I am a cheap Date

We have pretty much cut every possible non-needed expense during my unemployment. I have even given up (sniff) ... beer. (I am accepting beer donations at this time). So we aren't doing much of anyting these days. We are going to make a trip to the Zoo later this week since we had purchased a membership earlier this year so it would be essentally free. The other thing that we thought of is going to the dollar theatre at Georgetown. I think we can absorb the $1.75 per person for at least one night. We were hoping to see Indiana Jones or something else, but we found out that the third installment of the Mummy was playing. We love the mummy movies just for the adventure aspect of it and not necessarlily for the story, since they are usually pretty thin. So we call my mom over to watch the kids for a while so we can catch the movie. As we are leaving I decide to take my mom's convertable and pop the top down. I miss having a convertable and forgot how much fun they were. So we get to the theater a little late, but we figure they will have a few previews before the show and I don't believe that theater would be that crowded for a movie that had been out for over a month. I give the girl working the box office my $4 for the $3.50 admission and she gives me back a 50 cent piece. ahh the 50 cent piece, just about as usless as a penny since they aren't part of the usual change that you carry. I wonder what poor store I can stick this coin with in the future, since most places don't even have a slot in their registers for this coin. Maybe I will just throw it in the collection plate on Sunday. We go into a darkened theater and wait for our eyes to adjust and for a bright scene on the screen to see where a seat is open. We settle down in our seat just as the movie starts. Whew, good timing. Needless to say it has been years since I have been in an old theater like this that didn't have stadium seating, but the floors were just as sticky. It was wierd sitting in an old theater with everying being at a same level. The padding in all of the seats were long gone and I had a spring poking my butt the whole time, but hey you can't beat the price. The movie itself was pretty good. No it wasn't academy award winning, but it stayed pretty true to the "mummy' genre and was good-stupid and entertaining. After the movie we put the top down again for a chilly ride home with it being in the mid to lower 60's. One the way home we stopped by Burger King to grab something to eat. We had a gift card that covered most of the meal, but still a little over $9 for a fish sandwich, double wopper and two small fries is a little bit pricey. I decide this is a good time to unburdon myself of the 50 cent piece so I give it to the kid working the drive thru. He looks and the coin and just stares at it. Then he turns it over I think trying to look for a denomination on the coin. Finally I say, "it's a 50 cent piece". "oh, ok" I didn't think it was that unique of a coin. I told Jen the next time I was going to bring along some Susan B Anthony's, a saqagauia, or an old dollar coin and really mess them up. (I still have a $2 in my wallet for emergencies)We get home and eat our burger king and the boys help us eat our fries. Overall a pretty affordable night. We will have to do that again is they get some good movies in the theater...

TV full circle

Back in the teenage days I seem to remember a whole lotta TV shows that I just had to watch. Shows like Knight Rider, BJ and the Bear, the Fall Guy, Simon and Simon, the Dukes of Hazard and the A Team just to name a few. Of course none of these shows were very.. how to say it.. "intellectual". They didn't require alot of thought of what was going to happen next since it was pretty much the same formula every week. With Knight Rider it was more about the car and what it could do. With BJ and the Bear it was more about semi's (I loved semi's), a couple of hot blondes (it was close to puberty), and a freakin' monkey!!! Who couldn't love that. It's the same with the Dukes of Hazard with the car and Daisy Duke. With the A team it was about blowin stuff up and shooting things. I loved these shows as a kid. When I heard they were remaking Knight Rider I groaned a little bit since I remembered it now as being pretty stupid, but my curiosity was also perked at the same time. I missed the made for TV movie they made last month, but I heard that they were making a weekly series that started last week. Wednesday came around and I tuned it in. I thought I would see if the boys might enjoy it since there are cars running around which the boys love. Needless to say the boys were glued in front of the TV for the hour. They thought the car was very cool (and so did I), but the story line was pretty inane. I am sure the boys weren't really paying attention to that anyway. I have no idea who the actors are in the show and I am not sure if I would have started watching the show if I didn't have 3 boys to pass along the Knight Rider legacy. The next day William was trying to find a DVD the cabinet. I asked what he was looking for and he told me he was looking for the car DVD. So I pulled out the Disney "Cars" DVD, but he just looked at me and said, "no, the black car". I try to explain to him that we do not have a DVD of the show, whereupon he tells me that the "store has it" and wants me to go get it. This is the fun of trying to explain a weekly TV show to a 5 year old since everything they watch anymore is in the DVD format. So I am sure that we will be planted in front of the TV on Wednesday (much to Jen's chagrin) to watch this weeks episode of Knight Rider. I have heard rumors of a remake of the A-team somewhere either on TV or in the movies. They had already remade Dukes of Hazard, and I have heard that it was pretty good, but I didn't have a chance to watch it. It makes me wonder if they will remake BJ and the Bear. Probably not. It's good to see that TV is finally getting a clue and getting away from "reality" TV and back to Sit Coms and some other shows that even though they are pretty stupid, they are at least entertaining.

Whew I need to get a job

So I am trying my best to stay to a routine during my "time off" of work. I get up in the morning at 7:00am, grab a shower, and usually end up taking William to school. I made the mistake of coming home from dropping William off and watching the morning news shows like Good morning America or Today (like I do on the weekends). Before I know it, it's noon and half the day is shot. My job right now is to find a job but it only takes so long to search my websites and check my emails. Now I don't turn on the TV I seem to get more done in the morning at least. I try to keep it off all day long, but two days ago I turned it on in the afternoon while the boys were taking a nap and flipped around. I came across Judge Joe Brown which is one of these typical two people straight from the trailer go into his "courtroom" and he yells at them and awards money. It's mesmorizing and addictive to see this guy goes off on these poeple. After that was Judge Judy which is pretty much the same. I don't know why but these shows are entertaining to me. Another reason to keep the TV off and get some stuff done around the house or yard. I actually got some yardwork done yesterday that has been bugging me for quite some time now. Just a little corner of the yard that has gotten away from me, but I kicked it's butt yesterday. We are still being bombed by the acorns off the tree.

On the job front I am still waiting on word from my second interview last week. They said that they would be in contact with me the first of this week, but it's Thursday. I might drop her an email later today. I have also set up a interview in Auburn for next week that sounds like a good job as well. So a couple of things going. I am sure Jen is ready to get me out of the house, but I hardly see her due to her work schedule any more. I am sure the grandma's are enjoying their time off as well.

Take Cover !!!!

Well this is something new. For the past week the tree in our backyard has been dropping what I think are acorns (or some sort of nut/seed). Of course with one of the tree's branches over our house they proceed to hit the house at all time of the day and night. Nothing like settling into bed at night just to hear "thump", "rattle rattle rattle". I already sleep pretty light due to the boys getting up at all hours for different problems, but these things only add to the annoyment. Occasionally one of these squirrel bombs hits the skylight in our bathroom for an especially LOUD thump. And the ones that fall even further to hit the glass table top on the deck are loud too. I don't remember this tree throwing this many acorns in the past. I guess the tree just had a good year or the squirrels aren't doing a very good job.

ugggggggggggg

Being unemployed sucks, but being unemployed with a cold sucks worse. That time of year again when William is in school and starts bringing home bugs and colds. Usually if I was at work I would have a good chance of missing a cold, but nope, it's gone right down the line from William to Andrew to Jen to Me to Christopher. It's just the headache,runny nose, eyes burning, sore throat, drainage kind of cold (just enough to make you miserable). The kids seem to be getting over it pretty quick so I am hoping that it will do the same with Jen and I.

I have been sending out resume's and getting stuff done around the house. It still seems like a long weekend to me and I don't think that it has truely set in that I don't have a job. I am sure by next week I will have a reality check one day... probably when my head clears up a little bit more... snifff.

Unemployed doesn't mean not busy

Well my first day unemployed and it was very busy. I am going to make it a point to get up early in the morning and start my day just like usual. Not that I have much of a choice with the kids anyway. I got up and took William to school. Of course with school being at church, I stopped and gave a shout out to the big guy. After that I headed over to Office Depot. I needed to print out more copies of my resume but my printer at home isn't working and my mom's didn't print out either. I have 3 printers in the house and none of them work. I think the ink just drys out for lack of use in those printers. I went to Office Depot not knowing how much they charged or if they could use the paper I brought in, but they were very helpful and I was able to use my own paper. I threw my resume on a floppy disc since I didn't really feel like using a CD for a 30 meg file. The girl plugs in my disc and starts doing her thing, but it freezes up and says that the disc is corrupt. Crap. Lucky for me they have internet connection on that computer and I pull it up on line since I had emailed it to myself not to long ago. For a nice laser copy of my resume it was only 9 cents which isn't too bad. Color would have been 49 cents apiece, but the only color that I had on my resume was my email address. So I leave there and head next store to Kohl's. I tried on my suit last night and it was a little big, but I couldn't find a black belt in the house. So I run in the store and start looking around at the selection of belts. I try on a couple of different sizes, but one looks to small and the other looks to big. I finally found a size in the middle that I think will work out pretty well. After checking out I notice that there is a Red Cross RV in the parking lot and a lady inside asks me if I want to donate blood. I have been wanting to do that for a while, but for one reason or another I have never done it. So I sign up and head out to the RV. You can tell by the inside that this RV has been through alot. It wasn't dirty or anything, but I will say it looked "well used". So I finally get to meet with a person to fill out the paperwork and questionnaires to get started. After that I laid down on a little couch and went through the process of giving blood. Overall it wasn't too bad. I didn't have a chance to grab breakfast before leaving so they had me drink a coke while I was giving blood to keep my blood sugar up. I felt a little weird after giving blood, but I couldn't tell if it was because I gave blood or if it was because I am not used to drinking caffeine anymore since I stopped drinking it 8 years ago. After giving blood I was sent to the front of the bus and given a couple of cookies and watched a mechanic working on the engine of the RV. (like I said this thing has been well used). I wasn't sure if I had to sit there for a specific amount of time, but finally they said, "oh you could have left when you wanted". Maybe next time I will go to the plasma center and make a little $$$. So I get home and grab some breakfast, then head over to pick up William from school. After getting home I got online to start the process for unemployment. I still need to get more details on what exactly I need to do and that kind of stuff. Saturday I got a call for a second interview for a job, which she later called back and set up for this afternoon. She told me to block out at least 5 hours for the interview... 5 hours????? I would be meeting with 3 or 4 different people in the same afternoon. She scheduled every person at least an hour and a half. I couldn't possibly fathom trying to interview someone for that long, but hey whatever they want to do. I made it to the appointment early. The first guy I talked to had a script of questions and he took the full time together asking me his scripted questions and drilling me on some other stuff. The second guy just kind of skimmed over the scripted questions, but we spent most of the time just talking. After about 30 minutes he says that he can't think of anything else and decides to end it early, which is fine, but kind of messes up the schedule for the last guy. They were able to call him in a little early so I spent most of that time talking with some of the staff until he showed up. The third guy didn't have his script at all and we just talked for 15 minutes or so. About 3 and a half hours total, I was basically done for my interview. I knew there was another person who might want to talk to me, but I wasn't about to hang out without a specific appointment. So I headed home stopping by the Disney store to talk to Jen. I grabbed some Mikky D's on the way home for the boys. I will hear about the job the first of next week. Until then I am going to keep looking on the internet and sending out resumes. Overall I think I did well on the interviews. The job sounds exciting and overwhelming at the same time, but I think I can probably handle it.

That's all folks....

Well I almost made it through Monday. Now I can say that monday's truely suck. It's called a layoff so there are some benefits and paid for my unused vacation days and such. It's weird sitting here in empty surroundings with all my pictures and stuff off of the walls. Just have to pack up my radio when I leave and that's all. I appreciate my boss giving me the heads up a couple weeks ago and I really hope that he can save the business. If this job interview this week works out then it will truely be a blessing. Until then I am going to keep on searching and see how this unemployement thing works. I have been paying into it for 25 years, so now it's time to take a little back. Hopefully it's enough to get the family by for a little while. I need to see what projects that I can get done around the house that don't cost anything (I am sure there are a ton of them). Nothing else maybe I can work on the basement project and get that at least to a point that it's ready to go for paint and drywall when I get some money rolling in later. My blog entries will probably start to sound like MDH's.. just without the decoder ring....

Am I just that lucky

I have applied for a few jobs since I got the heads up from my boss few weeks ago. I did a phone interview for a postion last week. Then I got a call for a second interview on Saturday for this week some time. I think it's a job that I would really enjoy, and hopefully it will work out since it's the only one that I have going on so far.

Say a little prayer for me (if you do that sort of thing). I will tell you more about the job later.

Check Check Check

A very good weekend to put a couple of check marks on the honey-do list. I made it through Friday and still had a job at the end of the day.. whew. I went to bed kinda late. Around 3:00am William comes walking in the room so I had to trudge him back to bed. Then at 5:00am he came back with his blanket, but I noticed some thunder, Lightning, and rain outside so I figured that he was just scared so I just let him get in bed with me (Jen crashed on the couch downstairs again). Minutes later Jen comes up to bed which puts William nuzzled up next to me. I was already a little warm, but William's body heat doesn't help. At this point there is a loud clap of thunder and Andrew starts crying. So I go into his room for two reasons. One, to calm him down, and two, to give me a place to sleep. After calming Andrew down and trying to settle in I hear an ear piercing noise. What the heck is that? That sounds like the alarm for the battery backup for the sump pump. We have power in the house which only means one thing. The back-up sump is running which means the primary pump is either not working or being overwhelmed by water. It is raining extremely hard, which is how the basement flooded the last time. So I run down to the basement to see both of the pumps running full speed, but they are keeping up with the water coming in the sump and keeping it from over flowing. whewwww. I was going to try and use a bucket to help drain some of the water, but with the install of the back-up sump, I can't get a bucket in there. Oh well at least it's keeping up. I then hear Andrew screaming upstairs. I get him back into bed. I am standing in the basement watching the pumps run. Of course I think "If the sump starts to flood there isn't anything I can really do about it", and with two pumps running it shouldn't. Anyway so I am standing there and finally the pumps start to get ahead of the water to the point where the back-up stops running and the primary can handle it. I am so glad I got that installed. So I trudge upstairs wide awake. I was close to blogging about the experience while I was awake, but I was just too tired. I thought about going back to bed, but William is there and it was real comfy in the chair downstairs, so I stayed there and grabbed a little nap until Andrew woke up.

Saturday: I headed out to get a haircut in the morning (got to look good for interviews). After I got my hair cut I decided to run down to redi-med. A couple of months ago I stepped on a little rock with ball of my foot and it has hurt on and off since then. I figure I better get it looked at while I still had insurance. I walk in the door to a packed waiting room and a line to the counter. Yeah, I am not that bad, I will come back later. I head over to the in-laws to look at there closets. Jen wants shelves in the front room and she likes the way the in-laws looks. So I get an idea of the design and head over to Menards to look at parts and prices. I get home to lunch and stuff. Then I clear out the front room of all the toys. Another job for the front room is to put a second coat of paint on the walls. I was able to get this room painted before Easter, but wasn't able to get the second coat done before we had everyone over. Actually I thought the one coat would do the trick, but it looks better with the second coat. I spent the next 3 hours working on the room and trying to keep the boys out. I finally let them into the room with me with the restriction of staying in the CENTER of the room and away from the walls. They did pretty good, but started drifting toward the walls after a while. I was able to finish the room pretty fast. So dinner and the usual stuff at night. After puting the kids to bed I headed back to redi-med to a nearly empty waiting room. While the nurse was writing down my information I was describing the pain in my foot and showed her where it hurt. She says "oh right there on that wart?" Huh, what, a wart? I didn't have wart there before. So finally the doctor comes in the room and says "Hi I am Shannon" What, no I am Dr. so and so? That's usually what they say. I find out later that her last name was Quinn. I guess she had enough of the Dr. Quinn medicine woman jokes for the day. She looks at my foot and says, yep it's a wart. I find out that it is a virus and is contagious whereupon I remember that we just got done getting rid of a wart on William's foot so I probably got it from him (or gave it to him). As she is using the liquid nitrogen I am thinking that I could have been pain free months ago, oh well. After redi-med I stop by Ritters for some ice cream and one last hurrah since they are closing for good at the end of the month. Our usual splurge is Zesto's since Ritters is a little too far to keep the ice cream from melting. After I got home we pulled out the laptop and got caught up on "Bonz" which took us after midnight.

Sunday: Got up early of course and headed to church. After church we went over to the in-laws for lunch. They just got back from a road trip to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore and some other stuff out there. It sounds like they did quite a bit of stuff when they were out there. Jen tells a story of a road trip when she was younger when the family stopped by Mount Rushmore, but the mountain was fogged in so they never "saw" the mountain. So after eating and contemplating a nap on the couch I got up and headed out. I went over to Menards to grab supplies for the shelving project. I decided to make the shelves adjustable so I found the lumber with the little holes for the pegs. I actually found the sides for the shelves in a bargain bin. They had some bad spots, but I was going to cut them anyway. I actually have someone helping me, which is a bit of a shock. I ask how much they are and he doesn't know but takes me up to the guy who does. So he does some stuff with the computer and gives me a piece of paper that says they are $15 a piece. They are usually $19. I tick the guy off a little and ask if he can do a little better than that, but he won't. The last thing I need is the pegs to put in the holes that will hold the shelves. The guy who was helping me earlier asked to help again. I tell him I need the pegs for the shelves. He says, "oh the way you connect the panel to the wall?" I said no I need the pegs that hold the shelves. He says, "oh you mean kind of like an L-bracket". I said no it's nothing like that. After a couple more exchanges like this I take him over to my cart and show him the sides with the holes in it, and say "see these holes? I need the pegs that go in here and hold the shelves!!!" He says "oh, the pegs". Yes Einstein the pegs. So he takes me over to the wire shelves. no no no you idiot these are not wire shelves they are wood!!!! So finally he asks a co worker who takes me right over to the exact area I was heading and shows me a full display of PEGS!!! So I load up my lumber in a downpour (Remnants of Hurricane Ike)and head for home. I stop by mom's house to grab my brother's circular saw (by the way Dan, can I borrow your circular saw??) So I tear all of the crap out of the closet and start making a plan of attack. I will save you boring details (yeah I know it's probably too late) but the install went pretty good for being a custom install job (everything pretty level). I set up an area in the garage for cutting wood that works out pretty good. Usually this kind of thing I would ask my father in law for help, but wanted to see if I could do it myself, and it worked out pretty well if I do say so myself. I finish after about 3 hours of measuring, cutting, walking back and forth to the garage, I head back to the in-laws to pick up the family. Of course I see the gas station at the corner has a deal on their mulch. When I loose my job I will have time to work on more projects, but no money to do it. Ironic isn't it. So bring the family home and up to bed. Jen and I just collapse in the family room. I tried to watch the football game, but didn't make it that long.

Another busy weekend, but at least I got a few projects done.

I get to join the crowd

Great. I get to join Carrie Q. and MDH in looking for a job. My boss just came by and gave me a heads up that I might want to start looking around. Nothing to do with me, just something with the company that will require a budget cut for not only me but a couple other people.

So, keep me in the loop if you hear of anything.....

Major moves.... stalls...

Every day I drive I-469 to work. I could take I-69 to work, but with the constuction on the road widening and the amount of traffic at that time of the morning I chose to go the other way. It just takes one idiot to have and accident on 69 (which happens alot) to back everything up for hours. Both ways are just about the same distance. At the begining of the spring they started to do construction on 469. Basicly they would block one lane of the hightway for about 4 miles (for two weeks at a time) to tear up sections of the concrete road to pour new concrete. There were some sections that I could see the problem with cracks, but there were quite a few that I just didn't see it. Yeah I am going over the road at 65 miles an hour so you can't see every crack. So all spring and summer I was dealing with this lane closed, that lane closed, this section, now that section. Luckily 469 is not that busy, so there are few delays, but you do have to slow down to 45 in construction zones. They would block off a lane for two weeks (and do nothing) and then work on it for two weeks, and then give it two weeks to dry the concrete.Well finally they finished all of the 20 miles that I drive every day, so I was getting ready to go back to my steady 65 miles an hour drive to work. But no, they are now going back over the same sections of roads that they just did and do it all over again. I have watched as they jackhammered up new concrete to repour it. Either they didn't do a good job the first time, or they just don't have anywhere else to go, but more money to spend.

I think they just need a place to store all of the orange barrels for a while longer.

ahhh... football is back

Yeah I know it signals the end of summer and the begining of colder days ahead, but I feel good that football has started. Not just pro footbal, but even college football. I plopped in front of the TV on Sunday and just watched football all day long. Heck, I was even watching some games where I didn't even care for either team. I am not really a sports watching guy, but I like football.

Sunday I didn't think anything could beat the hype of Brett Favre's return to football with the Jets. Man, that got real old with the commentators beating that story to death... until....the golden boy, Tom Brady got hurt. Dear God, you would have thought the president was shot for as much media attention that this story got. Not only all over the TV, but even the internet and radio. Yeah he got a boo boo on his knee and is out for the season, but so did a bunch of other players and no one cares. Just gives him more time to knock up some other chick.

Before we know it the season will be over, but I am going to enjoy it while I can.

Night Golf IV

Friday night was the annual Kiwaniis night golf tournament. Like every year I invite everyone since I know how fun it is, and like every year I struggle to put together a foursome. This year was no different where the maybe's turned into can't make it's, so it just left me and my brother. So we show up for the event with a chance of a couple of other people showing up that I invited. We settled down with dinner and a beer. This year they had a choice of bratwurst or a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. The brat was boiled and just alright, but the pork was very good. They also had potatoes and green beans as sides. After eating we were talking to the organizer of the event and he said that the attendance was down for the year, I think due to it being after labor day and on a Friday night (high school football night). Next year they have already said that they were going to move it back to August. It's a shame since this is such a good event and I am sure I will try like every year to get as many people to play as possible. I am not real sure how they market this event, but I don't think it's enough. So with some last minute instruction we head out to the course.

Dan and I start our trek out to the 12th tee which is just about as far away from the club house as you can get. That was a good stretch of the legs to get warmed up. Since it was just Dan and I playing they gave us two extra balls so we could each play two. This was nice, but at the same time a pain to keep track of both balls and chase them down on every shot. Dan's first drive with the glowing balls was pretty good (his second was even better). Not bad for only playing once this year when he cleaned my clock. I actually got off a pretty good drive as well. Playing at night is alot of playing the "feel" of the ball and not as much visual. Of course at night you have to throw out the depth perception and just hope that you have the right club. We played the 9 holes at a pretty brisk pace. We didn't need to since there wasn't anyone behind us, but we just did. I think I had the most bad shots of the two of us. There was a couple times that even with two shots I couldn't hit it 10 yards, but I started to hit my drives really well at the end. Again the beer was cold and close so we never had to worry about running out. What a perfect night to play golf. I think in the lower to mid 60's with a slight breeze blowing which was just warm enough not to need a jacket. It was an overcast night which reflected the city lights so it wasn't too dark out on the course, which is good since the sliver of moon wouldn't have given us much light to play with. Last year it was clear, but it was a low, full moon providing plenty of night light. We ended up at a legitimate 1 over score which I thought was pretty good. The guy who came in first was the guy I played with last year and I remember how he keeps score in his head so I wonder about that. We tied for second with a foursome of girls who I question there score as well since we saw them tee-off, but hey it's for fun and charity. We still ended up winning prizes. I got a gift certificate to Starbucks for Jenny to use and Dan got a Bobicks gift certificate and just gave it to me since he is hitting the road again. Once again I had a blast and I will be playing again next year. Hopefully they will put it on a day where my friends will be available next year. Home and to bed by 1:30am where Andrew wakes up at 6:30am... yeah I got a nap in the afternoon.

