snow? Now personally I prefer the weathermen in Russia that are all women and strip while they do the forecast on TV, at least this way you get some value from watching them, not that their any better at forecasting the weather, but if they’re stripping, who cares! (just kidding, who gets Russian TV anyhow?)

Time to jump in the shower and get the boys dressed for breakfast. With our discount, the three of us can eat for under $10 and it’s really healthy. Plus Mom got some Whole Foods bucks from the manager yesterday for volunteering for the girl whose dad had the kidney transplant, that was nice. Then we need to go to Kohl’s (didn’t make it yesterday) to get the boys some summer clothes, then Costco (I know I already told you), clean the house and then the pool!

In closing, today is post number 150! This means (I think) we’re 149 days into the year as we started on December 31st. Wow, the year is cruising on by. We hope all of you have a great weekend with good weather, stay out of trouble and enjoy the holiday, God Bless.

Last night the misses went down to give the little dog known as Bunkie, his evening dose of insulin. As she tried to clean off his backside, (he had something stuck on his rear end), he turned around and bit her on the hand. Now he has his shots but those little poodles have small sharp pointed teeth and this was quite the puncture wound in the meat of her palm. Apparently his teeth were stuck in her hand for a while. The oldest boy ran home for some alcohol and bandaids as it was a real bleeder. It’s still hurting this morning and I think I’ll make her call our doctor to see if she’s current on her shots! ( the wife, not the dog) This daily ritual has now turned into a real chore each day as it turns out the dog has to eat before he can have his shot. The problem here is he has been slower to eat each morning and night so now the misses has to walk him up and down the street trying to make him hungry before she can administer the shot. This adds more time to each morning and evening. Personally I think this is all a little much and feel the misses is being taken advantage of but she is steadfast in proclaiming the L.O.L. is 90 years old and needs her help. I guess she’s a much better person than I, but of course we all knew that anyhow. Keeping in this theme, she is supposed to have the day off but one of the girls at works father is getting a kidney transplant today (just found a donor yesterday afternoon) and no one would volunteer to take her shift so she could be at the hospital. Well guess who stepped up, you got it, the misses. Despite having to take Lacey in for her operation, she said she’d go in for four hours from 8:30 am until just after lunch at 12:30 if this would help. The girl at work was so thankful for being able to be with her dad when her went in for the transplant. So, it’s 5:30 (I’ve of course been up for an hour) and I just woke the wife to get her moving so she can make the kids breakfast and lunch, take Lacey to the vet, give the little dog a shot and make it to work by 8:30. I’ve got 3 conference calls starting at 7:30 and ending at 11:30.

Today after school we need to take the oldest to Kohls (a discount department store) to get him some clothes for summer. He desperately needs new shorts, shirts, socks and underwear as he grows out of everything about every six months. Yesterday Aunt B dropped off a couple of rubber ball type toys, one for each boy, as a surprise for when they got home from school. She’s a good Aunt and is always surprising the boys with something, in fact, both Uncle T and Aunt B are very generous to the boys and spoil them at every turn.

It looks like we’re having a bbq at some friends house tomorrow afternoon and then another one on Monday with Grandma and Uncle T and Aunt B. After all, it’s the holiday weekend. Mom works again tomorrow from 7:15 till 2:30 so I’ll probably take the kids to opening day of the neighborhood pool.

I was going through some bills today as we’re desperately trying to get out of debt (you know, it’s a big part of the 2011 family makeover theme, get out of debt, get healthy, etc.), and I was looking at various interest rates and found one card, unbeknownst to me, with a 27.99% interest rate! Now I watch the rates on cards all the time and can’t believe I missed this one. Needless to say I’ll be calling them first thing this morning asking for a rate reduction but will also be making an all out assault on this specific card. As I said a few months ago, how can banks give 2 or 3% interest on your money in their bank and turn around and charge you 27.99% on money you borrow. I can tell you one thing, when we’re out of debt, that’s it. Right now we’re paying for everything in cash (by check or debit card) and if we can’t, we don’t buy it, period. I wish the government would do the same, don’t you?

