The Quick and Easy Friday Post

I missed yesterday, no excuse. Here is the Quick and Easy post: The movies opening today. Actually the list is rather short. Don't worry though, I will write a real post later. Who knows, this list is so short I may feel obligated to write more than one more....
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New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Flannel Pajamas
The twin specters of Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen hover over this talky history of a relationship.
The Hitcher
A hitchhiker (Sean Bean) torments a couple in this remake of the 1986 thriller.
More movie reviews
Read about all the movies now playing in local theaters.

Sandy gets a snow day!

We got up this morning at 6:30 as usual so Sandy could get ready for school. I looked at Weatherbug, and discovered there was a winter storm warning in effect, and that we had overnight accumulations of snow and sleet. I mentioned this to Sandy, and she looked out the back door, and could see some snow on the ground. There was probably less than a half an inch but to a kid who has spent the bulk of her life in Arizona, this is a lot of snow.

I looked up to see if her school had canceled, and lo and behold it had. Sandy had her first snow day ever! The downside is that there wasn't enough snow on the ground to make a snow man, or snow angels. Well, we may yet have a chance for this as we have more winter weather heading this way.

She spent some of the day attempting to catch up on her homework. She has until Friday to complete one assignment in World Geography, but I have this suspicion she will put that off hoping that she will get another day off of school. Considering we just had to prod her to finish her math homework... We are hoping she will get her act together. Time will tell.

The Phone Company Sucks!!!

Yeah I know, we all think the Phone Company sucks. I have proof! A couple of weeks ago, I went online and ordered a second phone line installed so that I could go back to working from home for a few bucks extra a month. I got an e-mail acknowledging the order, and with it a notice that I would receive an e-mail letting me know when they would be coming out to the house to install the second line.

Last week I went online to look to see what the status of the order was. My order showed up, marked complete. Excuse me? How was it complete when they hadn't even been to the house to install the flippin' line...Might I ask? So I figured that I would wait till today to call to find out what the hell was going on.

We got up at 6:30 this morning with Sandy as usual, and after she left for school, Sue and I went back to bed for a couple of hours. When I got up the phone was flashing, telling me there was message. The Phone Company installation tech had called at 9:15 to say he was on his way. Naturally he knocked and we never heard him. He left a door hanger telling us to reschedule.

What really gripes my cookies is that they never bothered to send me the promised e-mail letting me know the date the guy was going to show up! Had I known he was coming today, I would have made certain to be up and semi-coherent so I could get the line in. Now I have to wait till next Monday, the 22nd to get the line in. CRAP! So I offer this as proof of what we have all known for many years. The Damn Phone Company (Any one of them be it AT&T, General Telephone, or what ever stupid company you have near you that gives you phone service {an oxymoron if I ever heard one} SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Winter Weather

We seemed to have gotten lucky here. I woke up at 8:00 this morning, and after I fed the kitties, I went outside to get the paper. Although the lawn was crunchy... We didn't have the expected ice covering everything. There was some ice on the bridges around the area from what I have heard, and the news reported several accidents.

We have been using our fireplace with the cold weather. It is nice to have a fire going on a cold night like the ones we have been having. I am glad that this house has the fireplace. It wouldn't have been a deal breaker if we didn't, but it had been a dream of both Sue and I to have a house with a fireplace.

Since the weather has been cold, we have been keeping the car in the garage. That's another nice thing about having a house. When we were living at the apartment we naturally didn't have the option. I am glad we don't live there any more. Especially when they had our car towed because we were literally one half an inch over the line in the parking lot. That was how the picture they took showed it. Sheesh! Like I said, thank God we are out of there. Living in a house definitely has its advantages.

This and that!

I asked Sue what she was blogging about, and she indicated she was going to blog about various subjects. That makes sense, as I can't think of anything in particular to blog about. Let's see, where to start.

When I got up this morning, I had a couple of e-mails stating that church services had indeed been canceled today. We did not have any ice on the ground, but Terry decided to err on the side of caution. I can't say that I blame him.

As of 10:00 this evening, we only have a little ice on the ground, but we do have more coming apparently. In fact the news blurb just said the next wave is hours away. It is beginning to sound nasty. Oklahoma got nailed really bad, but they don't think we are gonna get it as bad here. We can count ourselves fortunate. Even more fortuitous, we don't really need to go anywhere tomorrow, Sandy is out of school because of MLK day, so no worries there.

