My relatives up North

Despite the circumstances, it was nice to see my loved ones up North. Don is someone that if not for the life circumstance of distances I would have chosen to grow up next door to. He is a really wonderful person, and so was his wife Ferrel. She reminded me a lot of how my mother was and her personality. His son Donnie moved to Texas long ago and I have not had any contact with him since I was very young. Debbie and Diana have stayed in Marion and that area so I have seen them more frequently. There were still only several occasions when I came to visit--once or twice when I was at Ball State in Muncie, and for some family reunions in (I believe) 2002 and 2003. The reunions were at Buster's house. He's Don's brother and also my half brother. His real name was Phil, same as our dad, but I don't think he's a Jr. Mike and Buster remind me a lot of each other about how they act and talk. The pastor was a self-proclaimed "good ol' boy" and though I don't mind that, it's not what I'm used to. They sang Amazing Grace which along with "The Old Wooden Cross" is something that always tears me up because I always think of Mom and her funeral.

The kids were just about perfect. They were quiet, and brought me tissues when I was crying and hugged onto me. They really are wonderful kids. They did really well on the way up except for when we got to the funeral home and had to get right back in the car to go to Fort Wayne. Logan started crying and I had to explain what they were doing and why and he was ok with it then. Not happy, but that's completely understandable. He was just frustrated because he understood that we were "there" and he didn't get to get out and stop riding around in the car. He was tired of being cooped up. He's an angel for 5 years old. Lexie was pretty good. They also did really well in church that morning. They almost always do. I need to do something special with them for all the good behavior yesterday.

My brother Don

This is my brother Don. The kids and I rode up to Marion with my sister Patti for Ferrel's viewing. We got a little lost on the way up and ended up getting there a little after 5pm. They had Ferrel in the Herse at that time. We were confused because the viewing was supposed to last until 6pm, but they told us since Don was still in the hospital in Fort Wayne they were going to take her to the chapel inside the hopsital to give Don the chance to say goodbye and have some closure. He had just had surgery to remove most of his left leg a couple days before, and was on heavy pain medication. He did wake up enough to say hello to everyone, to tell her he loved her and say goodbye. You could see the comprehension in his eyes, despite the pain medication he was on. Ferrel was a wonderful sweet woman, full of life and kindness. Also meanness and vinegar at times, but it was a good thing to be around.

Plasma

Because money is tight, the kids need clothes and holidays are coming, I thought I would try donating plasma. There were a bunch of thugs in the waiting room, it took 4 hrs, and then they basically vein-raped me and told me i have to wait 8 weeks.

An American Haunting

Thesesia and I watched this movie tonight and it was one of the better thriller-horror movies I have seen recently. I would say that I should have seen it in the theater. Definately worth watching this Halloween season. Sutherland is worth watching.

Excel 2003 Level 2 Intermediate Training

I had this two-day training course for Microsoft Excel 2003. It was not the basic level, but the 2nd intermediate level, and I think a lot of that was even pretty basic stuff. Some people were having a really hard time keeping up with even the very easy sections like Creating and Applying Templates, Creating and Modifying Charts and Working with Graphic Objects, but I found it very easy (mostly I was beyond this). They were not offering Level 3 at this time though, and my boss Jennifer decided we'd better take this and not wait for Level 3 which will not be offered until next year.

Ferrel

This is my half-brother Don and his wife Ferrel. My brother Mike just called me last night to tell me that Ferrel passed away yesterday from a heart-attack. The visitation is Sunday from 1-6pm and the funeral is 1pm Monday. My budget is so tight right now I don't know if I can make it to Marion Indiana but I really wish I could be there for Don.

Dire Straits

I listened to Dire Straits on the way to work this morning, among other things.

"Dr. Parkinson declared, "I'm not surprised to see you here. You've got smoker's cough from smoking, brewer's croup from drinking beer. I don't know how you've come to get that Bette Davis wheeze, but worst of all young man, you've got industrial disease!"

New haircut

Today I decided to give myself a new haircut. I was looking for something easy, plus I wanted to do this for a halloween costume. Also, I'm trying to save money on expensive shampoos and conditioners. Ok really it was a grooming accident this morn...