Since we’ve had no political musings for a while, and I’m kind of on a roll, what do you think about the 20 Billion in aid we’re giving to all these muslim and arab countries that hate us? Personally I don’t think we’re in much of a position to be giving money to anyone. The current administrations argument is we need to keep China from developing a relationship with these countries, I say let them have them. Let’s see how China fares with countries that take their money, say they’ll do one thing and then behind closed doors do another, and really don’t like, care or respect us at all! Ok, I’ll stop now as I don’t want to lose any of you but what a joke our foreign policy is. We think we can impose our will on everyone and buy them with boatloads of money that we don’t have! Don’t even get me going on Obama’s Israel policy blunder this week! Ok, sorry sorry, I’m stopping now.

We’re hoping for good weather this weekend but are supposed to get a little rain mixed in. The misses hand is hurting but she doesn’t want to go to the doctor as she says they’ll have to report the dog bite. Well I’m making her go if I have to make the appointment and take her myself, I mean come on, what if it gets infected? I also think L.O.L. should pay the doctor bill! Told you I’m on a roll.

It’s now 6:30 and the oldest is up and Mom’s making breakfast so time for me to hit the showers and get ready for the day. We hope everyone has great plans for the weekend and has a great time. Get out and enjoy it while you can and God Bless,

p.s. Grandma Dixie, call you daughter and straighten her out as she doesn’t really listen to me.

Mom had some bad dreams that woke me at 11:56 pm and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I’m not sure how long she was up but I’m sure it was a while. She also tends to talk in her sleep sometimes which is how I’m alerted to her needing to be woke up! We’re all up now with Mom in the shower as she’s back at work today and the boys and I are watching some tv and playing on various computers (the boys, not me).

It’ll be 77 degrees today and we’re all really excited. The boys are planning on wearing shorts to school, first time all year! Grandma came over for dinner last night and I’m sorry to say, she will not be going to Durango and Telluride with us, we’re all disappointed but don’t want to push her into it. I told her she could just send her credit card instead and we’d take pictures of us with it at restaurants, shops, attractions, etc., so she could feel like she was there. Not sure if that’ll fly. Just for kicks, the misses and I drove up to Evergreen yesterday to check out the 35 foot 1989 Airstream trailer we found on Craigslist. Boy did it need some work, kind of gross inside. Now we’re not really planning on buying a trailer or rv of any kind (no $), but it’s fun to look.

Aunt Robbie commented yesterday (where are the rest of you?) that she was going to go to NY this summer and needed some miles, I told her we could help get her some cheap. That should be a fun trip for her but she should go before it gets too hot and sticky.

I think we’ll bbq this weekend and need to get our plans figured out. Anyhow, today we need to keep it short as lots to do so I need to sign off now. Sorry for such a brief post today but gotta go.

Almost forgot, the oldest brought home his Yearbook yesterday and it looks like Grandma and the youngest made it in as did the oldest and I,  and there’s lots of other pictures of both boys throughout. (it helps when your Mom is on the Yearbook committee)

Stay safe, stay out of trouble and God Bless, gotta run for today.

It’ll be a bit cloudy today but we have sun in the forecast for the foreseeable future, yea! This is also good news for those in the mid west as if we get sun (and no rain) they get sun and no tornados. Most if not all of the bad storms intensify as they come over the rockies and hit the warm air from the plains. By the time they get to Kansas, Oklahoma and other mid west states, they’ve gathered up so much strength that they become very dangerous. Yesterday after watching the news seeing the new round of storms in Oklahoma, I told the misses to call her mother as Aunt Myrna lives outside of Oklahoma City. Thankfully she’s ok and told Grandma Dixie she just went to her “hidee hole”. The misses says that when her husband built their house, her reinforced it with extra concrete and rebar. I’m sure glad we don’t live there! Grandma Dixie (from Oklahoma as you all know) says the most surreal thing is that after a tornado, none of the trees have any bark left on them. Anyhow, everyone needs to say a prayer for these people as many have lost loved ones or their homes and all of their belongings.

