A Year of Change

I landed about 5pm ast night from Washington D.C. (actually flew out of BWI airport as it’s easier, newer and tons cheaper) after a quick 27 hours on the east coast. What a historic city our nations Capital is. The boys are just about old enough to appreciate it so we’ll have to plan a family trip soon. Thankfully through connections, I stayed at a boutique hotel, 4 blocks from the Capital that was normally $500 a night, for $159. (plus they even upgraded me!) We had a great sushi dinner at Santen, one of the top restaurants in D.C. that should have cost $500 as well but were only charged $100. It’s nice to know people. Monday was cold and rainy in D.C. with yesterday clear, sunny and kind of cool. I took a quick drive around the National Mall which encompasses everything from the White House to the Capital and all sights in between. It’s quite a sight.

As soon as I landed I rushed to my car to go get the boys from my brother and his wife. Upon arrival they had taco’s prepared for us for dinner, thanks! Aunt Blondie commented that she doesn’t know how we do it, referring to raising the boys. It seems about 5 hours over two days was enough for her. I guess when you’re the parents you somewhat get used to it. What I mean is they will always find something to fight over as that’s what 7 and 9 year old brothers do. Point is, whatever it is, it’ll pass in a few minutes as they have a short attention span. You just need to ride it out.

I’m off to Phoenix tomorrow and back Friday and then done for a few weeks, I think. I was almost pulled into a San Francisco trip next Tuesday but have jury duty. Maybe I’ll get lucky and get some cool case involving Charlie Sheen! Mom got home around 8:15 and I had both boys already asleep. Today she works from 3 until 9:45pm so we won’t see each other much as I have a busy day. She’s then off Thursday, Friday and Saturday but I’m gone the first two of those. At least we’ll be together Saturday. It’s almost 6am and everyone will be waking soon so I need to get some work done before the morning party starts. I’ll let Mom post tomorrow as she writes so well and I’m sure is a welcome change from my thoughts. Hope everyone is well and happy, take care,

Good morning… if you can call it that.  The sky is pitch black dotted with sparkling stars and the dog is barking to go out. It is a little after 4a.m. I tried to go back to bed, but my horizontal brain kicked in. For those of you that don’t have this issue, I’ll fill you in.  As soon as you lie down your brain kicks into overdrive..wheels turning on every subject under the sun. All the things you need to get done..all the things you feel you should have done and everything you should be doing. Of course none of it really matters, but you can never go back to sleep, so here I am…4:36a.m. I am looking forward to the sunrise this morning…if it is anything like yesterday it will be spectacular!!!

Yesterday went very well.  Dad headed off to the airport at 6:40a.m. The boys were up to wish him a safe and successful trip. They polished off two or three breakfasts, got dressed without too much fuss and we headed off to little old ladies to administer little old dog’s shot…then off to school.  We were a bit early, so I went in to the P.E. teachers room to fill him in on the “Head butting” situation. He had not been informed. He asked our littlest one to please tell him if anything problematic ever comes up in the future and he assured me that this behavior would be stopped. I hope so.  He is a great teacher…all of our kids teachers have been amazing thus far. He has been at the school for 30 years…so cool…and his programs are great. The kids have cross country, track and field, soccer, square dancing(not my favorite)rope climbing, peg boards …a plethora of varied physical activity. Don’t Ever Vote For Education Funding Cuts…the future of our children can’t afford it!!

Off to work I went.

Uncle T and Aunt Blondie picked the boys up from school.  The parking lot parent patrol scolded uncle T for leaving his car unattended. Sorry Uncle T. The boys of course had a blast…after their homework they played ping pong, played outside, ate 2 grilled cheese sandwiches each plus an assortment of accompaniments and set reminders to tape t.v. shows to watch today….Good times!!! Thank you guys!! The boys are looking forward to another day with their Aunt and Uncle. Another honorable mention…Uncle T brought up yummy fried chicken last night. You rock Uncle T!

The boys and I went trough their Monday folders together. A “Monday Folder” comes home…you guessed it..every Monday filled with work they completed the previous week and info on the week to come. Parents are required to sign and date the folder to insure they hopefully went trough it. Our oldest has another CSAP test this morning on writing. He is a little nervous about punctuation, but is confident he will do well.  I assured him that his best is all he can do. The school sent home a reminder to ask that the children get a good nights sleep and a healthy breakfast…so far the sleep part is on track and I will for sure make a healthy breakfast. One more test tomorrow and then two next week and we will be done with CSAP.

