Sixth Racquetball League Game

Finally got a chance to sneak in my 6th game of our racqueball league.

Before the game though, I had a very special 'team' of specialists to help me 'warm-up' properly. They did a great job and I had a ball chasing the balls around they'd try to hit!

Then Brian showed up and it was time to play, for real! My specialists got to sit and eat a 'special' supper I'd packed for them and watch. Then while I finished up, they got to play with a couple of big excersise balls. It was funny watching them roll over the top of them.

It was a good game. The guy had a very good serve. He served a number of aces. I love playing against others who have different skill sets.

Anyway, I won. Beat him in two games. 15-9, 15-4. I was actually suprised. Thought there would be a bit more of a challenge in the game.

Still, lots of fun!

Afterwards, we had a few minutes and another fellow, who'd been playing in the next court over was finished and was just watching our game.

So we invited him in to play some cut-throat. Playing 2 against 1 is a lot of fun. There are very few ways to sharpen your skills than a good fast game of cut-throat!

We played for 10 minutes or so, then the girls and I had to split.

Another good game.

Bad Taco Bell - The Followup

So, I felt HORRIBLE for quite a while. Stuff started to come out one end, a lot runnier that ordinary. I sat on the porcelain throne for quite a while. Finally, after a ton of tummy rumbling, I'd had enough. I grabbed our bottle of Ipecac, only to see that it had expired 4 years ago. I was feeling so incredibly awful. It says it is supposed to take 20 min. Well, it took closer to 50. Not to mention that it tasted absolutely awful!!!

Finally it all cameback out the same direction it went down. Argh - I absolutely HATE that action.

Anyway - I felt a bit better. At least I was able to get to sleep.

It took a while the next day, but finally - it passed.

Boy 'O boy.

Male & Female ATM Machine Procedures

Hey there,

Just got this funny from a friend. It cracked me up. I've seen ATM users like this. (Unfortunatly both male & female.)

Enjoy!

--Steve

Any

A new sign in the Bank Lobby reads:

'Please note that this Bank is installing new Drive-through ATM machines enabling customers to withdraw cash without leaving their vehicles.

Customers using this new facility are requested to use the procedures outlined below when accessing their accounts.

After months of careful research, MALE & FEMALE Procedures have been developed. Please follow the Appropriate steps for your gender.'

*******************************
MALE PROCEDURE:
1. Drive up to the cash machine.
2. Put down your car window.
3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN.
4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw.
5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.
6. Put window up.
7. Drive off.

*******************************

FEMALE PROCEDURE:
(What is really funny is that most of this part is the Truth.!)

1. Drive up to cash machine.
2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the machine.
3. Set parking brake, put the window down.
4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to passenger seat to locate card.
5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up.
6. Attempt to insert card into machine.
7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.
8. Insert card.
9. Re-insert card the right way.
10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside back page.
11. Enter PIN.
12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.
13. Enter amount of cash required.
14. Check makeup in rear view mirror.
15. Retrieve cash and receipt.
16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.
17. Write debit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.
18. Re-check makeup.
19. Drive forward 2 feet.
20. Reverse back to cash machine.
21. Retrieve card.
22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card holder, and place card into the slot provided!
23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you.
24. Restart stalled engine and pull off.
25. Redial person on cell phone.
26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.
27. Release Parking Brake.

Hi!

Extremely busy lately.

So, just time enough for a 'Hi!'

More later!

Bad Taco Bell - BAD!

Doreen and some ladies from the church had a choral practice tonight for a special music March 15.

So Larry & Sandra, who were also attending so Larry could help them learn the piece, asked if we wanted to 'do' Taco Bell for dinner with them.

Yeah - sure. We're up for Taco Bell anytime.

Doreen and I got Tostadas. Everyone else got other things. Well - something was up with those things cuz Doreen couldn't even finish hers. I downed mine, but something didn't taste just right.

So we did the practice and home and stuff with the girls - mainly bedtime.

Then doing other stuff, I started feeling awful. Excess air escaping out of both ends of me, and a rumbly tummy - Doreen too.

Their was DEFINETLY something wrong with thos Tostadas.

Aaarrrgggghhh! I feel awful. Pepto and a small shot of Peppermint extract hasn't helped much either!

Bad Taco Bell - BAAAAADDDD!

Man I hope I feel better soon!

1 Vacation Please - and Give it Wings!

He, he, he!

Just finalized some plans for vacation. As Doreen and I were driving home we talked about our Colorado trip. Figuring it would take 4 13 hour days, 3,200 miles, 12 meals, 2 motels, misc items - it would cost us about $1,075 to drive out. That's 4 days of lost time and feeling all worn out when we arrive and return.

So we decided to look at ticket prices. Orbitz had a great price, and we tried to book it - twice, and each time it said that price is no longer available - so the new price was $300 to $400 more expensive.

I decided to call the airlines directly. Guess what? They had the flights at the price advertised, so we bought 4.

Instead of driving, we're flying to Colorado. Yeah baby!

We can't wait! Vacation can't come soon enough!

Come on May 28th!!! :)

See you soon CO & family!

A GREAT End to this week!

This has been a nice week. Due to circumstances, I ended up only taking one 823 mile run. Left Tuesday night, back Wed evening. Done! That in itself makes the week nice.

Having some time at home, both with my little girl, when she was sick, and by myself later in the week when she was back at school was also very nice.

Today was the 'tip of the iceberg' in terms of good for the week.

This morning I dropped the kids of at school and went to the Rec Ctr to get in a bit of exercising. Then a quick shower and back to a parking lot to meet Doreen. We left the truck and loaded up for the school, to see, with the kids, the Georgia Cumberland Academy Gymnastics team perform. They had volunteers come up for a number of 'activities' and you might recognize the girl at the top in the pic - Joelle a BALL doing this!