It’s almost summer! You see it officially kicks off around here as soon as the kids are out of school which is really this Friday. They do go for a half day next Tuesday but nothing gets done. Actually little gets done this entire week, lots of fun and games and just killing time. This summer we’re making a point of exploring our great state. We’re planning on heading down to the Durango and Telluride area which is very beautiful with lots of history. Not to mention that Ralph Lauren, Tom Cruise, Oprah and others all have ranches and homes there! It’s not easy to get to as it’s about a 7 hour drive to this part of the state. I think I can do it in just over 5 hours but the oldest one yesterday suggested we leave at 3 in the morning so he could sleep and we could arrive by mid morning. This way, according to him, he won’t waste a whole day in the car! Yesterday I suggested Grandma go with us but I think she thinks if she accepts the invitation, she’ll have to pay for everything! I told her she could leave her credit cards at home and then she laughed saying she wouldn’t feel safe without them. In all seriousness, I think she’d rather just stay home with Popcorn (her little Bijon) but we’re going to try to convince her to join us anyhow. She’s coming for dinner tonight so we’ll talk more then. (you see the misses and I need a babysitter to go with us so we can hit the town and leave the kids, and who better than Grandma!)

Lacey our lab has had her tooth extraction postponed until Friday. It seems they scheduled us for the operation today but the doctor had the day off. We had already started giving her the prescribed antibiotics and arranged to take her in and pick her up but now this all needs to be moved back two days.

We need to find a little extra cash and get to the store to buy the oldest one some new clothes. He’s grown out of just about everything he owns but this has turned into a treasure trove for the little one. He’s thrilled to get all his brothers hand me downs and covets some of the special shirts very much. I don’t remember getting any hand me downs as I was the oldest. Anyhow we have to get him some new duds, shirts, shorts and jeans, as he’s over 5 feet tall now. In fact both boys have grown a lot. It’s hard to see it when you see them everyday but those of you out of town would sure be surprised at how much they’ve grown, even in the past month!

Mom and the little one just came down and Mojo is climbing the window outside howling for his mother who he thinks is Mom. This is a daily ritual played out between him and her. I just made her get off the couch and go console him so he’ll stop whimpering. This dance is played out every morning culminating with doggie hugs and him coming in to join the family. Problem is as soon as he comes in, he usually wants right back out. I think he just wants to know he has the freedom or power to do and go wherever he wants. He usually snatches a kids toy or some socks and heads to the door trying to escape hoping no one will notice what he has in his mouth.

Well that’s all I got, as they say. It’s now 6:30 and time to start thinking about the day. There’s a pizza party at school today and favorite book day as well. Post a comment and let us know how you’re doing or better yet, what you’re doing this summer. Life is short, get out there and do something before time passes you by and you regret it.

Take care and God Bless,

Up early again this morning, I just fed the pups and am having some coffee and then I’ll be off to the gym. I enjoy being up this early as it’s so quiet and peaceful. Then you turn on the news and there it is, tornado’s, volcano’s, murder, infidelity, war, stealing, (by governments and people), mixed in with other assorted bits of bad news that has little to no bearing on our daily lives. I’ve always said, a channel that just shows good things happening is really needed.

Oh well, with bad news all the time, you kind of get desensitized to it all. Imagine if you had been in a coma since 1960 and just woke up! You would be stunned to say the least, enough said.