Halloween Party

Theresia and her sister Elizabeth invited me and the kids over to Elizabeth's house for a halloween party last night. They served supper, which was lasagne and steak. They played games, bobbed for apples and we had a great time. I helped decorate with the fake cobwebs (I am good at that). We broke up into teams and they gave out prizes. The one that I thought was really fun was where they handed out rolls of paper towels to each team and we had to "mummify" someone. Our team decided to mummify Theresia's brother Peter. I like Peter, he seems like a really good guy and I like how he is with his kids. Theresia's brother Michael was down from Indy. His little boy was Robin (from Batman and Robin) and I swear he looked like he just stepped out of a comic book! His little girl was Pipi Longstockings and her mom had put this wire around her head and braided her hair through it. She had temporary red in her hair and little makeup freckles. I was surprised that a kid her age (like 4 or 5) watched Pipi Longstockings enough to want to be that for Halloween! Michael is a real great guy too. He told us a couple jokes (just us guys) and they were really funny. Generally speaking, I like Theresia's family. They are a good bunch of people.

POS dryer

Well, I decided to try and save some time again by going to the apartment's laundry room. I am never coming back here again! The washers are always setting with wet clothes in them. Half the damn dryers set with dry clothes. The other half either don't spin or don't heat! Of course, you still have to put your money into the bloody thing to find out! Now I'm tired, feet hurt, and its 6pm. Just time to put the clothes up, fix supper, and go to bed. I wanted to go visit either my sister Patti, or Joe and Dana, but I guess we're not doing THAT! *grumble*

Bardstown Boofest

Here's Rachael the cowgirl, Logan the ghoul, and Lexie the Charmed girl. We went to Bardstown Bound Boofest last night. They had lots of fun, and today we're going to a Halloween party from 4-8.

Happy early Halloween

I'll post pictures of the kids asap. Got this at wal-mart a couple years ago.

Costume

I decided to try to make the shirt portion of my costume. I have never really sewed anything before... It was a challenge just getting the crap cut out. I found material at Wal-Mart for $0.99 a yard and I needed like 5 yards so if I totally screw it up, I don't have to feel too bad about it. I mean part of me says "how hard can it be?" and the other part looks at the stuff I've cut out and thinks "man, what the hell have you gotten yourself into!" Unless I did something completely wrong, I did manage to use the amount of cloth and get all the required pieces cut out, and have a little left over. I cut a bit of leeway around the pattern because I was afraid of cutting into it. This may screw up the sizing, but hopefully will only make it a little bigger and not do something like totally screw it up when it comes to putting it all together. My sister Bonnie said that she would help me by getting the same pattern and following along, but I haven't heard back from her on email and I've sent about three.

Brushoff

My girlfriend just gave me the brush-off on the phone. She does it all the time. Hmmph. Some people just kick you to the curb when they have something else like work to do.... Ok, I'm just being silly, but we had a talk last night and she informs me that when she always seemed like she was jealous, she never was and that she was just playing around. I should have never been so flattered. Oh well, I knew it was too good to be true. After all, what woman in her right mind could get jealous over me? That woman does not exist.

The geek in me

I know this is going to totally out me to everyone (both of you) who read this, but I am running a fantasy role-playing game on the internet. Its an old game system that a friend in jr high introduced me to. There is a pretty good cult following on the net for this game. It is simple to learn and fun to play. The game is called In The Labyrinth (The Fantasy Trip) and the rules consist of only three books. Today's games (like the whole Dungeons and Dragons conglomerate) have 50 lbs of books, dice, figures, and every supplimental add-on piece of revenue-building product you can think of. This game was designed by Steve Jackson and (most agree) was his experiment that formed into the later G.U.R.P.S. system (which was very successful). Anyway, this is the game that got me started into the role-playing thing. I was in theater in school also...some of us just never grow out of some form of make-believe I guess.