Then up to our Tax preparer lady to see how things would 'even' out with Uncle Sam and the IRS. After 45 minutes of question and answer and putting stuff in the computer, it turns out that our Uncle owes us a few dollars. Yes! I hate owing him anything. It's enough that we can pay off what we still owe on the new roof and the repair work on the furnace - THANKFULLY! Then, we'll have a bit left over that will go in our 'trip' fund to pay for gas that is going to be REDICULOUSLY high this summer as we drive out to Colorado to see family for our vacation!!!

On the way back, Doreen and I stopped and ate at a restaurant we've not eaten at in quite some time, yet thoroughly enjoy their sandwiches, Scholtzskys. Good place!!!

We got back to the school 30 minutes before it let out, so we parked in the lot, Doreen studied and I snuck in a nice nap. OH yeah. It, almost, doesn't get any better than that.

Now I'm catching a few things up on the computer, waiting for my in-laws to show, then we'll head over to Taco Bell for a quick supper then to the church where Doreen and a ladies chorus she's part of can practice their new song for Easter Sabbath. The kids and I will be playing games on Cell phones and my DS! Yeah Baby!

Then home - I'll probably dink around on the computer a bit more, study for SS in the morning then to bed!

Yeah - it has been a very good week!

Florida Funeral Pics

Here's a few pics from Uncle Jack's funeral in Florida this past weekend.


Natalie being so very cute at Uncle Dick's & Aunt June's place.












Larry & Natalie saying 'goodbye' one last time.

















On display, some paintings Jack did, along with a pic of him in his younger years and one with his wife Margaret














The "Otto's" slash Hanson slash Pester!















6 Cousins that had never been all together. (L to R Shelly, Andria, Johnathan, Janelle, Doreen & Rachel.)

"Darn" It

That's the sewing term by the way! :)

I just finished fixing a button hole that the sewing from the factory had come loose. It's a nice pair of work pants, very comfortable, easy to drive in, easy to unload in - if I'm not wearing shorts.

The fact of the matter is, I'm thankful to my Mom for teaching me the skill to sew and to mend.

When I was younger, it used to drive me nuts to have to fix a hole in a pair of socks or a shirt. But thankfully, it taught me a very useful skill.

Now, when I have a hole in a sock - I throw it away. :) However, when it's somethink like my workpants, or a shirt or a jacket - all things I've recently mended - I can do it.

Thanks Mom!!!

Monday

Today was quite a nice day.

This morning, I got up when Joelle got up and went to lay on the bathroom floor for some odd reason. She was fine, just went to lay on the floor. So, that got our day going.

I got up and took a shower, made breakfast, had worship and got going.

We hit on thrift store and found another badmitten racquet. Picked it up for .48 cents. I also got a board game that Doreen loves to play, so now we've got one of our own. It's called Upwards. It's like Scrabble on steroids. I think she'll enjoy it.

Anyway, we ran a couple of more errands. I picked up a second external hard-drive to back stuff up and have one here and the other one at Larry & Sandra's to have one out of the house - just in case.

We hit Taco Bell for lunch then home.

It was such a nice day we played Badmitten outside for a while, then inside to do a few things.

Then I had a racquetball league game. So we went a half hour early and Joelle and I played racquetball for 30 minutes or so till my competitor arrived. She had a ball doing that. Then he arrived and she sat and ate her supper and watched us play. On the way home, she kept wondering when we'd play again. So we'll have to go again - soon!




Back at home, we did a couple of things, then bedtime routine and then bedtime.

Doreen and Natalie just got back home. It's nice to have them back home.Can't wait to see the pics from their time in FL.

So, I'll share some of them with you tomorrow.

Later!

Fifth Racquetball League Game

Played my 5th game of the league this evening.

Wasn't even close. This guy said he used to play regularly in college. He had a pretty good serve, when he'd get it in. But he couldn't return a serve worth a hoot.

It was still fun playing, just cuz I really enjoy racquetball, but I beat him 15-4, 15-5.

The truth of it, was that it wasn't even as challenging as the score suggests.

That puts me at 4 wins and 1 loss this season.

4 games left coming up. 3 of them look like they'll be a challenge.

Wooo hoooo!

My Day - Relaxing!!!

Just got off the phone with Doreen. She's doing great. She had a nice time visiting and at the funeral. I can't wait to see the pics she's bringing back. They're heading back tomorrow. They've got at least 9 hours back. Although, it should be interesting because it is the end of a holiday weekend and the crowds leaving from the Daytona 500.

I had one moment that made me feel really good. At the funeral, Natalie sat with Papa for a while. Then went back and sat with Doreen, then kept asking to sit with me. Aaawwwwww! Sweet. I miss my little one.

Joelle and I had a nice day. It started with a bit of a challenge of Joelle having a huge tummy ache when she woke up. She didn't want to eat much. So she took a hot bath, ate some tortilla and banana, a cup of ice cold water and her medication.

Wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep it down or not. She did. We came downstairs and I put Karate Kid in and she lay down on the funton, got all cuddly and relaxed. While she was watching, I started on a project I've been needing to do for a while. A friend gave me a bunch of pics from our High School/Academy years. I started scanning a bunch of them in for use at our 20 year reunion.

After Karate Kid, Joelle watched the Last Starfighter, I had an eye on it and continued working. Then I went up and made lunch. We ate and watched Liar Liar. She LOVED Jim Carry's funny faces! He, he, he!

I continued working on my project. After the movie was over I could tell Joelle was feeling a bit better, so I went and grabbed Doreen's laptop and Joelle started doing her Webkinz. I turned on the Daytona 500 and the both of us kept and eye on it while working on our computers.