I just took a break to go to the gym for an hour to clear my head and workout. It’s now 6am and time to wake the misses. I swear, everyone in the family (except me) would sleep until noon if they could. I’m thinking of loading up the family for a mini trip to Mesa Verde or Santa Fe in a couple of weeks. I can get hotel rooms (since no one bought us an Airstream yesterday!) with points and the kids have been studying native americans so they’d get a kick out of the old ruins at Mesa Verde. I went there as a kid and have never forgot it. We need to do something to kick off the summer fun so if anyone as any suggestions (like buy us a freakin Airstream!) let us know. It’s supposed to be in the 80’s this weekend so maybe summer is here, let’s hope so. Half of our garden was destroyed by the rain and hail so we have a little bit of re-planting to do.

Hard to believe that there’s only a couple of days of school left. The oldest brought home his CSAP test scores (some worthless costly government mandated test for all kids) and he’s proficient or above in all areas. The youngest then proudly proclaimed that he’s a level 20 reader, which is 2 levels above where he should be at the end of first grade. Looks like we’re not that bad of parents after all, ha! Who knew! We (or I) need to go to Barnes and Noble today and get their Bridge Books (summer school books) before they’re all sold out. We don’t want to let them lose any of the knowledge they’ve learned over the summer!

The holiday weekend is fast approaching, need to make some plans. Mom works again today and Thursday and Saturday and then has about 6 days in a row off! This is good news as she’ll be around for the last day of school next Tuesday and the first few days of summer vacation. Tomorrow Lacey (our yellow lab) goes in for her tooth extraction, I’m sure she’ll be fine and we need to get it done but I’m not happy about another $250. I think a person can get a tooth pulled for much less!

I think the wife is in the shower but better go check as she has a knack for falling back asleep. I also need to get some breakfast going, maybe some eggs and toast. Bacon’s pretty much off the list as we used to microwave it and now are too lazy to cook it the old fashioned way and clean up all the grease that gets all over the stove. Oh well, maybe we’ll lose a few pounds!

The littlest one just came down politely asking if he could watch a kid show. Of course I said yes as we’re almost afraid to let them watch the news. So here comes Phineas and Ferb, one of my favorites too, so time to sign off.

Enjoy your day, be thankful for what you have and go out of your way to do something nice for someone, it’ll make you feel good and the World will be a better place for it!

God Bless and take care,

What a weekend, it was full of exercise and good times for the boys and I and culminated with our oldest ones championship football game yesterday that determined who plays for the title on June 5th. The team we played, we had played before, and beat. However they were really tough and it took overtime for us to pull out the victory. The game shouldn’t have been that close except a few questionable calls kept them in it. The first was when the ref let them “do over” a play after the other team was offsides and fumbled the snap. I’ve never seen anything like this, our offense was running out on the field and then stunned when the ref made this call. The second and more obvious blunder was after we threw for a touchdown with about 3 minutes left in the game. This would have put us up by two scores but after our player caught the ball and the celebration began, the opposing coach decided to yell at the ref, who was 40 yards away, telling him our guy was out of the end zone. Now these are 8 and 9 year old boys and the field has no lines but a few orange markers along the side lines. Anyhow the ref runs from 40 yards away, after all the players had run off the field, and lets the opposing coach show him where he said our player was. To everyones disbelief, he disallowed the touchdown! In other words he totally let the other coach make the call, and by the way, our guy WAS in! So the game ends with the score tied and the other team, by virtue of a coin toss, got the ball first. Each team was awarded one possession and they were on offense first. As it turns out (due to karma of course) we stopped them on 4 downs and scored on our first try with the ball. In the end all worked out well but it could have been really a bad ending to a great game due to the other coach essentially cheating, as everyone knew his delayed protest of our player being in bounds was a desperate last ditch attempt to keep his kids in the game. Lucky as I would have probably started saying something had we lost!