I work 12-8 today and Dad should be picking the kiddos up around 6:15-6:30 on his way home from the airport. I’ll have to remind him to get our oldest to bed early.

The youngest has his last Destination Imagination meeting today and a dress rehearsal Friday. The big competition is Saturday morning….I better get the dvd recorder charged!!

Have another lovely day!!!

God Bless,

LLF

It’s late on the night of the 27th and the Oscars are winding down, we sure want to see True Grit. I’m headed to D.C. in the morning and the wife/mom will have her hands full. See she needs to give Bunkie his shot at 7:30, get the boys ready and to school by 8 (10 minutes early) so she can get to work at 8:15.

She made a fantastic dinner of shrimp and grits. Sounds plain but she made a spicy sweet green chile sauce for the grits and broiled the shrimp in lemon, garlic and oil, the boys even ate everything, with a little prodding on the grits. We played some basketball today (all 4 of us), and did some grocery shopping. Laundry of course is a daily chore so no need to really mention it. The boys obviously have much better days when they get exercise outside, thankfully it was a pretty nice day, a bit cold in the morning but then warmed up. My wife is tired, she’s been working really really hard. She works for the next 3 days and then gets 3 off but I’ll be in AZ for 2 of them so not so much of a break. She’s getting back into running which makes her feel much better. We both thought of having a drink tonight but passed realizing we feel so much better without alcohol. Funny as we have over 2000 bottles of wine sitting in our kitchen and don’t want any. We were even going to have some friends over last night but knew we’d end up drinking because that’s what you do when you get together. Well we’re breaking the chain, swim suit season is coming fast. (just kidding) You see all we really care about is the calories, not that we’re that vain, we just feel better in general when we’re in shape. Ever notice how it’s so much harder to stay in shape the older you get?

The misses/wife/mom will be writing on March 1st. I just wanted to help her out a bit tonight as she’ll be very busy in the am. Hope everyone is doing well, keep your gas tanks at least half full at all times (don’t ask why, just do it), and have a good week.

Tonight is the Oscars, not really a big deal to me but the misses is excited about it. I think she likes seeing all the dresses more than the actual event. Oh well, at least it’s good for a post title.

Got all the wine unloaded and moved into the house yesterday. The basement and upstairs breakfast nook are each filled with about 90 cases of wine. A few bottles were broke so some of the boxes have that “barrel smell” that reminds you of a vineyards cellar. While the littlest one was at his birthday party, my brother and wife took me, our oldest and his friend out for pizza. They also made chili for us for dinner last night which helps out as I can then focus on laundry and house cleaning. When we picked up our youngest at his party, he used his Chuck e Cheese “points” to buy him, his brother and their friend some prizes. Quite an unselfish act for a 7 year old hyped up on cake and ice cream! We all came home and played a bit outside before heading in to clean up before dinner.

Tomorrow I fly to D.C. (actually into Baltimore as it’s about half price) at 9am. With Mom working at 8:15 the boys will need to be dropped off a few minutes early. It’s supposed to be raining on the east coast when I land but all I really need to do is head to dinner in D.C.

Since I haven’t gone off on any political or world view rants lately, I thought I’d share some of the latest news with you all today. Gas is almost $4 a gallon here, going up an unprecedented 25 cents a gallon in less than 2 days! This is reminiscent of the 1970’s for those of us old enough to remember. On a local level, the kids neighborhood summer pool tuition has gone from $465 to $520 (which doesn’t seem like a lot but is about 12%) and they want you to pay by March 15th. The pool doesn’t open until Memorial Day so they now want to be paid 10 weeks early I guess for the interest they’ll make on the fees they collect. Our close friends told me yesterday they’re going to have to pass this year. I’m not sure what we’ll do as with Mom working we’re going to need some kind of activity for the kids when they’re not in school, plus they do go about every day and it’s good exercise. Anyhow I’ll leave the rant at that, (see that wasn’t so bad) as I’m sure (or hope) that most of you are aware of what’s going on out there. I know lots of people that are actually selling things they don’t need to pay bills or buy extra food. Funny how the things they’re now selling were “must haves” just a few years ago. The misses even sees it at work as she tells of people stocking up on various items coming through her lines. She’ll be writing the blog tomorrow and Tuesday and maybe will elaborate. Ok, I’ll stop.