I finished my stuff and helped Joelle do some stuff. Then supper. After supper we did Natalie's Webkinz stuff. Then she took a shower, I did the dishes and cleaning up stuff, then we did worship and Joelle is sawing some serious logs.

Now I'm doing some blogging stuff and I'll hit the hay soon! Turned out to be a nice day!

Tomorrow, we've got a couple of errands to run, then make sure to chill so I don't wear her out. She's recovering and I wanna keep that progress!

Then to top it all off, Doreen and Natalie get back home. That will be nice!

Our family back together again!

Memories or Back In Time

I had a bunch of fun going through the pics of my friend. In Academy/High School I did not have a camera. That is REALLY strange for me, as any of you who know me now. All through college, I had a camera and now I just about don't go anywhere without a camera. I now really wish I had one then, but what's past is past. I'm just thankful that my friend had one, thought to take it with her and take quite a few pics.

Check out some of these throw-back pics!


Here's a pic of my friend, Heather, and me as we left our Junior year and became Seniors!


















Here's a shot of my sister and Heather in their 'get-up' for a clown ministry during our High School years. Staci's name was Patches and Heather's was Tinkerbell! Cute!














My Senior year, my sisters joined me at school as Freshmen. One of the first 'group' activities they we all did was a class scramble. What that means was that everyone brought a TON of junk down from their rooms and lined it up and the 'moderator' called for an item we climbed through our stuff tryig to find it and be the first 'group' to run it to the caller at the middle of the gym. It was a ball. It was a great time for all of us to 'bond' together as a school and to have a little fun natured competetion between the groups. Here my other sister Cindi and I are just goofin' round!










Then finally, a memory from my Senior year. The whole graduation weekend seemed like a surreal experience. It was nice to re-live it in pics!

Scars

So this past weekend, I had to speak in front of a group. Afterwards, at home, after I put Joelle to bed, I went to brush my teeth, and I noticed an icky zit between my eyeballs. Oyi vai!

Then, once I popped it, I got to looking, it was a pretty small one, but I noticed it cuz of a scar I have between my eyes.

I started to try and remember where I got it, then I remembered. Once when Doreen and I were on the truck moving people, as we were emptying our truck on a shipment, a piece of wood came from the top and bonked me right between my eyes. It bled pretty good. It probably needed some stitches, but we put a bandaid on it and went on with our business.

Then I got to thinking about my other scars. Where'd they come from.

So here's the Scar list:
Right side, right eye - Robbed in Burleson, TX while working at a convience store.
Right side of chin - mole removed when I was a preteen.
Top of right wrist - Compound fracture jumping a bike when I was 12. (Broke my left arm in the accident as well. Ouch!)
Underside of right wrist - Racing a neighbor friend back to our house, I won, but ended up stick my hand throught the glass door. Required stitches, and luckily didn't cut anything major.
Top of of right hand - Snagged hand on broken piece on machinery while working at Silver State Plastics.
Middle of middle finger right hand - Working on a car with my dad, barfed my knuckle pretty good!
Right calf, inside - Crashed my mini bike by going against the rules wearing shorts and no helmet. The exhaust landed on my calf and burned me good.

Course, I got a bunch of little ones. Can't remember most of those.

Don't need any more though! :)

A Family Divided...

...by 500+ miles! :(

The last 24 hours has been absolutely nuts!

In my previous post, I wrote about the passing of Uncle Jack and how we decided to go to Florida for the funeral. Well, there is more to the story.

Yesterday at 1:45 my co-driver and I finished unloading our truck. He changed into his driving uniform and I hit the restroom and we headed out.

As we headed out, my phone beeps telling me I have a message. One of those messages was Miss J from the school telling me that Joelle was not feeling well and in the 'sick-bay' and to call back when I could. Long story short, my in-laws thankfully picked the girls up about an hour early and took them home so our friends, whose turn to pick the kids up is on Thur, didn't have to deal with a sick child. Her temp was a low grade 99 degree fever.

So I get home, Doreen gets home we talk about things, go through the whole should we or shouldn't we go thing and then decide to go.

Both of us start making phone calls to cancel a couple of things, reschedule a thing or two and get others to head up a responsibility I had this weekend. It was quite a thing. Then Doreen had to finish studying for her exams Friday am.

This morning, Joelle wakes up crying just burning up. Her temp was 102.6 degrees. So I call the Ped Dr. answering service, end up talking with the Ped Dr. on call 10 minutes later and end up with a 9a appointment. The Ped tells me that right now we have strep, the flu and a virius that acts like the flu going around and she needs to be tested. So I take the neighbor kids to school, drop 3 things off for other people, who are planning on covering my responsibility and boogie back home. The kids change quickly, I run Natalie to the in-laws and Joelle and I drive 25 min to the Ped Dr's Office. Then wait 30 minutes. The waiting room was packed!

We finally get called in and tests run, 20 minutes later the results come, Joelle has the flu. So as we drive back to a McD's for breakfast - since we didn't have time for one, I start thinking about 8+ hours in a van packed with 7 people and one of them a very sick child, plus some other considerations, was not looking very positive.

When Doreen finished with her 4 exams today, she called and we talked. We decided that I'd stay here with Joelle and Natalie would go to Florida.

WARNING: FREAKY COINSIDENCE - Shelly, my sister-in-law and husband Randy were planning to fly to Orlando for the funeral until their youngest Colby, came down with a temp of 102. So he decided to stay home with him. Wild - can someone please play the Twilight Zone music now?! :)

Now that I'm staying, I decided to do the thing I delegated to others. I'd feel bad leaving them to do it while I chill at home.

So a few more calls got that all straight. Once all that was done, we just chilled the rest of the afternoon. Just what the Dr ordered for Joelle and a frazzled father! :)

Tomorrow I have responsibilities between 1p and 4p, but the rest of the time is 'get well' time, plus Sunday and Monday! Plenty of time for a little girl to get better and a daddy to have time to relax.