We arrived home around 3:30 and the boys played outside while I made dinner and did some laundry. Mom got home at 6:15 and we all sat down for baked potato’s, chicken and salad. The boys had a slice of blueberry pie which in hindsight was too much sugar right before bed but what are you going to do! Earlier in the day I let the oldest run some cherries up to my Moms that she wanted me to get at the grocery store. I had picked up two packs but when I got to the register I noticed it was $24 for cherries! I was stunned at the cost of two small, probably 1 pound bags of cherries. Anyhow I put our bag back and just picked up one for my Mom. $12 for a bag of cherries is too much of a luxury for us right now.

Mom’s in the shower and she leaves in about 30 minutes at 7am. I’ll need to get the kids up and fed and dressed and take them to school as she starts work at 7:15. It’s supposed to rain a bit today (again) and continue for the next 2 days. It sure is getting old but we can’t complain with tornado’s and floods everywhere else. The World didn’t end Saturday (thankfully) but there’s a lot of unusually bad weather everywhere this year. I have a big week of work with the holiday weekend coming up. Lacey goes in Wednesday to have her cracked tooth pulled and we still have no microwave, no surprise there!

Surfing around on the computer, we found a vintage 1964 Airstream trailer for sale on line for under $10,000. Now if you don’t know what an Airstream is, think back to the 60’s or go Google it. You see and old rv or motorhome is just an old rv or motorhome, but an old Airstream, it’s just vintage cool! It’s just a dream but boy would we like to have that! Can you see the four of us tooling down the highway pulling our shinny aluminum vintage trailer! It has 60″ colors inside and is really cool!  Maybe you all should pitch in so we could come visit you this summer, ha ha! Oh well, it sure is fun to imagine driving around the country in this thing.

Time to jump in the shower as it’s now 6:40. The oldest one is up and Mom is headed to Bunkie’s for his morning shot, I forgot she needs to leave earlier to do this. Hope everyone has a great day and until tomorrow, God Bless everyone.

Did anyone see the Colorado sky last night? It was about 8:30 and I was on my way home from work to make my way to L.O.L’s to administer Bunkie’s shot.  I couldn’t believe how truly amazing the night sky was. The clouds looked like Michael Angelo had reached out of the heavens and painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel right here in Colorado. The background of the sky was a silver blue, the clouds were soft and fluffy colored with indigo on the bottoms that faded upward to a steel grey mixed with lavender and topped  off with a  thin stripe of rose….words can not describe how beautiful the night sky was.

After I went to work the “guys” had a great day together.  Dad took them to Boulder to the Farmers Market for veggies, multi colored popcorn, and of course a homemade blueberry pie.

The next stop for the boys was an Antique shop that carries old Navajo jewelry, rugs and pottery, a minor history lesson on Native Americans and the beautiful art they created. Then it was time for lunch, so the crew came in to buy hot dogs and buns for a picnic in the front yard.

The kiddos played outside after they returned home…from 1:00 to 8:00 with only a small break….10 minutes or so…then it was time for “Movie Night” with Dad.  The feature film was Gulliver’s Travels with Jack Black…and from what I understand it was quite funny.

Durring the kids playtime outside our oldest stuck up for one of the younger neighbors…you see another neighbor boy that is also 9 was picking on the 7 and 4 year olds…shooting them with nerf guns, throwing hard balls at the youngsters and just all around being mean. Our oldest told him to stop a few times and finally got right in his face and said, ” Hey, it’s not okay to pick on kids that are younger than you and you may not shoot girls, especially little girls ever”. His dad and I are quite proud of his sense of fairness and of course his grammar.

Anyway, tons of fun was had by all and they were quite wiped out when I got home. Our youngest…the usual early bird is still asleep and it’s almost 2 hours past his usual wake up time.

Today is the first flag football playoff game for our oldest, I am sad to be missing it and hope to be off next Sunday to watch the second playoff game. I guess he was throwing beautiful spirals in the front yard yesterday…I am sad to have missed that as well, but we need the extra $$ right now and I did make all of the field trips…hurray. I’ll have the mister film the game for me.

I am off to give the shot and then home to make breakfast and head out to work. Have a great day..

God Bless

LLF