Blog Number 347

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well it seems I will fall short of the century mark for blog entries this year.  I don't recall making this a goal so I guess I should be satisfied with 98 (or so) blogs.  The insurance payout / lawsuit as a result of the April crash is progressing nicely and we should hopefully have it all cleared up before we move back to Indiana in February.  We are heading to the next door neighbor's house for a New Year's Eve get together with some other folks on our street.  The son is looking forward to staying up until midnight.  Last year was the first year that he made it (awake) into the new year.  He has been talking about extending his streak to two.  The daughter (7) has no aspirations nor can she see any reason not to go to bed when she gets tired (like every other night of the year).  Maybe the peer pressure will get to her but I honestly don't think she could make it if she tried (short of a caffeine boost sometime late evening).  We will see.

It is time to clear out the 2008 cell phone pics (from the wife's phone remember)...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My (Wife's) New Cell Phone

  

The dog and I have this ritual every morning (and evening).  It seems that her chew bone is much more tasty and satisfying if it is enjoyed while being chewed on my feet.  If I move (or even adjust my feet) she simply picks up her bone and relocates to wherever my feet are.  This is a little painful at times but I allow her this small pleasure for a few minutes each day.

Tiger (the cat) has lost a little weight in the last few months since we put him on some light cat food.  He protested at first but when he figured out that was all he was getting, he ate it willingly.  This photo does not really give you a few of his shrinking gut so you will have to trust me on this one.

This pic is a few days old (duh) but we have started using this small chalkboard as a countdown to our move to Indiana (currently set at 37 days).

I don't usually put pics of other people on my blog but I wanted to share this one with you.  This is from a few weeks ago during the morning church service at the church that we attend.  The girl on the third row is actually playing a Nintendo DS.  This is not the first service that I have seen her doing this   I am not sure which is the greater sin (playing Nintendo during church or posting a picture of someone playing Nintendo DS during church on a blog).  I am voting for the former.

Well the wife just delivered a large bowl of hot oatmeal.  Feliz Año Nuevo!

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 346

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

It was an incredible 75° this morning as we headed out for Panera Saturday.  By the time we arrived home though it felt more like 50° and was quite windy.  Still great weather though.  We made our traditional stop at Half Priced Books and dropped about $20 there (the usual) and then stopped by Ink Stop to pick up some CD carrying cases that they had on sale.  I am getting rid of all my plastic CD cases and keeping the CD inserts (and CDs of course) and putting them in these new carrying cases.  My to-do list for today now includes transferring about 300 CDs into these new carrying cases.

I think that I mentioned that the daughter got a digital camera for Christmas.  Here are a few pics from her point of view...

The left picture is me pleading my case to the Wii bowling gods (there is NO way I should have left that 10 pin!) and the right picture is my reaction to my daughter's comment about my shave and haircut.  Note that I am showing off my new Stellar Kart t-shirt.  This is a band that my son likes and they had some t-shirts on sale at their website.  It was free shipping if you hit a certain dollar amount so both the daughter and I got Stellar Kart t-shirts too.

The wife and are I busy planning for our return to Indiana.  We are trying to figure out the timing of it all (when do we start packing, do we need to make a short trip up in mid January to look at houses, how do we cram in as many final get-togethers with all our friends down here, etc.).  We are about 40 days from moving and it all seems overwhelming from this point of view.

Well those CDs are not going to move themselves...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 345

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Merry Christmas!  We have been keeping a secret from our mother's for about 3 weeks now but today is the day the secret is out.  We are moving back to Indiana!  We called both grandmas this morning to tell them.  The wife's mother (and sister) were quite excited and there were tears.  We let the daughter to the telling and (after a slight malfunction with their phone battery) they reacted with excitement.  We then had the son call my mother to tell her.  She thought he was pulling a prank on her.  After a minute or two he handed the phone to me and told me that she didn't believe him.  Even after a few minutes talking to me, she was not convinced this was not some sort of cruel hoax.  She was dumbstruck and in the end had to promise to call us back later when she had time to soak the news into her system.  Due to some internal issues at work I had to wait until this month to find out who my new manager would be in order to know who I had to ask in order to get permission to move back to Kokomo.  After a call to my new manager's manager (and a call from my manager's manager to his manager [a.k.a. my manager's manager's manager]) it was all approved (albeit with the slight warning that it might hurt any immediate chances of being promoted to management).