We’re all headed to the gym in a half hour or so, (use it or lose it), and will then come home to more laundry and cleaning on our day off. Hope everyone is well, give us a call to say hi. Take care, stay safe and healthy.

God Bless,

That’s how much wine we’ll be lifting and carrying down into the basement this morning. Yesterday I had 178 cases (40 lbs per case) flown in on Lufthansa Airlines, from Italy to Denver. Today at 9am they will be dropped off in the middle of our driveway. Thankfully it won’t be snowing this morning, just a bit cool. Over the next week we will be unpacking and re-packing wine to ship off to various points across the country to be used as samples in tastings to generate orders for delivery in June. Luckily for the misses, she works at noon meaning she’ll miss out on most of the heavy lifting. Knowing her, she’ll pitch right in and lift and carry more than one of the guys I hire to help. I was in Whole Foods yesterday grabbing some milk, eggs and bread. Funny a guy like me that prides myself on being prepared is out of the top 3 staples in the kitchen, I’m going to have to have a talk with myself! Guess we will have to look at getting some chickens and cows after all.  When checking out, I introduced myself to one of the checkers I had not met. (they can tell who you are based on your discount card) She proceeded to tell me what a neat lady my wife is and how we’re both very special blessed people. First I said thanks but then had to confide to her that really my wife is the special one and I just lucked out, but don’t tell my wife I said so.

The youngest and I played chess last night, his new favorite game, and he won, of course with a little help from me. During dinner last night he said how he really didn’t like the sweet potato french fries but worded it to Mom in the following way, “Mom, I’m not judging, but I really don’t like these”. It’s always a chore to try to get the boys to eat properly so we try creative approaches like making sweet potato’s into french fries. Our mircowave is on the fritz (that’s a word right?) for the past few days. It’ll stop as soon as you start it and make you put in the time, day, month and year before letting you re-start it. It’s always something! The youngest has a birthday party at Chucky Cheese today which is a haven for all germs on the weekend when school’s out. I hate that place.

We need to ask Uncle T and Aunt B to pick up the kids and watch them from 2:45 to 5:15 this coming Monday and Tuesday as I’ll be in D.C. for a quick trip and the wife has to work. Other than that, we have the rest of the week covered. We’ve managed to work around both our schedules pretty well in the 6 weeks she’s been working. I think this is actually the first time we’ve needed outside help. Thanks in advance for the help.

The oldest and I will have to find something fun to do while the youngest is at his party. March is right around the corner, Tuesday, and they say it is our snowiest month. Sure hope they’re wrong as we’re all ready for summer around here. At least we’re not on the east coast as they’ve been hammered this year. One of my wife’s close friends from Idaho and her family are coming to visit in a few weeks. I don’t really know them (met them once) but they’re really close. Well time to jump in the shower and clean some spots in the basement and dining room for 45 stacks (of 4 cases each) of wine. For the next week or so, it’ll be real crowded around here, oh the joys of being self employed. I also probably shouldn’t have worked out so hard at the gym yesterday as I’m a bit sore and have all the wine to lift today, oh well, keeps me young.

In closing we got the word last night that Auntie T’s breast biopsies was negative, yea!

Everyone have a good day and get outside and get some exercise!

Three of us are already awake and downstairs at 5 something this morning.  Personally, I would prefer to be snug in my bed until at least 6:30. There is a light dusting of snow on the ground and more to come throughout the day.  We better bundle our kiddos up today…it’s chilly.

Work passed by quickly yesterday…it was really busy and we have to ask our “captive audience” if they would like to donate to the Whole Planet Foundation. WPF is set up to offer micro loans to impoverished women to start their own business and raise themselves and their children out of poverty.  I’m all for helping women and children, but it is uncomfortable to ask everyone to donate while they are passing through my line.

The youngest was head butted again during square dancing…that ends today! The teacher is going into the P.E. class to put a stop to this unacceptable behavior this afternoon. My husband and I both spoke to her and she spoke to the class…. However, the P.E. teacher is unaware of the situation and will be apprised of said behavior today. How does a 7 year old learn how to head butt anyway? Sooooo not okay!!