We'll just be looking forward to the other half of the family getting back home. The house is 'different' without them.

Goodbye Uncle Jack

(L to R - Larry, Jack & Kevin)



Today, while on a 3rd run for the bakery near Atlanta, GA, I got a call from my mother-in-law. Curious. She doesn't call me much when I'm on the the road. In fact, I can really only think of maybe one or two other times.

When my phone rang, I was backing the semi-truck out of a warehouse complex. Luckily, I had my headset hooked up to my phone and so I answered the call.

To make a long story short, Sandra informed me that Jack, Larry's (who is my father-in-law) younger brother by 3 years, passed away this morning.

I was shocked. He was 59. He was doing some work on the coast in South Carolina staying with a friend. When the friend got up to go to work in the morning, he realized that Jack wasn't up and around yet. When he went to try and wake him up, well, he ended up calling the paramedics and not long afterwards was prounounced deceased.

Jack was a man that always had a smile. He loved to tell stories and he was always one who listened, attentively. If you were talking to him, it was like he was taking in every word.

He had a very jovial laugh.

At one point, he signed Doreen and I up in to a MLM program and he and I would talk for hours on the phone trying to encourage us to 'build the business.' Doreen and I eventually washed out of it, but he never treated us any differently after that. He was still the same loving 'uncle Jack.'

This pic of the brothers was taken last March when he stopped by on a trip thru the area, when all our family was visiting. At one point a bunch of music was happening and he was front and center listening, with a very contented smile on his face.

He would have a unique way of taking a look at a subject and would often times have an answer to a question or problem that was 'outside the box' but was very useful.

We're going to miss Uncle Jack.

We're leaving in the morning with Larry, Sandra Grandma and the rest of our clan to head down to the funeral. It's a trip we are looking forward to, yet not.

Doreen was torn whether to go or not. She asked me if Aunt Evie or Jane would pass, would I go? In a heartbeat.

We had LOTS going on this weekend, and I told her if you want to go, we'll get it covered and/or reschedule. That's what we've been doing this evening and now, it's about bed time. Long trip in the morning.

We're going to say 'Goodbye Uncle Jack' for one last time.

Fourth Racquetball League Game

Just finished playing my fourth game of the racquetball league. It was a good game. Good cuz I won! :)

Nah, this guy was pretty decent. The one guy that beat me, this guy played to 15-14 games, but ultimately lost.

I expected a hard fought game. The first 3 points were extremely tough to get, but then after that I smoked him 15-4.

At one point the score was like 10-2 and he broke a string on his racquet and that really put a damper on things. I offered to have a replay game later, but he declined. He got a replacement racquet from the Rec center and we finished playing.

The second game I won 15-10.

That was all I needed.

So far this season I've got 3 wins and 1 loss.

We've got two guys with no wins and one lady in our league, the only person by the way, who is undefeated.

Can't wait to play my next one!

Ah, the Good Ol' Days!

I was listening to a radio show this morning as I was running around doing some errands and the host was mentioning that things need to get back to the good ol' days. Then he quoted this article 'reportedly' from Housekeeping Monthly, 13 May, 1955.

It's titled, "The The Good Wife's Guide"



Notes: #1 - I post this 'tongue in cheek' (In other words - it's a JOKE!) as did the radio host who talked about it this morning. #2 This may actually be fake. See Snopes.

Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they get home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.

Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Run a dustcloth over the tables.

During the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet.

Be happy to see him.

Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

Don't greet him with complaints and problems.

Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.

Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or lie him down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

A good wife always knows her place.

Why Can't We All Just Get Along???

Saw this issue come up Friday. Strange indeed!

Who would be foolish enough to even propose this?

Hummmm! Oh yeah - a Politician!

This is from TheTennessian.com.

Georgians want access to Tenn. water They want to redraw state boundary

By THEO EMERY
Staff Writer

In 1993, Joel J. Kyle and his wife, Juanita, moved just over the Georgia border to Tennessee — and Joel Kyle vowed never to cross it again.

Now, some Georgia lawmakers want the border to cross him, in a manner of speaking.

A resolution in Georgia's legislature proposes to move the Tennessee-Georgia boundary about a mile to the north of where it now lies, which could put Kyle right back into the state he left 15 years ago.

The proposal elicited instant ridicule from residents of the area on Thursday, as well as tongue-in-cheek saber rattling from Tennessee lawmakers.

One state senator offered to settle the issue with a football game. Another suggested floating an armada of University of Tennessee fans down the Tennessee River to defend the state's territory.

But behind the amusement is a serious issue that has bedeviled the Southeast: access to water. If the border is redrawn, the new state line would fall across Nickajack Reservoir. That would allow parched Georgians to tap into the waters of the dammed Tennessee River.

Issue draws criticism

Kyle, 69, said he has no desire to be annexed by Georgia, which he gladly departed because of its taxes, and hopes the idea is "just a pipe dream."

"If it ever came to that, I would probably move," he said. "I've got seven acres here, and we're set up pretty well, but I wouldn't ever want to be in the state of Georgia again, to be honest with you."

Georgia has been battling Florida and Alabama in federal court for about 18 years over water rights. Last summer, Lake Lanier, which supplies Atlanta's water, shriveled to historic lows.

The resolution, which has passed early hurdles but has not received final passage, claims that the boundary was erroneously surveyed in 1818 and that Georgia has never accepted it. The resolution calls for the creation of a "Georgia-Tennessee Boundary Line Commission" that would perform joint surveys and change the line to the "definite and true" boundary line: exactly following the 35th parallel.

"We're not talking about sucking it dry," said Rep. Harry Geisinger, a Republican who sponsored the resolution in the Georgia House. "We're talking about augmenting some water needs, and as you know, the Tennessee has got plenty of water in it."

Gil Rogers, a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the proposal was the wrong approach to water woes. Lawmakers, he said, should concentrate on conservation and sustainable development.

"It's a matter of how we grow and planning ahead so we're not reduced to making these propositions about accessing rivers that are hundreds of miles away," he said.

State Sen. Andy Berke, a Chattanooga Democrat, took the Senate floor and jokingly proposed a winner-take-all wrestling match or football game.

Afterward, he was more circumspect, saying that there is a serious issue at hand about natural resources, planning and development, and calling the Georgia proposal an "irresponsible land-grab."

"I think it is more productive to be up front about the future of water use," he said, "rather than disguising the intentions with discussions of grabbing our state's land."

SICK

Well, another round of sickness has visited our house. It hit me this time with just 'shrapnel' grabbing my girls. Thankfully, nothing but a mild headache for Doreen.

On my trip out Sunday night, laying in the bunk, I felt the beginnings of a sore throat. So I downed some stuff called 'Airborne.' Wasn't sure if it worked, I eventually got sick, but not quite a sick as I have gotten in the past, so maybe all those bottles of water with Airborne in it helped!

Anyway, as I came in from my 3rd and final trip this past Thursday, I was just draggin. Some Theraflu helped me get through some stuff we had to do - so I'm also thakful for that!

Starting to feel a bit better now. So I'm gonna hit the hay and get some much needed sleep!

Tennessee Tornado

Tuesday night I was headed into the heart of Tornado land with a load of snack cakes. We left at 9pm.

We headed west on I-24 then southwest on hwy 72. That turn probably saved us quite a bit of potiential problems.

Y'all know that a few tornados touched down in the wee hours of Feb 7. One hit Jackson, TN killing quite a few people.

We were about 100 miles south of there in Mississippi when it hit. The rain was coming down so hard my co-driver slowed to about 30 mph.

When we arrived at our 1st drop at 4:30am, there was floods of water everywhere, but the rain and the wind had stopped.

We emptied out about 20 miles south of Memphis, TN, so I took I-40 towards home. Just on the other side of Memphis, they've got a set of Rest Areas, East & West. Both were closed down, and as I went by, I realized why. A tornado tore through the area ripping the tops of trees off, topling concrete picnic tables, and doing all sorts of damage. Just a few hundered yards down the road, two trucks from the westbound side were flipped into the median, and they had things shut down that direction to one lane and the back-up went for miles.

What a mess. I was just extremely thankful that that mess wasn't around where I was.

Pray for the families that had all the damage though in the city of Jackson, TN!

Third Racquetball League Game

Had my third game at the beginning of the week. I was able to slip it in Tuesday night after a nap, before Adventurers and leaving on a trip to Mississippi.

I played Josh R and it was a good one. I got there a bit early and had ample time to warm up properly. I think that makes a difference. We'll see if it does as I continue through the league.

We played two closely matched games. Most of the time we'd either swap side out a number of times before someone would score a point of his serve, or one would score a point or two and the other would come right back with a couple of points.

It was fun playing but ultimately I beat him 15-12 both games. That's all we had time for, luckliy I won both or we might both still be there today! HA!

Well, you've only got 7 more of the league game reports to read. :) Then comes the double-elimination tournament. I'm looking foward to that!

Pulling a "Sandra"

My mother-in-law's name is Sandra and I love and appreciate her very much.

A while back, it seemed like everytime we go together to eat she'd end up dropping a piece of food on her shirt. You know, salsa from a chip, lettuce from a salad-with dressing, you know, something that was cleanable, but would leave a 'mark' the rest of the day.

One day when that happened, we were at a Mexican restuarant and some salsa plopped on her shirt. I said, "Oops, you pulled a Sandra." Not two minutes later, I had to admit to "pulling a Sandra."

Just this weekend, Friday night we were having fruit salad and I 'pulled a Sandra.' Then yesterday eating lasagna with our friends, I pulled another Sandra.

Boy, it's a good thing my mother-in-law had that streak a while back and I named it first, cuz lately it could be called, 'pulling a Steve.'

Either way, I don't think the phrase will catch on, excpet for in our family! :)

Super Sabbath!

Hey!

Did ya have a good weekend? We had a very good Sabbath!

Some friends that we knew, barely, from college in Texas live in the area. We ran into them a year ago and talked, and that was about it. Well their children come to Adventurers and Pathfinders our church - the closest to where they live that has those programs.

Well, we've kind of gotten reaquainted. It's been cool!

They invited us over to their house for lunch after church today. They live on 125 acres that a group of their family, collectively, owns. They've got 2 acres planted to strawberries. They've got another 4 acres planted in blueberries. They're planting 3,000 peach trees this spring. They've got 10 acres fenced off for horses. It is very nice!!!

They have all sorts of 'toys' they play with and work with on this property. We got to 'play' with a few of them today.

Check these out!



This is a 1986 Army Surplus HumVee they own. It's a 'Commanders' vehicle set up.










We all piled in for a ride and a tour of the whole property.











They're hangin' on cuz we did a bit of four wheeling around the property. I tell ya, not much can stop those vehicles.










Our friend let me take 'command' control of this unit. Oh yeah! I took it through a couple of areas that some 4wd's couldn't have made it through. Man that was awesome! (Can't you tell by the grin on my face - oh yeah!)









Of course my eldest focused in on the horses. After she'd visited them for quite a while and moved on to something else, she kept asking to go back to them!









They also had a little 50cc atv and the kids had a ball riding it. Joelle did great!











Natalie, had fun but had a challenge getting the idea to 'feather' the throttle. I sort of rode along with her and just about got thrown off twice! :)










They also had a Model T, rebuilt with including the original engine in the awesome barn they had. Didn't get a pic of that, but they had this WWII Jeep they'd rebuilt. They actually have the .50 caliber machine gun that goes on the mount. Arghhh, arghhhh, arggghhhhhh! Had to sit in it for a minute!

What a great day!

What a Fabulous Friday

What an extremely cool day this Friday was! Doreen was a bit stressed to start the day. She had 3 tough exams today. You know the first tests back after a month off is really hard. She was studing like a madwoman to get the info in her brain. We had breakfast, and I took Joelle and our neighbor kids to school. They were having a Kindergarten Roundup - basically an open house for parents who will have kindergarten age kids next year and trying to get them 'signed up.' So Natalie and her class had the day off.


Thankfully, I was home. So after dropping the kids off, we came back home and played some Uno and Go Fish then did some stuff on webkinz to grow her bank so she can get some stuff in the future. Then we headed off to the Tennessee Aquarium for the rest of the morning, checking out all sorts of freaky fish!

After we did that, we hit Taco Bell for lunch. Yummy! While we were in Taco Bell, the school called. During recess, Joelle fell and smashed her face into the floor and seriously bent her glasses. She has two scratches on her nose, but otherwise is all right, thankfully! After we were done eating, we went and picked up the glasses
to take them to the optician to see if they were repairable or if they needed to be replaced. He fixed 'em right up.

We ran back to the gas station, and fueled up for the weekend and just because we were within a 'few' drops of running out. Then into the store for a few things and over to pick Joelle up.

We got home and I did some stuff on the computer, Doreen had some stuff to do up-stairs and the girls had rooms to clean. Once they got that done, we headed out to our rec center to bounce some balls, Joelle could ride her heelys and we could drive the remote control car around.

Well the gym was being used for league games. Oops!

The girls were both feeling dissappointed, so we brainstormed trying to figure out a place, where it wasn't cold, we could still do those things. Nothing. We couldn't think of anything.


Finally I just stopped at a local church parking lot and said lets play till we get cold. So we did. Here's Joelle drivin' around her R/C truck.















Natalie had a blast kickin' her ball and chasing it down.

















Joelle rolled around the parking lot on her heelys for a bit. Boy, has she gotten good at those things!














Here's Natalie taking a turn at the R/C truck.


We didn't stay long, maybe 30 minutes, but the difference in the attitude of the girls was HUGE! :)

We got home, put stuff away, made supper, had a nice meal together. Then we got out some puzzlemania books we've got and just played all sorts of different games in these booklets.

Then jamies, brush teeth, worship and bed.

That kind of focused family time is rare, but definetly worth it!

It turned out to be a Fabulous Friday.

Oh yeah, and at the time I published this post, Doreen had found out two of the 3 scores on her tests. 100% on each. That's right! Aced 'em!!!

Oh yeah - Fabulous Friday!!!

Second Racquetball League Game

Today right before lunch I had my 2nd game in the racquetball league.

Fun game, challenging game, I got my hiney handed to me! :)

Kevin H won in three games, 15-7 13-15 11-5.

I started really slow. Didn't have much time to warm up, which probably hurt me. Note to self for future games - show up earlier and practice a bit!

The second game I had him down 14-7 and he came all the way back to 13, not good. The third game we stayed tied thru 5 points, then I couldn't return his serve. When I did and when I'd actually get serve back, I'd blow by double faulting or just wiff on a ball.

I did that a bunch today. Gotta maintain more control and hit shots, then once I get that down regularly, then try to work the back corners and low ones.

Well - another good match - got another one next week. It's lots of fun playing against different people with different styles of play. I'm also enjoing playing people better than me so I can get better! Can't wait for the next challenge! We'll see how it goes!

Hopefully I'll win the next one!

125,000 Miles

Just got notice from my employer. I've worked there a 2 years 3 months and I've driven, actual miles that I drove, 125,000 miles. Of course, I've actually traveled in the truck double those miles. Wheeew!

Of course I haven't added up the weight of the snack cakes I've delivered. I'll do that later!

The cool thing is everytime I hit a pre determined milestone I recieve a safety bonus.

So I got a few additonal bucks in my check this week!

Coolness!

First Racquetball League Game

This afternoon I played my first game in our racquetball league. I played a guy named Jeff. We had a fun time. Played 3 games because we wanted to and had time. For the offical league scoring though, I beat him the 1st two games with the exact same score of 15 to 4. That is all that is recorded. For blog purposes I beat him 15-7.

Can't wait to play the next game, hope to have the same outcome! :)

Yeah racquetball!

Having a Ball - Literally!

Saturday night we went out with our 'young adult' Sabbath school class and went bowling.

We had a blast!















The kids were all on one lane and watching them bowl was precious!

















The girls (adult) had one lane and the guys were on the other and all just had lots and lots of fun! We hadn't been bowling since one vacation to Colorado a couple of years ago. My how time flies! :)

Nocturnal Week

This was a tough week at work. On all three of my trips I did all night driving.

Left out Sunday and was in the bunk from 5p to 11:30p. Got up and drove to central Michigan and arrived about 6a. Unloaded the truck with my partner and back in the bunk as he headed south. He ran out of hours at 9 and I was back up at 10, drove to the backhaul, waited 2 1/2 hours to get loaded and then homeward, arriving Tuesday about 5:30am. Tiring.

Slept all morning, up lunch with Doreen, chores & errands, time with the girls and then another 3 hours of sleep.

Tuesday night headed out at 10:30p on a trip to Mississipi. Arrived about 5am and worked - then slept the 4 1/2 hours back home, to arrive about 3 Wednesday afternoon.

Did some stuff around the house and a coordinator at the bakery calls telling me they had a problem and asked if I'd run an extra trip to South Carolina this week. Sure, trip leaves out at 9p my co-driver had been home since the afternoon yesterday and he'd drive out. Fine.

Get there at 9 and find out my co-driver's been home since 6 pm that afternoon and won't have any driving hours back for a while. So I drive out, get to the West side of Atlanta and am so tired I hit a rest area and sleep for two hours. Get up at 2am, and drive another 3 1/2 hours to the drop.

We get unloaded and he drives home. I'm in the bunk.

Today was a catch up day. Just chilled, we got a few things done, but mostly just sitting on around and doing stuff on the computer!

Wheeeeew!

Tired!

Headed to bed now! :)

Good night all! :)

A Good, yet Unexpected Day!

Today, I had to tell the children's story at church and then home for lunch with my in-laws and then back to the church at 4pm for a parenting seminar. Everthing was on schedule right up to lunch. Then right as the meal started I got a call, the power at church went out right after special music. They didn't know if it was gonna come back on, so we cancelled the seminar. It worked out great to just have a family afternoon, the 4 of us with my in-laws.


You'll have to check out my in-laws blog for some pics that my kids took of how they dressed up my father-in-law. But we had some great time to talk, Doreen, Joelle and I had a fun tickle fight and Natalie played numerous games of tic-tac-toe with my father-in-law. (My mother-in-law did a great job of taking these photos.)

I even ended up snoozing for a few moments on the couch.

Even though plans changed - it was a great day!

Report Cards - 2nd Period

Got the girls report cards Friday. Very good news. I wish I would have brought home report cards this good. Would have saved me a LOT of headache or should I say 'butt-ache!' He, he, he! (Sorry Mom & Dad!)

Joelle's Academic achievement scores are ALL the same as the last report - At Grade Level - Proficient. I'm so happy to hear that.

In her Skill/Character development, one section went down a bit, her "Demonstrating Self Control." We're a 'bit' concerned that she's taking after a couple of kids in her class that are kinda interesting! We'll have to work on that one.

Two 'marks' in the same section went up and we are SO excited about that. Attending to Tasks and Using Time Wisely came up and so did Turning in Assignments on Time! Awesome!

Then on Natalie's report, they don't really have 'scores' just comments by her teacher on her progress. The main comment Mrs. A wrote that we're so proud about is, "There's not much change with Natalie other than continued growth and just amazing work. She's so on top of things. Every once and a while, if she's tired (usually in the afternoons) she'll be in a bad mood but she does well to still be kind and obey... She's such a sweety!"

That does a parent's heart good!

"John" Repair

Last spring when my family was out, my dad helped me fix a little problem with our toilet in our half bathroom. It worked for quite a while, but then we'd hear water still dribbling after the tank was finished running. I could tell it was starting to get worse, so I had to fix it.


I got the necessary parts at the local do it yourself place and started right in on it. An hour later - it was fixed. The problem was it was still leaking on the outside now. A hose was leaking, so I went and got a new one, put it in and the whole thing is working great - for now! :)

New Telephone Number, the Short and the Long of it!

Hey, we have a new telephone number. The short of it is, we changed VoiP companies and they couldn't get together and get the number swapped. Oh well. The new number is 423-XXX-XXXX. Yeah, like I'm gonna post that here. You should be receiving an e-mail with the new number in it. If you don't it means we don't have an updated e-mail address for you (Or we just forgot ya! Sorry! :( )so send it to us and we'll get you the new number.

The long of it is, we've been with MyPhoneCompany for over two years. We moved into this house just about two years ago and in the move, I e-mailed them asking them to update our E911 service. Well, I checked a few months later, no change. So I went onto their tech site and twice, asked them to change it. Nothing. Well, remember a while back when Doreen passed out? I called 911 and they got the WRONG address, it was still the old one.

So - I finally 'got round to it' and changed to a much more service oriented company, at least it seems so thus far, Lingo.

I checked with the police office and our 911 info is now correct if the girls have to call in an emergency.

Wheeewww, but what a pain.

When we swapped, we requested the number move with us. We waited a week and checked with Lingo, they were waiting for MPC, nothing. So we finally cancelled the original service and sent the box back and they turned off the service without giving Lingo access to the number.

So - to get the number, MPC has to re-activate it for Lingo to grab it. Yeah - like they're going to do that!!! They couldn't do the easy thing, so why are they gonna go out of their way to do this.

The final outcome is we now have a new telephone number!

Hope to hear from many of you now! :)

Have a great weekend!

Racquetball League

I just signed up for a racquetball league at the recreation center this past week. Never did that before. Hope it's a lot of fun.

Their is 20 of us in the league, and they have us broken up into the best division A, the middle people B and the beginners C. I signed up in the B bracket because I have no idea how I'll measure up against people.

Anyway, got my schedule yesterday, we play everyone once then a double elimination tournament.

I'm really looking forward to it. Good exercise, good fun, new challenge!

Snow Day

So, as true to living in the south, we had a forecast of snow and they FREAK out and shut everything down. Well, almost everything. ALL the schools around today were closed, at least all the elementary and high schools. The funny thing was, we got about an inch of snow last night, but as the night wore on, the temps rose and it turned to rain so there wasn't much snow left.






It was still too much for them 'southerners.' It was a blessing that my schedule was so that I was home today to be able to watch the kids and our friends two kiddos. We had a 'muddy' snowball fight and they tried building a snowman, but that didn't go to well. Still, it was kinda nice to get some of the 'white' stuff this winter!

Favorite T, Lost and Found

I'd been bummed. It was in November, I was looking for my favorite Green Geocaching T-shirt. I couldn't find it anywhere. So I waited a week or two and did another intensive search trying to locate it!

Nothing.

I had NO idea where it was. So I figured that I might have changed somewhere and forgot it!

Bummed I was.