This computer is really beginning to piss me off. Half the time I have to restart it because it starts to bog down, It's less than a year old! It slows down, or refuses to open a program. I scan disk, and defrag it and it still screws up! AARRGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once I get myself back to work, I plan to pick up a couple of 1 gig memory sticks. One for my system, and the other for Sue's real system. She is using the one I had given to Sandy because her newer system (a few months newer than mine actually) kept crapping out, so I had to switch it out for the older system. I am convinced that the memory is the problem. I want to update that, and get video cards that will run all of the features of Vista, which is supposed to come out the end of this month.

As to going back to work, I had ordered a second phone line from AT&T, and have heard nothing yet. I went up online to check the status of the order, and it states that it is complete. Complete? My ASS! So Tuesday I have to call these idiots and explain to them that there is no bloody way that it's complete! I need the second line, with nothing on it like voice mail, call waiting etc. The flip side would to have our voice mail taken off of this line, and that's not an option. It was a pain in the ass to have to tun off the answering machine, and then remember to turn it back on, then half the time the stupid thing didn't work! Sigh. I hate having to deal with morons. If I want the line installed I will have to though. More news when it becomes less available!!!

Ice - and not the kind that scares illegal immigrants!

We are bracing for a major winter blast. We have had rain since last night... and apparently it is going to turn to ice tomorrow. We are looking for up to an inch of ice accumulation by Monday. I have gone out several times, but nothing so far. If we do get any ice out there, I will take some pictures and post here.

I remember an ice storm in January of 1968 or 1970, not really sure of the year. I seem to remember Mom and Dad taking pictures of the ice on the trees. It is certainly pretty to look at, but Hell to drive on. I called our Pastor today to let him know we would likely not be making it into church tomorrow. I was going to do the announcements, so I wanted to let him know. He indicated the possibility of canceling services. We just don't want to run the risk of wrecking the car. I am pretty good at driving but there are a lot of idiots out there that don't.

If church gets canceled tomorrow, it will be the first time since Sue and I have gone to Covenant that services have been canceled. The weather looks like it might be a really big mess. The news was showing people stocking up on everything, batteries, water, food. I guess they think the power is going to go out. I guess being prepared is a good idea. We have some food that can be prepared without cooking, and we have candles, and a hurricane lamp, and a fireplace. We'll see what happens.

Here is the real blog!

If you have read this blog for any time, you may have noticed that on Fridays, I usually copy the "At the Movies"guide from the Dallas Morning News, and post it on the blog. It was easy, and gave me a quick, sort of down and dirty blog. No thinking, no hassles, just a quick cut and paste. Sue pointed out that this was cheating. She's right. If my goal is to write in this blog on a daily basis, then a quick cut and paste, not matter how easy it is, constitutes cheating. At the least it's somewhat lazy!

So I have come up with a compromise. I will post the movie guide in the morning, then write a real blog later in the day. Well, here it is, later in the day.

Sue has been feeling bleckie ( Her word) lately, and has been running a low grade fever for the last couple of weeks. She got hold of her doctor, and we went in to see her. (Yes she actually called at 1:30 and got an appointment at 3:30. When we left the house, it was raining a little, just a drizzle actually. By the time we came out of the doctors office, it was pouring rain. The streets were flooding and when we got in the house, we discovered the temperature had dropped from 67 to 40. This was in the space of an hour and a half. Sheesh!

The fun part is that now I gotta go back out to get Sue's meds. The doctor gave her a prescription for anti-biotics. I am waiting for the rain to let up a tad, because on top of this rain we have a winter storm coming, and are expecting about a half inch of ice on the ground by morning. Loverly!!!!

Friday Movies or The Easy Post

Here are the movies opening today. The real blog will be done later...

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New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Letters from Iwo Jima
Flags of Our Fathers follow-up offers outstanding performances, mostly by actors you've never heard of.
Pan's Labyrinth
Guillermo Del Toro's engrossing, visually stunning tale follows a little girl coming to grips with Fascist Spain.
Alpha Dog
Justin Timberlake shines as one of the kidnappers in this true-life tale of criminals digging their own graves.
Stomp the Yard
Rhythmic step dancing is infectious in this formulaic underdog flick of a L.A. teen transplanted to Atlanta.
Arthur and the Invisibles
Redubbing and recutting scrubs all the charm right off Luc Besson's first children's film.
Primeval
A news team heads to South Africa to capture a 25-foot crocodile. This film was not screened in advance for critics.
More movie reviews
Read about all the movies now playing in local theaters.