So the last 3 weeks has been rough on the wife as she really wanted to tell her mother.  We had to keep the secret from our daughter since she does not possess the same restraint as we do.  We told her last night really close to bedtime so as to minimize the chance of her telling anyone.  My mother was already planning a visit for the first full week of February (even has the round trip airfare purchased) so we are going to use her being down here as our time frame as we will need an extra driver since I will be driving the U-Haul once again.  We have approximately 43 days until the move so January should be busy.  We are going to give away the couch that we bought after we moved and probably the new TV we bought down here as well.  That will basically have us moving with the exact same level of stuff as when we first moved down here.  Gas prices are down and the U-Haul rental looks to be about $100 less than last time so the moving budget is looking good so far.

Well, I am going to get off of the computer and enjoy the day (and the 60° weather).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 344

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I have this feeling that I am not going to make it to 100 blog entries in 2008.  I could still do one per day and make it but I am not feeling that it is going to happen.

Today was a busy day in that my wife had this grand idea that we all should accompany her in the weekly shopping...on Christmas Eve...at stores that (along with grocery items) sold other items that would be purchased and given as gifts...and then that we should make cookies...to be passed out to our neighbors...tonight...oh and did I mention that I needed to head out to the dollar store to purchase some Christmas-y type tins to but said cookies in...oh and while you are out, can you go to the pet store and get some cat food...the expensive weight control kind...thanks.

Right before a late lunch/ early dinner (of homemade manicotti), the daughter spilled a full glass of milk on the floor and wall.  Then the son dropped the serving spatula and the floor (and dog) got some manicotti.  Shortly after that the son dropped a coffee mug when emptying the dishwasher (the mug did not survive).  Then (as if that was not enough), our beloved, 11+ year old Black & Decker mixer decided to shoot some flames out and then begin smoking...

Fortunately, the wife was done mixing the dough at the time the mixer gave up the ghost.  We are done with baking the chocolate chip cookies and are starting in on rolling the sugar cookies in (duh) sugar now so I think we are in for smooth sailing for the rest of the evening (which includes heading to church in about 90 minutes for a Christmas Eve service).  I am also excited about the kids opening up the gifts that we picked out for them.  The wife and I limited ourselves to $25 for each other so our gift exchange might not be that exciting but hey, that is not what Christmas is about, right?  Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 343

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well another pile of days has slipped by without a blog entry (sigh).  Even now I don't have much to type about really.  I took half a day of vacation yesterday and the wife took this opportunity to shop for my Christmas present.  She took the son with her so the daughter and I took off to return some library books and dvds and to to a little shopping / looking ourselves.  After getting out of our subdivision I realized I had forgotten my library card.  I did not really want to back track and get it (and I do have a nice book I bought a few weeks ago to read) so I planned on just returning our checked out items.  On the way into the library I saw 2 pennies on the sidewalk.  I pointed them out to the daughter and asked her if she wanted to pick them up.  I could tell that one of them was a wheat penny (1909 - 1958).  When she handed it to me I was shocked to see that it was so old...

Even though it was over 80 years old, this penny is not worth much.  Still it is exciting though to find old coins in general circulation.  You have to wonder how many times this penny has been used over the years.  How many things it has purchased or piggy banks has it sat in?