For Christmas, Doreen got me another Geocaching T-shirt, which is super cool. I crack up everytime someone reads it!

I'd forgotten about my other shirt.

Well, we had this Adventurer sleep over and we pulled our sleeping bags out, that we'd not used since the end of October.

When I climbed in mine, I felt a 'lump' at the bottom. Couldn't figure out what it was. So before going to sleep I pulled the lump out. Turned out it was that T-shirt, a pair of shorts, socks and underwear.

I couldn't figure out what the deal was, then it dawned on me.

Our last camptrip out was very cold! So before going to bed that night, I got my next set of clothes out and stuck them in my sleeping bag to be 'warm' while I was sleeping so I wouldn't have to get up in the morning and put on a freezing cold set of clothes.

Well, we got up, I threw on my old set, we broke camp headed home and showered. I was so looking forward to that shower, I had forgotten all about the clothes I'd stuffed in my bag.

The good thing is, now I have another geocaching T-shirt.

Coolness!

New Diet Plan?

GOT THIS AS AN E-MAIL FORWARD FROM A FRIEND. I LAUGHED SO HARD! SO I WANT TO SHARE IT IN HOPES THAT IT'LL PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE TODAY!

The Purina Diet

I was in Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Purina for my dog Lola and was
in line to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog........Duh!

I was feeling a bit crabby so on impulse, I told her no, I was
starting The Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because
I'd ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds
before I awakened in an intensive care unit with tubes coming out of
most of my orifices and IV's in both arms.

Her eyes about bugged out of her head.

I went on and on with the bogus diet story and she was totally buying
it. I told her that it was an easy, inexpensive diet and that the way it
works is to load your pockets or purse with Purina nuggets and simply
eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The package said the food is
nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.

I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by
now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy behind her.

Horrified, she asked if something in the dog food had poisoned me and
was that why I ended up in the hospital.

I said no.....I'd been sitting in the street licking my butt when a car
hit me.

I thought the tall guy was going to have to be carried out the door.


WAAAAA HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!!!!

Fun Night or No Sleep

We had a GREAT weekend. Both Doreen and I had responsibilites at church, then home for lunch and some family time. We snuck in naps, then headed back to church with a trunk full of 'gear' for an Adventurer sleepover.






We got there and put our stuff up, then hung out. After a bit, we had a meal, worship and then went over to the school gym for two hours of vigiorus games.









Course, we came back over to the fellowship center, and played another hour of games capped off with a gigantic pillow fight. Then we all settled down and watched CARS and finally crashed about 11:45p. It took a while for everyone to finally fall asleep then up at 7:30, breakfast, more games in the gym while clean up was being taken care of, practice for Adventurer Sabbath then home!

At home we just chilled! Oh yeah!

It was a very good weekend.

Oh yeah, and we did get some sleep. (Some other parents did not.)

Last Truck In

Got home at 3p today from a run. This was the latest I've ever been home on a Friday.

My run was a relay out to our Arkansas plant. I was to meet another driver at a Transfer Point, swap trailers and come home.

I was scheduled out Thursday at 9am. To the transfer point it's about 500 miles. So I got to the yard at 8a to get the tractor and trailer hooked up and get my gear in the truck.

Got my gear in the tractor, and couldn't find the trailer. Turns out it is still in route from a pick-up in NC. The guy wasn't in any hurry.

He got in to the yard at 11:20am. I dropped the trailer, swapped tractors, and off I went.

Ran out and partway back, shut down for my DOT manditated 10 hours, then got up and boogied home.

About 40 minutes before getting in, a dispatcher called asking for my ETA, yup, I'm the last truck in.

It's good to be home! :)

Have a great weekend!

Compressor's Shot!

Just before Christmas our furnace starting acting up a bit. It would heat the house, slightly, then stop heating and just blow cold air.

I called a 'guy' and never heard back from him. Guess he didn't want the business.

Besides, it was right before Christmas and I didn't figure it would be easy to get someone out, or without charging extra cuz of the holiday.

So we kinda waited.

Well, after New Years, I called a different place and the guy came out today.

He ran about 6 tests on our furnace and it came down to the compressor, you know the one inside the condensor unit.

Arghhh!

Not to mention, since the compressor's not been working, the furnace has been using the heater coils in it to heat the place, using a TON more electricity than usual. OUCH!!!! Oh well!

So we've got to replace the condensor which is a 4 digit job. So I checked to see what a new condensor would be, just a bit more, but the problem is, our unit was made in 2001 and two years ago they changed some major stuff on all furnaces to make them more efficient etc and to pay the extra would be worthless cuz it would take some extra work to make it compatable with the rest our system and not really be that useful.

That means we're back to having 'the guy' come out and replace the compressor in the condensor on either Thur or Fri.

I guess that's the just one of the lows of home ownership! :(

The whole good thing in this is I am extremely thankful that the temps outside here have been between the high 40's and 60's. That's much better than bein' below freezing like it was just a week ago!

More news after the 'job' is done!

New Do!

Doreen's been talking about getting a new hairdo for months. But with school, studying and life going on, she hasn't had the time to find a good stylist. Then she found a couple of ladies in the church who she really liked the way their hair was done, so she talked with them.






Well, before the holidays she called to make an appointment and could only get in this week. So she went in an got an awesme cut. She really liked the stylist and I think she did a great job. She's got to do a couple of things to it she didn't before, but she's getting used to it and it looks great!

Oh by the way, she went shopping today and got this new shirt. Looks great on her!

Party Fun!

So one of the kids friends had a birthday party at Pump It Up. It was a TON of fun, as usual.











The girls had a blast jumping, sliding, rolling and running around.

















Of course I got in on the 'activities' running through the obstacle course!













And to end the evening, my girls landed the knock-out punch!