We had our pup (big dog) sleep inside again last night in hopes of no late night…early morning predator vs. prey games. We had success….no midnight fun for our furry friend. Once again our youngest made his way into our bed sometime after midnight, so another night of good sleep was eluded. D!#* it!!! We are so tired.

No rest for us today….we have to make room for 178 cases (samples) of wine that are being delivered tomorrow. It all has to be shipped out next week…at least unloading the cases and carrying them downstairs counts as a workout.

Bob the fish is looking better. He is no longer floating on his side. Hurray!! I think he was just constipated.

The little old lady and her dog are doing well also. Yea!! She is so cute…in the mornings she and Bunkie sit on the stairs in front of an open front door (she has a glass storm door so the cold doesn’t get in) and wait for me to arrive with Bunkie’s breakfast and to administer his shot.  Super sweet!

Well I am off to make breakfast, get kids ready for school, and head down to L.O.L’s to give shot to L.O.D.(little old dog). Off to the gym later and hopefully get in a short run, throw the ball for the dogs and help Hubby make room for wine.

Have a lovely day to all..

God Bless,

LLF

Thanks to my lovely wife for handling the posting duties yesterday while I was out of town, it was a quick but successful trip. From reading her post, she had a busy day off. The boys and misses are still sleeping as it’s only 5:30am.

It was a bit chilly when I got home and is still that way this morning. Mom had a nice batch of homemade lentil soup ready for dinner which really hit the spot. The boys complained about having pasta again but it’s become a staple around our house. We use the Barilla Plus pasta which actually has as much protein as chicken and a lot more fiber. It’s one of the secret ways we sneak protein into the kids diet. If anyone out there eats pasta, this is the one to buy. Gas was $4 a gallon in San Francisco yesterday, WOW, I hope that trend reverses itself. San Fran is a pretty city on the surface but my meeting was actually in Oakland so driving from SFO airport to Oakland, you really see the seedy side of the place. People (more than I’ve seen in other cities like NY, Chicago, Dallas or Miami) are just camped and living on the sidewalks. (Here’s where I say something negative about Nancy Pelosi but my wife has kindly told me to lay off the politics) I don’t know what situation put these folks where they are but there seem to be more of them than in years past. I’m thankful we have a roof over our heads and food on the table as it’s clear there’s a lot of people who don’t have these basic comforts.

My wife just hollered down from upstairs as it seems the big dog is barking and climbing the fence again, (she has much better hearing than I do), must be that damned raccoon! If this keeps up, I’m going to have to do something about it. Does anyone have any good raccoon stew recipes?

Today I need to clean up a little downstairs and run some errands while Mom’s at work and the boys are in school. Mom works until 7 tonight so it’ll be the boys and I on our own for dinner. I think I’ll try to come up with something different than pasta to surprise them. I wish they’d eat fish, maybe we can have frozen cod from Whole Foods as they seem to like that.

I need to run for the day as I have a ton to do today. I’m going to try to get showered and cleaned up and get out the door to gas up the vehicles before the boys need to go to school. Both cars need gas, (there’s a $170 expense) and I like to keep them always at least half full, but have let both fall below this level. With gas so expensive, we now have to think twice about going somewhere unlike the past when you’d just jump in the car and go. It’s a different World we live in but I’ll stay away from this for today because as I said earlier, the misses has warned me about going off on another rant. Oh well, enough for today, stay safe and God bless until tomorrow, and I promise I’ll come back strong with some good rants!

We had a planned early start yesterday. Up and in the shower by 5:15 to make sure I was ready for the day ahead. I gave Bunkie his shot at 7:50a.m. loaded the boys for school at 8:00a.m. and volunteered in the 1st grade glass from 8:10-9:50….I love the mornings that I volunteer for those sweet little munchkins!! I headed to WF at 10:15 and didn’t look up until almost 7.

My man once again had the boys, the eldest of which told me that Dad is very strict. Who knew that I was the softy, or the parent with not much follow through….Oh yes…the boys know. Dad brought one of the boys into the store yesterday while the other was at his Destination Imagination meeting. They bought some snacks for “husbands” trip to San Francisco this morning. He has a meeting with Cost Plus Markets….wish him luck and success!!

We had a rough night…it started off well with big hugs from the boys when I arrived home..those hugs are the best! I went down and gave Bunkie his evening shot and after coming in and making a snack for the youngest and then sending the boys to bed, the eldest fell down the stairs on his way up and bumped his head. Ugg…very scary.  He had a bump and of course the pediatrician recommends waking the youngster every two hours to make sure said youngster knows who you are, the year it is and the name of the President to guaranty no brain swelling. I repeat…Ugg! After this minor drama the youngest proceeds to show us a goose egg size bump on his forehead. The bump was a result of a boy in his Rhythms class(square dancing)that thinks head butting when you bow to your partner is “funny”.  Not funny!! Needless to say, I will be having a conversation with his teacher this morning.

So, we finally go to sleep…Husband needs to be up at 3a.m. to prepare for his 0’dark hundred a.m. flight to S.F. Oh, sleep wonderful sleep….not so fast…our furry four legged family member found a critter to chase at 2:12a.m. Stupid raccoon!! We… husband and I bounded down the stairs, turned off the alarm and then had a hard time coaxing our dog into the house, he was having so much fun chasing his prey and dog food doesn’t hold a candle to live bait! We headed back to bed and of course the youngest who had been in his own bed was now fast asleep in ours. Did I mention the glass of water that got knocked over around 1a.m.? Good times!!!I need a nap…so does my man I am guessing.

The agenda today consists of cleaning bathrooms, walking our four legged friends, mailing a Flight Attendant Uniform that I am soooo behind on returning, washing bedding, chasing dog hair and dust bunnies, and trying to once again save Bob the betta fish, whom at this moment is floating on his side. Yikes!!

Please send a payer out for our close friend Auntie T. She had a couple of breast biopsies yesterday and the doc sent one out for further testing. Send one out for the fish too.

Wish me luck!!

God Bless,

LLF

The weekend is over! It was a good 4 days off for everyone, (Mom worked 3 of the 4). Our eldest told us yesterday what a great time he had on this extended weekend. It was culminated with the boys getting these new sweatshirts they HAD to have. They used their own money so all I was responsible for was driving the brood to Boulder to the skateboard shop. These sweatshirts are hoodies meaning they have a hood attached and they actually zip all the way up over their face. Once zipped up over their heads, there are mesh eyes and nose holes they can see and breath through. They look like some kind of aliens out of a movie, hard to imagine but I’m sure you’ll see them everywhere soon. What fun to be a kid, oblivious to all the challenges in the World going on around you. I sure hope that by the time the boys are adults, the World has had some kind of great epiphany and everyone is living in peace and harmony. Oh well, one can hope.

I just received a text from close friends in Seattle telling us that the misses goes in for a biopsy today at 1pm. Having gone through this last year, we know the stress they’re under. These “close calls” can really be a wake up call to make one realize what’s important in life. First and foremost, what’s not important are “things” like fancy cars, jewelry, and other items we’re conditioned from youth to consider necessary and important to our very being. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have the comforts of society but one needs to realize these things are not what should be the pursuit of ones life. How many times have you heard the story of the man who for his entire life strives to acquire as much money as possible and gather as many things of value as he can only to realize that his life has passed him by and he’s now old and all alone surrounded by all his money and “things”. You don’t want to end up in that situation as I imagine it’s not a good feeling, being in the twilight of your life and being all alone. What’s truly important is family, friends, health and somehow helping make this World a better place. Imagine if each and every persons goal was to be kind to their fellow man and in some way, no matter how small, make the World a better place. It wouldn’t take long to see dramatic changes all around us. This me me attitude needs to stop. It reminds me of the movie The Ten Commandments where all the people are worshiping the golden calf. If that story is true, look what happened to those people!

Here comes our youngest, Mom’s already showered as she volunteers in school before going to work. I’m off to San Francisco tomorrow just for the day (leave at 6am, back by 4pm) and have lots of work to get done today. We had a raccoon in the front yard for most of the afternoon yesterday. The boys of course were captivated by its presence. It looked a little lethargic as they aren’t usually out during the day. Hope he doesn’t wander into the backyard as he’d be no match for our 125 lb malamute. Aunt Blondie came over for dinner and brought cupcakes for the boys and treats for the dogs. She’s always very thoughtful. My brother gets back from AZ around noon as he’s been down there since he drove my Mom down last week. I joked with her yesterday asking if she’s ready to come home now. (she’s only been there a week!)  She said she’ll stick it out a while longer but’ll keep me posted. The misses and I are still trying to kick our colds and coughs but life goes on. We need to start planning out our garden for the year. I’m serious about getting some things to grow better this year! I’ve been reading all winter to figure out what’ll grow best with the least amount of work. You don’t want to spend countless man hours and hundreds of dollars of water growing $6 worth of tomato’s.

Well breakfast is ready and time to go, hope all’s and God Bless,

Today was designated a holiday to celebrate Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays. While Washington was really born on February 11th and Lincoln on the 12th, the 90th Congress in 1968 decided to make the holiday a single day. When I was a kid lots of us aspired to be President someday. Now it doesn’t look like such a good career choice. Anyhow, to the blog….

Yesterday was a fun day. We started out by going to the horse (cutting) competition. Cutting is where you’re on your horse and you “cut” or separate one cow from the herd and try to keep it from getting back to the rest of the cows. Cows are pretty quick and can turn on a dime but a good cutting horse is quicker. The rider literally lets the horse do most of the work and just sits atop his or her mount as the horse rapidly jerks back and forth shadowing the moves of the cow. I rode a cutting horse in Wyoming last year and a good horse will throw you off if you don’t “go with the flow” of the horse. The boys had a good time and at one point while watching the event, our youngest asked “Dad, why do the horses tails come out of their ass?” My first reaction was to answer “because that’s the way God designed them” but then I had to tell him not to say “ass”. I guess we’d better  clean up our language around the house. Riders were as young as 9 years old and as old as 70. We sat with our friends who are the VP and Secretary of the Western States Cutting Horse Association. The boys also got down into the arena and pet a nice little 6 year old mare named Sally Bob Freckles or Sally for short. Our eldest kept wanting to know if I brought my credit card to buy a horse! I reminded him that Grandma (or specifically Grandpa) had promised to buy the boys a horse, not Dad. Upon leaving, the eldest began sneezing uncontrollably. I turned around in the car to notice his eyes were getting red much like they do when he’s around cats. Earlier in the day he had picked up a bunch of dog hair and then rubbed his nose so it must have been that or else all the cows and horses in one spot. He’s not allergic to horses as he rode for days in Wyoming with no problems last year. I drove straight to the nearest grocery store and bought some Benedryl which stopped the sneezing right away. We headed home, had some lunch and then played some football outside. It was really cold and windy yesterday but we played outside anyhow, kids don’t seem to care how cold it is. The boys cleaned the mud room and then I fed them dinner while I waited for Mom. She finally made it home finishing her 40 hours of work for the week. Mom finished her second review and is of course on pace to be the finest employee anyone has ever seen. That’s just who she is! The dog barked at 5am and after several nudges from my wife, I rose for the day to feed the dogs and make some coffee. As early as I get up, I might as well be living on a ranch as I’m always up before the sun rises. What’s the difference in feeding 2 or 20 animals? The way things are going with our economy and the price of food, it might be  smart move to get some cows right about now. Gas is now about $3.25 a gallon (over $3.50 for diesel!) with no end in sight. Wheat is up 78% in a year and with the recent freeze in Mexico and our southern states, you can expect fruits and veggies to go up as well. Lucky for us we have a freezer full of elk and pheasant to cut down on having to buy meat as it also is way up. We’re in for a big correction people, get ready as it’s going to take a while to recover from this hole we’re in. In our house, we’ve resorted to being as thrifty as we can in all areas and have cut discretionary spending to almost nothing. The days of seeing something in a store and buying on impulse are long gone. I can’t remember the last time we were in a mall except to pay a bill. Oh well, this is all actually a good thing, I just hope this wake up call on endless spending from the government on down, will be a learning lesson for all and we can somehow get back to living within our means. I know we have! Oh well, enough of my views as I’m drifting into politics once again. Lots to do today and the kids are still off school until tomorrow. Thankfully Mom is also off today. Hope everyone is well and until tomorrow, God bless.