We did attend to Christmas parties in the last week (ABF on Saturday and one for coworkers on Wednesday).  We had a great time at each one and managed to walk away with a 9 piece wine cork screw type kit that was pretty cool (I am quite sure it was a re-gift though) and the wife scored some Godiva chocolates (which she has subsequently hidden from me).  Its only 5 days ‘til Christmas so she should be good for goodness sake!  I will try to squeeze a few more blogs in before New Year's.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 342

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Another week slipped by without a blog entry.  The in-laws got safely back to Indiana and I had to return to work on Monday after my long vacation.  So things are pretty much back to normal.  We did do our birthday dinner for the daughter's 7th birthday.  She chose Macaroni Grill (her favorite restaurant) and got to order for everyone (as is our tradition).  The waitress / waiter always enjoy waiting on us on the kid's birthday dinners and the time was no exception.  Other that that, the week has been normal so I have nothing in particular to blog about.

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

The Wednesday before last, our church had some sort of bazaar going on or something.  There were all kinds of booths selling artsy-craftsy stuff.  I found this one interesting.

 

Last Thursday (since the in-laws were in town), the wife and I went grocery shopping together.  Soy Nog or Goat Log anyone?

Last night for a change of pace, the wife made a quiche with broccoli, onions and cheese.  It turned out OK but looks much prettier than it tasted.  In the end it did what food is supposed to do, namely make me not hungry.

Sadly, this will be the last installment of "Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone" as my cell phone is no longer in service.  I did keep my old cell phone and it is back in service again but I do not have a way of getting pictures from it.  This picture was taken with my wife's new cell phone.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 341

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I decided last week that one of the things I would accomplish during my vacation time was to give up coffee (again).  I have blogged about past attempts to stop drinking coffee and because of past experience I decided to wean myself off slowly over a period of days.  I usually drink 2 cups in the morning with the wife and then 1 or 2 more cups (or 3 or 4) at work during the day.  My method involved lowering my intake by a 1/2 cup each day...

• Thanksgiving Day: 2 cups
• Friday, November 28th: 1 1/2 cups
• Saturday, November 29th: 1 cup
• Sunday, November 30th: 1/2 cup
• Monday, December 1st: none

I stuck to my plan and other than a slight headache and a little dizziness on Sunday and Monday, all has gone well and I have had no coffee for 4 days now.  I did get a decaf latte at the Starbucks inside our local Target but only because we had a buy one get one free coupon and the wife talked me into it.  I have also had a cup of hot tea twice as well.  The true test will be next week when I am at work and there is free (already made) coffee nearby and no one to watch me.  I will have to let you know how it goes.  I have given up coffee so many times that I feel I am an expert at it now.

Since the in-laws are only in town this week and they will not see us until next year sometime, they had us open our Christmas presents this morning that were from them.  The kids each got a sweater and the wife got a housecoat.  There was one big combined present that was TO both kids and they were surprised and excited to see that their aunt and grandma had bought them Nintendo Wii.  This left my gift.  My wife snickered a little as I began to open it and said that SHE would really enjoy it.  After I opened the box I realized what she meant.  Inside the box was 4, 8 oz packages of gourmet coffee.  So it seems I ruined Christmas.  I am told I am difficult to buy for and when I take out one of the sure things (coffee) then it is just that much harder.  There was some chocolate in the box as well so I am sure I will enjoy that.

Well I am told that I get to go grocery shopping with the wife today.  She seems way to excited (if you ask me) about this.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 340

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Today is the daughter's 7th birthday.  She has been counting down for quite some time now (like since 30 days or so ago).  We are delaying our birthday dinner tradition until next week after our house guests have departed but she is bringing cupcakes for her class tonight at AWANA.  We really have not done anything special today to celebrate as we had both a chiropractor visit and the weekly gymnastics already on the calendar (along with AWANA tonight) but we will open her presents in a little while.  The wife, mother-in-law and sister-in-law took off this morning to go shopping at the nearest American Doll store so I pulled chiropractor visit duty.  After that we headed home to wait for the shoppers to come home.  I decided to get up in the attic and retrieve the Christmas decorations.  The wife has some little cottage / town houses and we have some other seasonal things as well.  However when I opened one box I discovered this...