Armed & Famous Opinion

This show turned out to be more interesting than we thought it would be. For anyone who is not familiar with this show, Armed and Famous takes "D" list Celebrities, and follows them as they go through the Police Academy in Muncie, Indiana, and become real Police Reserve Officers. At first glance the idea of having Eric Estrada, Latoya Jackson, Jack Osbourne, Jason "Wee-Man"Acuna of MTV's JackAss, and former WWE Wrestler Trish Stratus being given guns and let loose on the unsuspecting citizens of Muncie seemed a bit ridiculous. Initially, Sue and I were not going to watch it.

Out of curiosity we decided to watch the first episode last night. I actually got interested in seeing Eric Estrada get zapped with a Taser. The Sergeant that was put in charge of training these Celebs had a look of disgust when they first filed into class. However during the academy training, they had to experience being zapped with the Taser. (The part I was waiting for) Apparently there is a rule that before you are allowed to carry a Taser, you have to have experienced it. All of the "D" listers with one exception opted to have alligator clips applied and then get the 50,000 volt current. Trish Stratus however decided to let the training officers shoot the barbs into her back. She decided that she wanted to know what it really felt like. I applaud that.

On the gun range, Jack Osbourne fired one of the best target scores the T.O's said they had seen in quite some time. The original Training Sergeant admitted that he was impressed how serious the Celebs took the program. Frankly I was kind of surprised that the show didn't suck.

Then they graduated, and were given guns and badges, and sent out on the streets of Muncie with experienced Officers. Latoya Jackson cracked up her partner when they went to a steak restaurant, and Jackson wanted a tablecloth, and a finger bowl. Estrada helped arrest an elderly crack dealer, who went GA GA over being busted by "Ponch" from Chips! Trish Stratus showed compassion when she and her partner helped a family whose home had burned.

They ran another episode tonight. Jackson freaked out when she went on a call in which the complainant owned a cat. Apparently she watched a relative who was attacked by a cat when she was young, and has a phobia about cats. Eric Estrada and his partner had an older woman walk up to their patrol car, and ask him to sign her boob. He was rather taken aback, ( as were we...) The woman reached into her blouse, and I think Estrada thought ( as we did) that she was gong to flop out her breast. The woman pulled out a prosthetic breast. He gamely signed it, while his partner sat there shaking her head, not having a clue how to react.

All in all, I was surprised that these "D" listers actually take this bit seriously. Even Jason "Wee-Man"Acuna whose claim to fame is doing "JackAss" on MTV. Latoya actually went to see a shrink to try to get past her fear of cats, so she could function on the job.
It will be interesting to see how long this thing is set to last. I suspect it's just a limited run show. We may not go out of our way to watch it, but might check it out again.

What a surprise! NOT!!! RANT ALERT!!!

Shrub addressed the country. As expected, he is committing 20,000 more troops to Iraq. In my opinion, this is like putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. Many people, and in fact many in Congress agree with this assessment. He claimed that his mistake was in not sending enough troops to do the job properly in the first place. I disagree, we should not have gone into Iraq in the first place.

I will admit that initially, when the war started, I was in favor for it. Simply for the fact that the economy usually takes an upturn during a war. Also the last war we got into lasted less than a month, and caused the death of less than 200 American Troops. Obviously I was mistaken to support the war. Let me emphatically state that I do support the troops.

Bush made several statements in his speech that don't seem to square with reality. For example: "Most of Iraq's Sunni and Shia want to live together in peace." Really? Then whey the hell are they doing their level best to annihilate each other?
"We benefited from the thoughtful recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton." So why the upsurge in troops, when the Baker-Hamilton Commission clearly came out against adding additional troops. Did you see a different copy of that report then we read about in the news?

It is clear that this is a President who is completely out of touch with reality. He claims to understand what families of our soldiers are going through. I say bullshit! Unless he sends his twin drunken, partying daughters over there, he will never have a clue. What am I saying. From his speech tonight, it is obvious that he never has.

In a related story, The Israeli Army has developed an Anti RPG system that can protect our armored vehicles, and save American lives. The system is known as "Trophy." Army official have done everything to block this system from even being tested, after declaring it"98% effective" The army wants a Multi-billion dollar system built by Government sponsered Contractor Raytheon that will not even be ready until 2011. Why are American lives so worthless to this government, that a system that works will not even be considered. Even several Army engineers have said this system works. Other top Pentagon officials have threatened certain engineers over "Trophy" Why is it that the Pentagon insists on waiting for several years for the Raytheon system to be put in place? Kickbacks,that's why. This is a government that lives off of kickbacks and deals. Obviously the Pentagon, like George W. Bush do not give a damn how many lives they waste.

Time for a little change

You may notice the blog looks a little different. I decided I wanted to make a change. I do this periodically, on my wallpaper, the skin for Weather bug, My Yahoo front page. and various other things. I guess I get tired of things after a while, at least on the computer.


This Template is called "Harbor" I told Sue I was making a change, and she said she had thought the other one was too dark. Sometimes I like dark backgrounds...

Well, lets see, what to blog about... Hmm. In Austin, Texas, yesterday thousands of birds just dropped dead in the downtown area. No definite answers yet but a couple of theories have been offered. One: They at some fermented berries, and were drunk - Two: They saw their reflections in th windows of the high-rises and attacked - Three: They ate poisoned misltletoe... In a related story, KFC has offered to clean the birds up for free. (Hey I know, a cheap shot! I stole that one form Leno what can I say!)

Anyway, that's the blog for tonight. Don't worry, tomorrow Bush will give us the details of his new plan for Iraq. Watch this space for a major rant. Dennis Miller would enjoy!

Warning - Rant Ahead!!!

There was a story on the news tonight about another City Council vote about the illegal immigrant issue in Farmers Branch. (Farmers Branch is the Texas community that has passed a spate of ordinances dealing with the illegal immigrants. English is to be the official language in FB, Apartment Managers must rent only to people who can prove they are here legally etc. ) Tonight the FB City Council decided to send the Apartment Ban to the voters. Okay fine. There were the requisite protests, of course. The local news showed this Latino grandmother who complained (through an interpreter, naturally - ) that all she wanted to do was get a job. She now is afraid to go outside because she might get deported.

My answer is, GO HOME THEN!!! Nobody asked you to come here. If you are so damn worried about being deported, then save ICE the trouble, and get the hell out of the country! I do feel sorry for the children who are ether dragged across the border, or are born here, simply so the parents can get welfare. Frankly I think you should not be allowed welfare unless you are a citizen.
What part of illegal do these protesters not understand?

I am all for people wanting a better life. I fully understand this. Come here legally then. OR better still, why can't Mexico, and the Central American countries make some changes at home, so their people would rather stay there than cross into another country illegally.

I realize that this makes me sound like a bigot. If wanting to have a country where jobs are not taken by a group of people who come here to supposedly find a better life, but refuse to make the slightest attempt to assimilate into the culture of the country they illegally entered into, then I guess that makes me a bigot.

If I went to Mexico to live permanently, I would be expected to learn Spanish. Rightly so. If these folks want to avoid being hunted down as illegal, the first thing they should do is to learn English. If they took this one simple step, it would make it less likely that ICE would even look at them twice.

That's my rant for the week. If any one is offended, well, I am not going to say I am sorry. That's what's great about this country. We are allowed to have opinions, no matter how lousy they might be.

An honor to Serve

Today in church we ordained and installed our new Church Officers. Yesterday at our officers retreat we, the current elders officially voted to accept them as officers. Today they stood in front of the church and responded to questions that were asked of them by Terry, our Pastor. Questions like "Will you fulfill your office in obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture and be continually guided by our confessions?", and other questions like this. This is part of our ceremony in the Presbyterian Church. Once the questions were asked of the elders elect, then the congregation had to respond to ceremonial questions as well. Once this was done, we had the laying on of hands. This, like other parts of our ceremonies, go back to the beginnings of the church, in some fashion.

As the elders elect were responding, then when I joined the other ordained members of the congregation for the laying on of hands, my thoughts went back to a year ago, when I was first ordained. To me it is an honor to have been asked to serve in this church. In a way, this morning as I placed my hands on the shoulders of the elders elect I was closest to, it occurred to me that this is yet another way to serve. By supporting th newest officers of the church at their ordination and installation, I am helping to ensure the future of Covenant Presbyterian Church. I am beginning the second year of my first three year term, and feel incredibly blessed to have a voice in the shaping of this church. I pray that God gives me the ability to serve in the best way that I can.

When God calls watch out!

We had our officer's retreat today. Part of the day included the new Committee assignments. This year the church went from a two body form of government, Deacons and Elders to a one body form, Elders alone. Because this change actually went into effect in the middle of the year, the committees that were in place continued as they were. With the new year, and the election of new officers, while others rotate off, the format of committees has changed. The work done by th committees that used to be in place, will continue to be done. Essentially the names are all that really changed.

With this new format, I now find myself on three committees. Because I take care of the library, I am now part of the Christian Education Committee. I used to be on the outreach committee, which is now under the umbrella of Congregation Care and Personal Enrichment. I am also there because of my involvement with the new Health and Wellness Ministry Team. Last year I was also considered to be the sole member of the Communications Committee, this now falls under the Infrastructure and Facilities Committee. (Which used to be Building & Grounds!!!) Hoo Boy!!!

I knew God was calling me to get more involved with the Church, but three committees? Well, I guess if He wants me there, He will give me the ability to serve! God has a tendency to find people that didn't think they were ready or able to serve. I certainly didn't think I had been at the church long enough to serve on the Board of Deacons. God proved me wrong. I hope that I have added something to the church leadership over the last year, and that I can continue to be of service over the next two years, that I have left in my current term.

New & Old

Tomorrow, we are having our yearly Church Officer's retreat. This is the second one of my 3 year term. We will have our newly elected officers for the Class of 2009 joining us. We will welcome them, and prepare our hearts and minds to lead the church in this new year.

A volunteer was needed to offer a devotional and a prayer for the Pastor as we do every month at our Session meetings. Although I was warned against doing so when I was in the Navy, I volunteered. As I was researching for a devotional to deliver, I discovered that January 6th (tomorrow) is the Day of Epiphany, which is the close of the Christmas Season. This is a day that commemorates the Wise Men bringing gifts to the Christ Child. I was able to find a devotional that takes this into account. What a perfect timing for our retreat. Epiphany begins tomorrow and last through the last day of Lent.

As I am going to be gone tomorrow, this will leave Sue and Sandy together. Both of them were hoping that Sandy would be able to attend a drill meet, unfortunately I did not get any response from LTC White. I emailed him, and left him several voice messages as well to no avail. We need to know she has permission to go, as she failed the teen leadership class. Oh well. Maybe he will yet call tonight, but I doubt it. Hopefully, Sandy will continue to be respectful tomorrow, as she has for the last several days. I guess an IPOD is a powerful inentive....

Friday Movies

Okay, here's the easy one. I will write a real blog later, but as this has become a regular feature....

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New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Notes on a Scandal
An older admirer (Judi Dench) makes life hard for a teacher (Cate Blanchett) who sleeps with a student.
Freedom Writers
True story of an inspirational teacher (Hillary Swank) offers ho-hum filmmaking, but it connects emotionally.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Fabulously twisted tale follows a perfume maker who becomes a serial killer to capture women's scents.
Thr3e
First-rate thriller by FoxFaith is proof that a dark movie doesn't have to resort to buckets of blood.
Miss Potter
Story of Peter Rabbit creator Beatrix Potter is worth seeing for its excellent performances.
Code Name: The Cleaner
A custodian (Cedric the Entertainer) believes he is a super spy in this lame and inane comedy.
Happily N'Ever After
The wicked stepmother upsets all the happy endings in this inept, incompetently scripted animated flick.
More movie reviews
Read about all the movies now playing in local theaters.

First Rant of 2007

Far be it for me to let too much time go by without spouting my opinion of things in the political world, the national scene, and the crazy rock in space we call earth, in general. Oh and yes, I know the old saw about opinions... "They're like asses. Everybody's got one and most of em' stink!"

Okay let's see, where to start? How about the Dems. As of today, we have a woman closer to the presidency since Hillary Clinton was pres... (Yeah I know, Bill was the one that was actually erected er... elected but when did he have time to run the country? Between interns? )
Any way, Nancy Pelosi is now our first woman Speaker of the House. Applause applause.. etc. While I am glad to see a woman in this position, I do have some issues with Ms. Pelosi. When Shrub gave his State of the Union address after 9/11, Pelosi and Lloyd Bentson sat there talking and rolling their eyes every time Shrub said anything or made a point. I don't care for the son of a bitch either, but I keep saying respect the office even if you don't respect the man.. Pelosi is a Beltway player.Time will tell if her agenda is really for the people or her own political power. She hasn't made any claims in that direction, but would it surprise anyone to see her toss her hat in the ring in 2008?

Sodamn Insane... I mean Saddam Hussein. May he rot in Hell. (I know not a very Christian attitude. ) God forgive me, but I can't work up a whole lot of sympathy for his family at this tyrants death. He had how many thousands if not millions of deaths laid at his feet, and he claimed to still be the President of Iraq right up till he swung? The guy had to be nuts. Good riddance to bad garbage.

Global Warming. How can an intelligent, thinking being see the pictures of he 100 odd square mile chunk of Arctic Ice shelf broken off above Canada, and not believe in Global Warming. Oh I said intelligent thinking being. That lest out Shrub and his cronies, doesn't it. I doubt if Shrub would sign the Kyoto Accords if the White House flooded and he and Cheney were waiting rescue in a row boat!

Well, that's about all I can think of at the moment. I could probably go on, (Sue will probably say I always do go on, and on, and on, and on...) But I gotta pace myself. This could be a long year on the Rant front!

Out and about again!

Today I had a meeting at the church. It was nice to be able to get there without having to find a ride! I am on a new committee at church, The Health and Wholeness Ministry Team. The team is made up of 2 retired nurses, an ex Navy Hospital Corpsman, (me) an Insurance expert, a business woman, and a person who had endured the health care system without the benefits of health insurance. We have obtained a resource room at the church, and are putting together information about health concerns.

We initiated a survey a few weeks back asking the congregation to let s know what health care concerns they had. Today we went over the surveys that came back and discovered what was most on the minds of our people. It seems that proper diet and exercise is number one on the hit parade. This gives us a place to start. A jumping off point, if you will.

We were able to place some donated furniture in the room that was set aside in the church. We are also going to be placing a computer in the room that our Youth Director is not using. I am going to donate a printer that we have sitting in the garage that is no longer used. Our internet guy at the church is going to run a line to the computer to get us on the internet.

The idea is that we will have health information for anyone in the congregation who needs it. Te survey was to assess the needs and interests of the congregation. We will be available after church on Sundays for people to have their blood pressure checked, or to help guide them to internet sites that can give them information can help them understand medical conditions they or a loved one may have.

Eventually, we hope to open this resource room to the community as well. That will take a little time. We are off to a good start though.

Good News, Bad News

When Sandy got up this morning, I had good news, and bad news for her. She had gotten an I-Pod from a Friend of our at Church. It had belonged to one of the kids in the Youth Group. Gerri, her mother had asked us before if it was okay to give it to her. Sue and I had said it was okay.

Yesterday, I played around with it for a couple of hours, and couldn't figure out how to get it working. I had come to the conclusion that it didn't work. Late last night, I decided to try using Sue's computer, just in case it was my computer that the I-Pod wasn't getting along with. Well, that assumption turned out to be the case.

This morning we told Sandy that I had figured out the problem, and would be able to place music on the I-pod for her. There was the good news. The bad news was that she had several pages of "I will nots" to write before we would let her use the I-Pod. She took it very well.

So all day today, she was working on getting them done. She has been respectful, and pleasant to be around. I hope it lasts. Time will tell!

Oops, I missed New Years' Day!

No I wasn't hungover. I just got busy. We did get to bed late ( or was it early? ) early yesterday morning, (4:30 am) and slept till noon. We had gone over to our friends, Mary and Earl's house for a New Year's Eve Celebration. We had done the same thing last year. Mary had printed out a list of different time zones from Germany to our time zone, Central Standard Time, and when each one came up, we twirled noisemakers, and wished Happy New Year to the different countries. One that was of interest was somewhere in Canada where there was a half hour difference. SO at 9:30 Texas Time, we were wishing Happy New Year to Newfoundland (I think) Sandy spent the night at Mary and Earl's, so we were kidless last night.

So today after we got up, and veg out for a while, we made a trip to the store for a couple of things. When we got back, I decided to take down the Christmas lights from the front of the house. Next thing I knew, Sue was taking down the lights inside. Well, we decided to just go ahead and take all the decorations down. We even took down the tree. After 8 years we decided that we would get a new tree for this years Christmas. This will be our second Christmas tree together. Time flies when you're having fun! Or as one frog said to the other...


{BAD PUN ALERT!!!-BAD PUN ALERT!!!}

Time's fun when you're having flies!



Happy New Year!!!!!!!