Well, I just got three new players for my game. That makes a total of eleven. This is played by e-mail and requires everyone to "post" one message every day. Well, I have a couple of folks who are not posting at all, nor responding to any of my e-mails, so I'm going to have to cut them at the end of this "chapter" so I can get rid of the dead wood. Hopefully the three new people will take up that slack.

Costume for Work/Money/This Weekend

I am going to have to forgoe the costume for work. I don't think anybody will complain too much unless i'm the only person in the department who doesn't dress up. The budget is so tight right now that I don't have much leeway. It's like I went and got books for us at the Louisville Free Public Library book sale this past weekend, and now I feel bad about feeling bad about it. I hate this. I wanted to do stuff with the kids this weekend but I never seem to have enough in the budget to do things. I should be content. I got to take them camping last weekend, but I just want to do the whole autumn thing--trick or treating up and down Bardstown road on Friday night, Bernheim Forest Colorfest on Saturday... Maybe it will rain so they won't be disappointed. The other thing I want to do is keep them up late Friday and Saturday night watching "monster movies"--Abbott and Costello meet the Mummy and Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein's Monster. I think it will be fun... It does make me wonder about the child support that S is supposed to be paying. I have not seen anything yet, but I'm not going to ask her about it and I'm certainly not going to ask the court. I don't want anybody to get into trouble over it. It's not a lot, but some weeks like this I know it would really help. *sigh*

Kimmy and William

This is a picture of the kids cousin Kimmy. She sent me an e-mail wishing me a happy birthday and to tell me she got married on July 14th and moved to New York with her new husband William who is in the Army.

I hope they treat each other always with love and respect, and always try to put the other's needs and wants first.

I am going to ask her for her address so that the kids can write letters to her. They need to write more and I want to give them reasons to write.

Chrysler Sebring Convertibles

I have come to the conclusion that 99% of the Sebrings are convertibles. Does anybody know why the hell this is?

Lexie's Printing

Here’s some of Lexie’s school work. Look at the vocab page and tell me if you can read it. I had her re-do answers #9 through #11 on her math this day because you could not read them after she got done erasing and re-writing them! It was bad. I will post again in about a month and we’ll see if it looks better.

I'm blogging from Heine Bros.

Right now I'm listening to "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zepplin and drinking this coffee and blogging from Heine Brothers. I think free wi-fi is cool. It's now 5pm, and I didn't get all my housecleaning done, but I'm over here early to get another cup of this coffee. I have to meet Shellie with the kids at 630 or thereabouts so this works out good because its close. I talked to them last night on the phone and they said they had a good time trick-or-treating at the zoo. I knew they would because they always love that, and S and I feel that it's safer than door-to-door trick or treating.

Weekend with T/Booksale/Coffee

Friday night we debated on going out and doing something, but opted for the more economical "stay home and watch movies". We watched "Witchboard" an old 80's horror movie with Tawny Kitaen. Then we watched "X-men: The Last Stand". Shizue brought over pasta and we had that for supper. She didn't care for my awesome baked beans. She also brought this bread--an odd desert bread of some sort. It was like a bread version of fruitcake, but was not heavy or overly rich. Lighter dessert--it was good. We went to bed fairly early, then got up early on Saturday like about 4am and watched two more movies. "Devour" was what I thought was a vampire movie, but it was a satanic-horror flick. We both agreed that it was good, just not fantastic. Then there was this movie that we had both seen thee preview for and wanted to watch. It was called "Transamerica". I won't say I really liked it-liked it, but it was a good movie. Just not really my type. It was a drama about this guy who is weeks from his gender- switch surgery when he finds out he has a son. After soaking up the couch for a while, we went to the Louisville Free Public Library booksale. I got a couple books, then about 25 lbs of books for the kids. They always need more to read and at 2/$1 you can not pass that up. My books were $3 hardback and $1 paperback. I got this book called "Cosm" by Gregory Benford. It's heavy-sci sci-fi. Just exactly what I was in the mood for. Now, it's odd that I found this book as I had thought about reading if for years. The really odd thing is...I remember about 7-10 years ago going to a movie and seeing a PREVIEW for a movie called Microcosm. It is based on this book, but never got made. Net research tells me that FOX has optioned the rights to make the movie but I can find nothing else. After the book sale, and with both of us book-in-hand, we went for coffee at Carmichael's/ Heine Bros coffee shop on Bardstown Rd. It was really nice day and we had really good coffee outside. It is much better priced vs. Starbucks. I always though that Starbucks raped your wallet, but now I am almost certain. After that we walked down to T's favorite shop, Edenside Gallery and looked around at different places. Then headed back to the car. On the way back we went thrift shopping at a couple Goodwills, but didn't buy anything. The thing I need most is clothes for the kids and I have learned to NEVER buy them unless they are trying them on first. Today is housework day. T cut out this morning to do some of her housework, and now, being almost 3:30 in the afternoon, I'm gonna finish putting clothes away and head over for another cup of that coffee and wait with my book to get the kids.

My Chucks

I got these quite a while back on clearance sale at Shoe Carnival. I love my Chucks. They just scream Rock & Roll to me. I got 4 pairs of shoes since i lost weight. Also Adidas, Crocs, and boots. Plus one pair of brown dress shoes for work. I am set!

My Jealous Girlfriend

When I got to work today, this girl I work with (her name is Carrie) asked me to take her to Wal-Mart and KFC at lunch. We have two girls who are quitting, and today is their last day. Carrie volunteered to get a cake and the food for our pitch-in, but then her car broke down. I said I would help out. So we just got done picking up the stuff and we were headed back when my girlfriend called. She said "What are you doing, and where are you at???" I told her that I had to go out and get the stuff for the party and I was just coming out of KFC. She said "Alone?" I told her no that Carrie was with me and she totally went off. I mean she went off so much and yelled that I was not sure if she was joking or not!! It was kinda scary, but also I think she does it sort of complimentary--like there would be someone in the world besides her that would find me attractive. Regardless, she is familiar with Carrie, so she said "Give the phone to Carrie!" and then yelled at her "You keep your hands off my boyfriend!" but then she kept Carrie on the phone the whole rest of the way back to work. Like she was playing it off as a joke, but making sure by keeping her on the phone that nothing was going to happen. I have never cheated on any woman that I have been in a relationship with. I'm not about to relax my morals now at the age of 38 and 51 weeks old.

Ok, this is in the same vein...I just got a card from her--here at work. Why didn't she send it home? That's so everyone (all the girls I work with) will see it and ask about it. She's staking her claim again. Flattering me, but still sometimes I think she's nuts. Not necessarily in a bad way. The only thing that bothers me is the underlying lack of trust. I will show it to all the girls though. Even though it's a little personal, they will think it is so sweet. I do too, of course.

Butterick - B4574 - MEN'S COSTUME - 4574

This is the pattern I bought today online. It comes in my size, and they are going to have a halloween costume party at work and I (still damnit) can't find a costume to fit me. Tried one on today and it fit, but was tight where it shouldn't be on someone with my ample physique. check it out if you want....Butterick - B4574 - MEN'S COSTUME - 4574

Baked Beans

I'm cooking baked beans over night in the crock pot. We have a pot luck tomorrow to celebrate two gals who are leaving Louisville Ladder. They are both glad to get out of there, discontent and b*tching all the time since our boss promoted this older woman who used to be their co-worker (and happens to have very little company seniority)to be their supervisor. I think it was a mistake to make her a supervisor, but I really like my boss and I will support her decisions. Anyway, I put in the baked beans, added onion, black strap molasses, and a little Crown Royal. That ought to be good. I wonder if I should cook them with the lid off because right now they are too soupy.

Parent/Teacher Conference with Ms. Caswell/Pants

We had our parent/teacher conference with Ms. Caswell, Lexie's 3rd grade teacher. She says that she's moved Lex to the front row of the class. She says that Lex is very well behaved, participates well, gets along perfectly with the other kids, and shows that she is putting forth a lot of effort in class. The only thing now that remains as a slight negative is her printing and writing. It has gotten so much better that Ms. Caswell is sure there will be no real problem in the future. She still writes too big, but is much more legible now. She said Lexie will naturally evolve to better handwriting if we keep making her do it over when its too messy. My worries are all put to rest.

Now if I could just find her and Logan more pants for winter. She went to school today in shorts and a polo shirt and the two of them were shivering when the bus came (it got to them late today--they said they have a new driver). I am working on compiling a list of consignment, thrift, and discount stores, but these two are so hard to fit. Cooler weather is here RIGHT NOW and Lex only has two pair of pants she can wear to school. Logan only has 3. I know I can just have them wearing the same pants every day of the week, but that really goes against my grain. Not to mention that I need to get them some non-school cooler weather clothes... If anybody has any information on where to find clothes discounted or otherwise cheap, please let me know. I have not seen anything from the child support office yet and I was kind of wanting that to use for clothing because we run a pretty close budget. I guess I could have told them "no" about camping, but when that's the only vacation they're getting this year, I hated to do that.

Foul Mood

I don't know what the hell was wrong with me tonight. I got home and was ready to get my laundry done when all of a sudden I started feeling weak and shaky. I know it probably has something to do with my blood sugar, the gastric bypass or whatever. It is when I eat something, or when I don't eat for a while. No real pattern. But then I started feeling bad because I had all this laundry to do and I was feeling like I might not be able to do it because I just felt weak. This made me really mad. My girlfriend was over dropping off my laundry detergent and I was being very cross. I could hardly stand myself, so I told her she just needed to scoot and that I wasn't fit company. Usually she stands by me and is supportive and understanding. Not this time. She bolted. This bothered me even more. Plus I had just bought a new laundry basket and destroyed it when I picked it up. Ok, I really didn't destroy it, the handle broke, but at the time I was feeling like everything was going to sh*t and nothing was working out right. I feel a little better now, but I still miss Theresia.

My Hands

Ms. Pass gave me this that Logan made. She waited to hand it to me during conference because she didn't want it messed up. It is definately keepsake material.

Reading & Writing Tips

Logan's teacher had tips handouts for parents. I think they would apply to Lexie also because she is having a challenge with her writing. Some of the things we can do:

1. Read to them so they get the idea that reading is a neat thing to do.
2. Reread books if they want it so they can feel like they are "reading".
3. Let them see me read so they understand that we do what we think is important.
4. Talk about ideas that I write so that communication skills are linked.
5. Encourage them to write. Put a chalkboard in their room and encourage them to write messages.
6. Encourage storytelling (they do quite a bit of this).
7. Keep reading and writing materials around (I always do this)
8. Get them library cards (I have one for Lexie and he was sharing that but I'm getting Logan his own.)
9. Monitor how much time the -family- spends in front of the TV.
10. Praise their efforts in writing and emphasize successes instead of criticizing mistakes.
11. Provide a suitable place for them to write.
12. Give him gifts associated with writing--pens pencils, paper, stationary, stamps, etc.
13. Encourage them to write away for information, free samples, travel brochures, etc.
14. Be alert for times when they can be involved in writing because writing for real purposes is rewarding.

Logan's Parent/Teacher Conference

The teacher, Ms. Pass, says Logan is doing very well. At first he had trouble getting very upset when there was something he couldn't do. She said that might be because there are a lot of things that he does very well. When she asked him to read a book, his face turned red and he started to cry. Also he was getting the same way because he didn't make it into the ABC Club. That was only the first several weeks. She said now he does a lot better and she knows not to push him hard-or at least knows when to stop pushing him. It is her job to push as much as possible, but without making it a bad experience. She just praises him for trying and moves on quickly to something else. He accepts challenges a lot better now. She said his oral vocabulary is exceptional... but we already knew this, didn't we?

He needs to be reading and writing every day. She says he should be able to read these types of books: Margaret Hilliard, Biscuit books, and the books labeled: I Can Read, Early Reader, and Level One. She said to work on counting to 100, we can use dimes to help him count to 100 by tens. That way he can count past 29, because he knows 30 comes after 20, and then is 40, 50, 60, etc.

Shizue

This is a picture of my girlfriend. She woke me up in the middle of the night because she was scared the kids were going to get eaten by wolves. Sure enough, you could hear howling, but it was just coyotes, and they were far off in the distance...

At the lake

Here's the kids at the lake. We walked down to the lake, ate our picnic lunch, then around the lake and back up.

The Death March

So, we went on this 'moderate' hike. It was like .75 miles down to a small lake, then .5 miles around the lake, then back the way you came. Not too bad until you find out the trip down was 80 percent stairs! And the Nuts of Doom the whole way!!!

Logan Leaf Ear

This is Logan sticking leaves in his head...

Walnuts of Doom

Walnuts falling from the trees was the scariest party of the camping trip!

Camping at Brown County State Park

My legs are killing me from hiking. Other that that, it was all a hellofalotta fun! We heard coyotes howling Sunday night. T got freaked out and woke me up at like 3am. She was afraid they were going to eat the kids. She wouldn't let us dump any food leavings anywhere near the camp site because she was afraid of animals! The only thing we REALLY had to fear was the huge walnuts falling all over the place. You'd hear them plummeting from the tops of the trees, ripping through leaves and branches on the way down and then --WHAM-- right beside you it hits the ground and scares the crap out of you. The damn things were as big as tennis balls and heavy as hell! I just knew I was going to end up with a smashed windshield, or one of us would get a concussion!!! We went to Nashville, Indiana and poked around. Went to the Brown County Winery and bought some wine to take home. All in all it was really good, but I am so tired right now I could go back home and sleep for the rest of the day. The kids are with their mom because school is out today and she has visitation on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I gotta drag my ass to do laundry after work so we will have clothes to wear this week.

Logan's Report Card

I'm happy that Logan's first report card (ever!) is a good one.

I just wonder why they give S+'s instead of O's...

Report Card for Lexie

Lexie has a little progress to make on work habits.

Weekend

Theresia and I went to the Celtic Festival in Eminence Kentucky this weekend. That was pretty cool. She got me a handcrafted Irish cap. I love it and I'll be wearing it a lot. It was an early birthday present. We ate lunch there and she got Shepherd's pie and I got Haggis and mash. They were both served in bread bowls. I thought they were both good, but she refused to eat more than a bite of the haggis. She was worried about the type of meat it had in it. I think traditionally it's like sheep's stomach stuffed with other guts and organs, but in this case, I'm pretty sure it was just ground beef. Regardless, I liked the flavor. I got a necklace for her... nothing really expensive, but she really liked it. It was an oak leaf made of fired ceramic on a leather thong. We did that, then later we went back to her house, I did some laundry, and we went to dinner at Joe's OK Bayou Cajun restaurant. We took her granddaughter Kendall, and she behaved really well. After that we went back to my apartment and watched a horror movie that really sucked. I saw the preview when we watched another movie and it looked good, but I'm telling you, don't waste your time with "Room 6". There's another that looked goofy but I thought it would be cool because it looked like a mix between horror and sci-fi, but it was stupid also. It was called "Candy Stripers". I know what you are thinking. You are right. Ex-Playboy Playmates cannot act. It's true. I've been looking for some good horror for this season. I usually watch a lot of horror, but I really want something good to watch with Theresia during the month of October.

Please, if anybody has any ideas, LET ME KNOW! It doesn't have to be anything in the newest releases. It just has to be scary! Preferably something I haven't seen yet... We've watched Silent Hill. I thought that was good, but not so scary. That's the last halfway decent scary flick I've seen. We also saw the remake of The Hills Have Eyes. Hostel was more shocking than scary. I need some really good sleepers. I don't mind watching movies that were in the theater's a week or less, but just as long as they are frightening.

Wool Cap from Donegal Town

Here's the label from my cap.

Early birthday present

Theresia got me this wool cap at the Celtic Fest on Saturday. It comes from Donegal Town, Ireland. I really like it!

Little house

This is the little fixer upper that T and I going to buy... Not! She really just likes the looks of it because it has so much character.

Theresia at Celtic Fest

This tree looked so neat. It was bent to the side and looked like it was just growing that way! Also Theresia looked really cute so I wanted to get her picture.