This is a Christmas candle that has been melted then hardened while engulfing the ornaments that were packed with it.  It has sort of a modern art feel to it I think.  The elf legs sticking straight up on the top right give it a slightly morbid (but still Christmassy) look.  I have it sitting on the mantle on top of our fireplace.  I really think that I could market the whole "melted candle art" and make a killing.  This is what happens when you put a candle in an attic in Texas for the summer.

Well, I am told that it is time to open birthday presents so I have to go.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 339

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

It was about 11 pm when we arrived home from the airport last night.  My son always brings his change whenever there is the slight possibility of a vending machine appearance.  Despite his knowledge that airport vending machines are extremely overpriced, he was prepared to convince us that he needed candy at 9:00 at night.  Once we arrived at the baggage claim area where our guest's luggage would arrive, he found a vending machine over in the corner but was met with this...

Nothing!  Not even gum at the bottom.  Suffice to say, he was disappointed.  He and I decided to wait by the area where people come out but unbeknownst to us, there were other flights arriving at the same time at nearby gates.  After about 10 minutes we got a call that the plane had arrived but was still not at the gate.  At this point in time the daughter said she was tired so she and I found an empty seat (far away from the arrival area but next to the baggage claim) and she fell asleep on me.  So I had 15 - 20 minutes to do one of my favorite things, namely people watching.  I kept myself occupied with a game of "guess which one is the passenger and which one is there to pick them up."  This is usually an easy game since the passengers either have comfortable clothes or are cranky since they just traveled in uncomfortable clothes for 3 hours.  It is also fun to watch people greet each other who appear to be very close or have not seen each other in a long time (or both).  After a few minutes though, that usually wears off and then everyone plays the "I think that might be my bag" roulette as the luggage comes up piece by piece.  It is amazing to me how many people don't remember what their luggage looks like after having to have just seen it 4 hours ago when they checked it in before leaving.

Eventually, our plane and then our luggage arrived.  Once we pulled the first bag off of the carousel, it has this sticker on it...

I had never seen this type of sticker before.  Seems like it should be bigger or more colorful to call attention to itself.  Either way, this might be the reason it was one of the last bags to come off the roulette wheel.

This afternoon and evening the wife and I are taking off for a date night and some Christmas / birthday shopping as we plan to make full use of the free babysitters we picked up at the airport.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 338

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well December has arrived (even here in Texas where today it barely broke 50°).  In this household we are on countdown until 9:20 pm for that is when the mother-in-law and sister-in-law arrive for a week long visit.  We are all going to pile into the van (yes, the same van that I vowed never to ride in again) around 8:30 and head to the airport.  I tried desperately to convince the kids that I should go alone to the airport (alone in the BUICK that is) since it was past their bedtime but in the end I had to agree to drive the van so we all could go (all of us except the dog of course).

Speaking of the dog, we did go out on Black Friday but only to the pet store and only in the late afternoon and only because we were bored.  We needed to buy some better quality dog food and a dog bed / pillow.  The below pillow was on sale for half off...

...which Nina took an immediate liking to.  Her legs seem rather long compared to the rest of her body still but (according to the vet) she is in fine health and is currently 35 lbs at 4 months.  The kids wanted to know why we call it Black Friday.  I have to admit that I did not really know but I (in true fatherly manner) made something up.  I told them that it was called Black Friday since it was still very dark (black) out when the doors of the stores opened.  They seemed satisfied with that answer (the real answer is HERE).

While it was not immediate, Nina evidently has taken a liking to her new food as well.  I came to this conclusion based on what happened about 30 minutes ago in our house.  The wife was out in the back yard for her 2 - 3 times per week ritual (involving a pooper scooper and a plastic baggy).  She came back inside in near record time and explained to the dog (and the rest of us who were listening) that, "Pro Plan is Great!"  She appeared like she could go on from there extolling the virtues of the Pro Plan diet and its effects but I asked her to stop as we all knew all we really needed to know.

Four and half hours until we leave for the airport.  I promised the kids some Uno to help pass the time.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon