Christmas Updates!

Hello! We are back from our Christmas trip and back at work today. Time flies when you're having fun as the old saying goes. We came home with full bellies and a van load of stuff. Jonnie got so much that when we were putting things away yesterday, I kept finding things I didn't know he'd gotten!

The big item this year was the driveable Lightning McQueen car. I haven't downloaded any pictures off our camera so go to the Fisher Price Power Wheels web site to see a picture of the car. I guess Jonnie drove it to the end of my father-in-law's driveway but didn't want to drive anymore so he started walking back up the house! Of course, Jonnie got lots of clothes, Thomas the Tank Engine stuff, die cast cars from the "Cars" movie, and loads of other stuff. I really have enjoyed playing "Whack a Mole" perhaps a bit too much!

I'm not sure my husband really liked any of his gifts that he got. How excited can you get when you get jeans and socks? My mother-in-law got Jon some nice shirts but one of them is a tapered cut that doesn't work well with Jon's girlish figure! I got some really great stuff. I got an iPod shuffle which I haven't taken out of the box yet. I also got a Dale Jr. wrist watch but it's too big so we have to take it somewhere to have links removed from the bracelet; it's not anything we can pop out with a screwdriver. I tried to use my Home Depot gift card that I got but they don't allow you to use them for online purchases; blast! I was going to buy myself an actual "Dustbuster".

We had a lot of fun on this trip. I told Jon that I think I enjoyed this year more than previous years despite travelling and such. My brother-in-law, husband, and I played a game of "New Era" Monopoly with niece Nicki and got our butts kicked. This new game features a Starbucks coffee cup, a laptop, and a cell phone as some of the game pieces. The hotels and houses are metallic blue and silver instead of the green and red like the old game. The money is also bigger; we were dealing in the millions! The railroads were replaced by airports, etc. It was fun but it just wasn't the same.

I'd better get back to work! Have a great week!

We "Raised Cane" at Lunch!

Okay, so the diet has been completely out the window recently because I've been sick and it's holiday time with lots of good food around. Today, I decided it was time to actually take a lunch break so I asked my friends Letha, Mary Ann, and Kiti if they wanted to go out and get lunch. Everyone's been raving about Raising Cane's so I suggested we go there since I'd never tried it before.

The only thing you can get are chicken fingers (gee, I need to take Jonnie here). I got the #1 meal which was chicken fingers, fries, Texas toast, and cole slaw with a drink. I'm still stuffed and we ate 2 hours ago and I spent under $7. It's a bit noisy with loud music playing and the staff hollering your name for you to come get your order. We got in just before the high school kids hit so the place got louder and we instantly felt older but the food was still awesome.

Will I go back next week? It's very tempting because a lunch of piping hot chicken fingers with the works is a lot more appetizing than dehydrated soup reconsitituted with hot water. Besides, I have to resolve to lose weight in 2007 because I resolve to lose weight *EVERY* year. Maybe I'll actually succeed in 2007!

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Clarification on the PAC Kitchen

Good Sunday Morning!

As you could tell from yesterday's post, I was very concerned about the PAC kitchen project. I had the opportunity to talk to Jon yesterday when he got home so I shared my concerns with him. I'm so glad that I did! I found out that Jon is just using his connection with Restaurant Depot to get pricing for Father to evaluate. We do not have to buy the appliances or build the kitchen. Jon said "I'm not stupid enough to take on a project like that!". Uh, "technology committee" comes to mind as a stressful project you took on dear and did not have time for but I hope that's water under the bridge!

I'd better get the diaper bag finalized for church. I got all of my diet foods packaged into little daily packages and put into a large bag to take on our trip. Sometime today I need to start over on packing the clothing bags because Jon doesn't want to use our large lime green duffle bag for his Dad's house; he wants to take in two smaller bags. Be careful what you wish for Jon; you might end up with 3 bags because my stuff alone fills one smaller bag and I don't have anything extra except a pair of underwear! If I can reuse stuff on a trip, I try to but I don't like not taking like a pair of pants for each in case I spill something on my jeans and can't wear them two days later like I planned.

Oh, today is meatball day! Jon will be making up the meatballs for Christmas Day as well as extra for use to use here. Tonight we're having pasta and meatballs for dinner; yum! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Holiday Packing

I was reading my friend Sarah's blog this morning and her post about packing for her family's big Christmas trip next week. That reminded me that I need to work on packing for our Christmas trip, too. I feel sorry for Sarah because she and her family are travelling by plane and I pray that the security personnel are understanding when it comes to a family with a toddler.

We are fortunate enough that we can drive to our destinations. Our Christmas trip is more like a marathon than any time for rest and relaxation. After working all day Thursday, Jonnie and I have to jump from my car into the van and drive to my parents place. On Friday, we are having Christmas with my Mom & Dad and I am hoping that my Aunt Dorothy and my Grandma Woodruff might come over for dinner. Saturday morning, we leave for Leetonia so we can get to my father-in-law's house to make the ravioli for Christmas Day. There will likely be frantic house cleaning and finding some place for Christmas Mass on Christmas Eve that will count for our Christmas Day obligation. Christmas Day brings big boiling pots of water and lots of ravioli with the smell of simmering sauce and meatballs. Then we get into a holding pattern waiting for relatives to show up an hour after we were supposed to eat!

I've struggled with trying to pack clothes for Jonnie and I. I have to pack one bag that goes into my parents house and another bag that goes to my father-in-law's. My parents smoke so we can't take our clothes that we want to wear in Leetonia into my parents house because some relatives in Leetonia are allergic to smoke. Then there is always trying to pack enough diapers and enough clothes for Jonnie. I know he likes to run around in a diaper but I don't want him to do that because I ran out of clothes for him!

Jon is out today trying to find the appliances for the Parish Activity Center kitchen. Father asked him last Sunday to start finding appliances so he can build the kitchen. Great, more stress! Appliances for an industrial kitchen are much more expensive than what you'd get for house so we'll probably have to pull money from our line of credit to buy all of the appliances and submit for reimbursement from the church. I don't think Jon is going to be able to get the appliances in his van so he'll have to rent a truck to haul them from Restaurant Depot in Columbus to Plain City. Jon will need my help since he cannot move these thing himself so we'll find a sitter to watch Jonnie for a day so Jon and I can get the appliances to the PAC and try to get them installed. We're going to have to get this done (hopefully) after Christmas but before Jon has his surgery. We're hoping that Jon can have surgery around Martin Luther King Day which is mid-January. I'm a bit nervous because the kitchen will likely have to be inspected but Jon can't take time off work because he has to save his time off for his surgery which means I'll probably have to take time off to meet with the inspectors and I've never built a kitchen before! To be honest, Jon has never built a kitchen before but when a priest tells you to do something, you do it with no questions asked. Hopefully, Father will understand that we have already scheduled to be out of town for Christmas and we can tackle getting the appliances during Jon's birthday weekend or, preferably, the weekend after.

I need to do some more laundry. Jonnie doesn't have any socks left in his drawer now that I put together outfits for him to wear during our marathon Christmas trip. Did I mention that we have to come back on the 26th and both are back to work on the 27th? Jonnie is the one kid in his class taking the least time off from school at Christmas. Hey, I want to get every hour out of that $344 I pay every two weeks!

I'm hoping Jon gets home soon. I'd like to rest. All three of us have colds right now. I ended up sleeping in our spare room last night because when Jon came to bed, I could not sleep because his breathing was so labored. Jonnie was coughing frequently during the night. I was in the bathroom three times during the night because my laxative tea kicked in at 2 AM. Then, Tiger still managed to find me at 7:30 this morning to wake me up. Jonnie yelled at me when I told him I slept in the spare room. He told me that was PapPap's room and I'm not allowed to sleep there. I think PapPap will understand and I'll have clean sheets on the bed for him when he comes to visit the next time so he won't get my cooties!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Crazy Week!

Oh my goodness, it has been a crazy week!

We finally got our tree decorated on Sunday night. It looks really nice. I really like the plastic icicles that I bought last year after Christmas even though I only used one of two boxes. I like how they sparkle! Compared to previous years, we barely have anything on the tree. We have a new angel this year for the top and it looks really nice. We have nativity scenes both under the tree and on the table in our front room. I'd bought a small one on clearance at Kroger after Christmas last year but we decided it was too small for under the tree.

At work, we have been doing an email migration and it's been a nightmere. The server keeps crashing and most of this is all due to poor planning on the part of the person responsible for the migration. There are things that need to be done for my department but the person responsible for them put a deaf ear to me weeks ago and only listened this week when my boss approached him.

I've been eating like crazy this week which probably will not be good when I weigh in on Saturday. I've got a gut feeling (no pun intended) that the extra stress from this migration has caused my extra eating. I've eaten because I've actually been starving to the point where I felt lightheaded. I'm a bit jealous because my husband has lost weight and he hasn't been trying! The side benefit to my trying to eat salads for dinner has been that he's been eating salads for dinner. I've offered to make other things for him but he says the salad is fine. He might eat some bread or have a snack later but he's still lost weight. *grumbles*

Well, I can see in my GroupWise window that I have email piling up in my Mailbox so I'd better go. Take care and have a great rest of the week!

Christmas Questions & Answers

My dear friend Sarah posted this list of questions to her blog and asked several of us to post our answers so here it goes!

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?

Since I drink sugar-free hot chocolate and buy it by the truckload at Sam's, the egg nog is more of a treat for me but I really rather prefer a glass of wine or bubbly.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

In our house, I am Santa. I bought and wrapped all of the gifts for our family members this year (and one close friend). I think Jon has some stuff stashed away somewhere for me but I draw the line at wrapping my own gifts! Jonnie talks about Santa but when he sees gifts, he just wants to rip them open. I had the idea this year that maybe my husband could dress up as Santa on Christmas if we can find a suit. He's got the belly like a bowl full of jelly although his is full of Wendy's new Jalepeno Double burgers!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?

Ah, this is where hubby and I disagree and hubby wins out. I love the look of white lights while Jon thinks they're boring and wants colored lights. Given the incident 10 years ago when had bought our first home and had our first live Christmas tree and the 6-foot tree fell out of the stand and on me when I tried to put lights on, hubby can put his colored lights on our tree. Other than the tree, our decorations are usually minimal. This year, I hung stockings in the windows down each side of our front door. The #48 Jimmie stocking is one side and the #8 Dale Jr. stocking is on the other.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?

No but I remember when my father-in-law hung up mistletoe at his old house in Washingtonville. He hung it in the doorway near the main bathroom so someone always ended up under it!

5. When do you put your decorations up?

Usually the first weekend of December is when we start. This is mostly because OSU's Forestry Department has their annual tree sale the first Friday and Saturday of December and this is where we get our short 9-foot trees. In two years when we host Christmas at our house and try to track down another 13 to 15 foot tree, I'd like to start around the same time because it will take me that long to get ornaments on the tree!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

Since you excluded dessert, at the risk of offending my parents I must say that the ravioli and meatballs that is the Christmas tradition in Jon's family is by far my favorite. Homeade multi-cheese ravioli and homeade meatballs (98% meat and Jon added 2% breadcrumbs to please his Dad) drenched in my father-in-law's homeade sauce made from homegrown tomatoes.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child:

When I was a child, we used to go to my Aunt Alma's and Uncle Cop's house (a block away) for a party with the Suttons and the Reichs (my Mom's side). There was food, stories, and good times. The best part was my goblet of ginger ale for the toast.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

I hate to say that I figured out at young age that my Mom was Santa in our house. I learned that she stashed Christmas gifts in the spare room closet next to my room and since I was not allowed to close the door to my room when I was little, I heard her in the closet and saw her walk down the hall with tons of gifts.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

Generally, no. However, if we're traveling to Leetonia, we stop at my parents on the way for a day or two and have dinner with them an exchange gifts and this is usually a day or two before Christmas Eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?

Lights, ornaments, with a Nativity underneath. This year, we've talked about just doing lights and the glass ball ornaments. We have a lot of the collectible type ornaments like "Our First Christmas" or "Baby's First Christmas" and tons of other stuff we've accumulated over the years. We just aren't in the mood to deal with taking everything out of the boxes and paper and then back in again after Christmas. Our Ohio State ball ornaments will probably be as specialized as we get this year.

11. Snow? Love it or dread it?

I don't mind snow as long as I don't have to drive or otherwise travel in it. I keep getting reminders of Thanksgiving 2005 when we were going from Ashland to Canfield for dinner at Uncle Steve's and our mini-van did a 360 on the entrance ramp to route 76 from I-71. I was spent the rest of the drive almost in shock and said nothing and immediately sought out the wine when we arrived at Uncle Steve's!

12. Can you ice skate?

No.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

I hate to seem like I'm copying Sarah but the Ohio State Buckeye necklace my Dad got me several years ago is still one of my favorite gifts. I break it out at the start of football season and wear it until we've played our bowl game or National Championship game. According to my Mom, my Dad picked out this necklace all by himself when they were at Penney's shopping!

14. What's the most exciting thing about the holidays for you?

I enjoy having a few days off work especially if I'm not required to set an alarm to get up in the morning, rather, I get up when I wake up or when Jonnie wakes up. I like being around family not just because I love them but also because someone else is occupying Jonnie's time so Jon and I have the opportunity to visit with other relatives, take a walk, or even watch TV.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?

Cherry cheese pie! When I was little, Mom used to cook up a large feast and my grandparents Woodruff, Uncle Jim & his family, and my Uncle Bobb would all come for dinner. She always made this as one of the desserts because my Grandpa Woodruff loved cherries but only having one tooth, he had trouble eating traditional cherry pie. Mom has promised me that she's going to make cherry cheese pie this year for me.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Like Sarah, I enjoy Midnight mass although I've only gone once back in 2004 when we hosted Christmas at our house. We had 2 pews of family in the back of the church although I think I'm the only one who enjoyed it. Otherwise, I guess it would just be the tradition of spending time with family.

17. What tops your tree?

Last year it was a star because when Jon bought the 13-foot tree 2 years ago, he realized that our tiny little angel that we used previously would be lost at the top of the tree. Unfortunately, he could not find a large angel that he liked so we got a star. He found some stuff after Christmas last year and I can't remember if he found an angel or not. I guess we'll find out later this weekend what is going on top of our currently bare 9-foot tree!

18. Which do you prefer - giving or receiving?

I like giving because I'm simplified my life by doing most of my shopping on-line and doing it early. I like knowing when I've found that gift the other person is just going to love such as the gift my father-in-law is getting from Jonnie this year. Sometimes receiving is awkward especially when you get something you don't like. Jon's late Grandma Nicholson bought everyone tons of stuff every year and was probably dearly loved by JCPenney but I felt terrible because as soon as Jon and I would get back home, we'd be at the store exchanging the gifts for something else.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?

"White Christmas" by Bing Crosby and "Silent Night" by Mahalia Jackson are my favorites. I have the first on CD but the second was on one of the several albums we would play on the turntable while decorating for Christmas. From just a fun perspective, "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer". I find myself singing to the radio in the car to that one all the time!

20. Candy canes?

Over 20 years ago, I thought Candy Canes were cool but now, just hand over the chocolates, preferably dark chocolate!

Festive Friday!

There's quite a festive feeling in the office here today. Our engineering department is decorating their area of cubes for the holidays. They have holiday music playing and everyone is jolly and cheerful. I've decorated my door. I have 2 Dale Earnhardt Jr. ornaments (one of the driver and one of the car) and a small stocking in the middle. I like it!

The whole family went to a Christmas party on Wednesday night. The 4th Degree Knights have an annual potluck and white elephant gift exchange and it's a lot of fun. I ate too much and the two glasses of wine left me with a headache the next day. The fun part of the exchange is that you can trade your gift for something someone else has. There was a tray that was really popular; I wasn't impressed by it. Jonnie found a present at the very beginning and he kept it. It was a box of note cards; he and Dad drew pictures on 3 of the note cards and the rest will probably be used after Christmas. The gift I picked was a terracotta skull with a tea light which was horrid! I traded it for a peppermint botanical candle. Jon ended up getting a container of bath fizzies which he kept. We had lots of pumpkin bars left over so Jon took the leftovers to a potluck he went to at lunch over at his old workplace.

I have to drop my car off at the mechanic tonight and pick it up tomorrow. It will be a lot of money but at least the car shouldn't creak and sound like it's going to break in half! We're going to a pancake breakfast tomorrow morning. I hope my indulgences this week don't have too big of an impact on my Sunday weigh-in. Jon's going to let me take some time tomorrow to work out!

That's about all for now so I'd better go and tie up loose ends for the day. Have a great weekend!

Forgive me but I had to share!

Last week, Jonnie had his picture taken with Santa at school and the picture came in today. The original is in color but I scanned it and played around with it in HP Image Zone and made one with this cool sephia effect. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Chilly Tuesday.

It's chilly here at the office today. They've been working on the HVAC system and they emailed last week that anyone working over the weekend should be prepared for cold. They're a bit off schedule. I was out yesterday but I guess it was cold yesterday, too. I'm glad I wore a sweater although I'm still chilly.

My blog was rejected, unfortunately, for the second time at Pay per Post. I cannot figure out what they don't like about it because I think I meet all of the criteria. I might try again in another week or two to see what happens.

Our Advent candles are on their way from California. It might have them by Sunday at this rate! I am hoping that we will work on the tree this weekend. I have a 9 foot tree in our living room that is bare. I've watered it a few times but that's it. I need Jon's help to dig stuff out of the crawl space. We have one way into the crawl space and dear hubby leaves nails, blades, and saws across the entrance. That would feel really good going into my leg as I climb up and into the crawl space.

I wrapped all of our Christmas gifts yesterday. I'm still trying to find out if our family is doing the ornament exchange at Christmas or not. I bought a package of ornaments just for that reason!

I think my Medifast beef stew has sat long enough that it's hydrated now and ready to eat. Our hot water tap was down earlier today because someone broke the lever off so I made my Medifast oatmeal in the microwave and had an explosion. It was gross.

Have a great day and stay warm!

Burning Questions.

I'm at home today; it's the first sick day I've taken for myself since early October. I slept like a log on the couch from 4:30 AM to 8 AM and then I went up to bed and slept another two hours and only got up an hour ago! I feel much better.

In the time I was awake this morning between sleeping sessions, I had some questions come to mind. These questions are probably ridiculous and certainly not of profound thought and wisdom like you find on Sarah's Blog. Here they go!

In the movie Cars, how does Ramone paint himself? At one point in the movie you see inside his shop when he's painting McQueen and he's operating the spray gun. Ramone has several different stylish paint jobs in the movie but how does he do it?

In the same movie, why doesn't Mater go to Ramone's shop for a paint job instead of driving around all rusty? Granted, I think it would take away from his role in the movie if Mater were painted but if everyone else has a spiffy paint job and Ramone has time enough to paint himself over and over again, why couldn't Mater get a new paint job and some pinstripes?

In the movie Garfield: Tale of Two Kitties, there is a scene where Garfield and the animals are in the royal kitchen making an enormous pan of lasagna. The pan is at floor level the entire time they are making it and they roll it on a cart to the low oven and a goat uses his head to put it off the cart into the oven. Minutes later, the animals are sitting around the table with the lasagna in the middle. How did they get it on the table???

In WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment for those unfamiliar), why did Eugene turn his back on Hacksaw Jim Duggan? I caught a short bit of a match last Monday night with Eugene and Hacksaw fighting each other. Why Eugene, why??? I suppose I could go online and find out why or wait until Christmas and have my dad-in-law give me the scoop.

Why, with our home theater system do I have to hit the VCR button to control the TV? My husband feels he's made progress. I guess setting things up so I can barely figure out how to turn on the TV in our family room is progress.

Okay, so those are my burning questions of the day. Again, I don't know why I thought of them, but I did.

I am going to go eat my lunch and maybe I'll start sorting out Christmas presents since the guys aren't around. Have a great day and feel free to post any insight you have on my questions!

Advent Candles

Sometimes, I cannot believe how stupid I am! Why didn't I look on the Internet for candles until today? Duh!

I just ordered a dozen of each pink & purple candles from Candles 4 Less. If you need a candle for something, they probably have it. Note to Sarah - they have a large selection of church candles!

The Day's Getting Better

Today hasn't been the greatest day of my life but it hasn't been the worst either.

Sometime before 1 AM, I left my nice warm bed and headed for the family room couch because my husband's snoring was unbearable. I snuggled in a handmade quilt and got comfortable when I heard feet. Our son came downstairs and came up on the couch at my feet. I put a blanket on him and he went to sleep. My cell phone alarm went off at 6 AM so I stumbled to the kitchen to brew coffee and headed up to the master bathroom for my weekly weigh-in. I really bombed this past week and ended up gaining 3 pounds. I've been really upset with myself today and have stayed on plan except for tasting some pumpkin bars I made for a Christmas party we're going to on Wednesday. I'm not the best cook and I didn't want to chance taking something that didn't taste good. They taste good!

Jon and I got to watch the Browns game today and they won in OT! I finally got labels printed for Christmas cards after Jon came to my rescue. We haven't done anything with the Christmas tree yet but we might get to it later this week. I found "white elephant" gifts and wrapped them up for the party we're going to on Wednesday.

I'm not as angry with myself about my weight gain as I was this morning. The only person I can be angry with is myself because I am the one who chooses what food goes into my mouth and I did not make the right choices. Period. I'm starting to get more into the Christmas spirit. I'd like to get started with Advent but I need Jon to find the wreath and despite looking for purple & pink candles since last Advent, I have yet to find them. I have purple stubs!!!

While my son is asleep, I'd better tackle some other stuff before we have a healthy dinner of chicken with stir-fried vegetables.

Blessings for a wonderful week!

For once, a slow Saturday!

I don't know if we intended for today to be a nice, slow Saturday but it has been and, thank GOD for that! After several busy weeks, it has been nice to take it slow today. Even our son was nice enough not to show up until 8 AM to wake us up this morning. I got up eventually and made my way downstairs for coffee and food. I went back upstairs and we watched cartoons with Jonnie including "Handy Manny" which I'd never watched before. He's like "Bob the Builder" with a Spanish accent and a talking set of tools. After lunch, I thought Jon was going to bring our Christmas tree inside. I laid down on the couch and woke up an hour and a half later when Jonnie came downstairs to get a movie. We finally did get the tree in the house a bit ago and it's soaking up water and corn syrup right now. We're going to put lights on it tomorrow. We have talked about doing lights and just our ball ornaments this year since we will not be home for Christmas. We have lots of other ornaments that are in boxes and neither of us feel like messing with them this year. When we host Christmas at our house again, we'll get the 15-foot tree and get out every ornament we've got!

Jon's cooking dinner tonight. We're having a family favorite of cabbage and bacon served with egg noodles. You were probably expecting me to say spaghetti and meatballs, right?? Fooled you but we do like that, too.

I hope all of my loyal readers and anyone stopping is having a great weekend so far!

Life through a child's eyes

As adults, we get so busy that we don't stop to see what is around us.

I think one of the best things for me is when I am able to stop and see life through my son's eyes. On the drive home from school today, he was very excited about his small stuffed elephant that he got today for going poop in the potty. The elephant is called "Dumbo" because they've been watching the movie at school. As we cross the bridge in Dublin, Jonnie says "there are sharks in there" and that the trees at the tree lot we pass are too small.

Many times, what my son says makes no sense but I think that is what fun about it. I am jealous of his creativity!

I'm being hailed to refill apple juice and maybe my beer that I put in the frig earlier is now chilled. Have a great Friday!

DOH! A deer!

My blog title is a bit of a play on words based on my drive to work this morning.

I pulled out of our subdivision and in less than a mile you're in an area that is farmland. It's dark, misty, murky and I was just getting up to the 50 mph speed limit when I thought I saw something.

I looked again and hit the brakes! Just inches from walking in front of my car were two does. Honestly, the word that went through my head at the time I was hitting the brakes was not "DOH!" but this is a family blog so it edited it and thought it was a cute play on words.

I'm a card carrying member of the NRA so I have nothing against hunters or guns and I've enjoyed many tasty morsels of venison from my brother-in-law's hunting success. The thing that frustrates me about hunting season is that with the deer running for their lives they're heading for the road ways! I understand they're trying to survive but many of them still end up "dead meat" when they encounter a car instead of a shot gun.

On a completely unrelated note, my night class I've been taking finished up last night. Only 2 of us showed up for the last class. Class was shorter even with filling out the evaluations. I really enjoyed taking this night class. It was a challenge trying to get my reading done, trying to pack lunch & dinner (I occasionally got take out), and falling behind in my chores. During the 8-week class, I also worked with the department of transportation for 3 weeks to get the light at the one back road fixed. It wasn't ODOT's fault that the power company dragged their feet; the guy I worked with at ODOT was awesome. I found the night class energizing because it exercised my mind outside of work and was a break from fictional character movies that my son watches repeatedly.

I'd better close up for now. I have a meeting to go to for my day job. My blog is still in a pending state with Pay Per Post so your prayers that I get approved so I can start making money is appreciated. I'd like to be able to pay my Dad back the money he gave me for the work I am getting done on my car next week.