Labor Day weekend

Another good and busy weekend around the household. My dad and step mom came up for the weekend. I offered to let them stay at our house, but with my dad's allergy to the cat and not wanting to get up at 7:00am with the kids, they decided to stay at a hotel. They made it up on Friday afternoon and came over Friday night with my bother. Of course they came loaded with food and toys. They gave the boys at least two bags full of toys including a couple of street rods, a couple of huge dump trucks, and some plastic power tools. My children, with the patients of gnats, can't wait for me to get them out of the box. My step-mom Betty is a fantastic cook and brought a bunch of stuff up to snack on including queso, banana bread, and cookies. She takes tortilla shells, cuts them up, and pan fries the pieces to make her own chips that are delicious. I would attempt to do that myself, but I am not sure I would want to deal with all the grease and stuff, but it might be worth it. After visiting for a while we broke out the Wii. My dad didn't understand what the big deal was with the game so I was trying to show him. I showed him the Leggos Indiana Jones game, but he wasn't too impressed, but when I got out the Wii Sports I think he finally got it. I think he really enjoyed the golf, tennis, and bowling. My dad, brother, and I were bowling at just about the same level, when my brother started throwing strikes right after another and beat us both. After playing for a while we decided to call it a night. It was getting late, and we were making too much noise downstairs, keeping the boys awake. Reminded me of the times when my dad and the neighbor would play ping pong in the garage at night and Dan and I would sit by the door learning new vocabulary words (not the good kind either).

Saturday: Company came over in the morning and my dad,brother and I took off and headed up to the ACD auction. I originally thought about taking the boys with me since they love cars, but later I was grateful that I didn't since it was pretty hot and we did alot of walking around. There is nothing like paying $20 to walk around and look at cars. Yeah being a typical guy I was drooling over alot of them, but not as much as my Dad :). We walked, we gawked, we shopped and told stories about how we knew a guy who owned one just like that one, or my dad owned one. It was pretty hot walking around the parking lot. Finally we found some seats in the auction area and just watched them auction off cars. I was doing my best to keep my hands down since I really didn't feel like bidding on a car by accident. There was one idiot who was waving at his friend and they thought he was bidding. He almost bought a $40,000 car. It is fun to sit there and try and guess how much a car will go for. That's what Bob Chase and I used to do when we were there with the radio station. I was close on a couple but waaaay off on others. Some of the cars they would spend quite a bit of time of trying to get bids and some they would spend little to no time at all. Reminds me of when I took mom's Prowler on the auction block. I think we were on stage and off in a few minutes, ticked me off. I think they would spend more times on cars there were there from their buddies or people they knew. I had a chance to say something to Dean Kruse on the way out of there, but didn't. Nothing like spending a couple of hundred dollars to run a car onto a stage for 3 minutes. The other part that ticked me off on that day is that the car was scheduled to be on stage at a certain time in the afternoon, but ended up being HOURS late when most of the crowd had left. Yeah I will never auction off another car up there. Anyway..... After a couple of hours we headed home. My brother took off to get ready for his "gig" playing with his band at the American Legion and my dad and step-mom headed back to the hotel to freshen up and go out to dinner. Jen had to work, so I was playing with the boys until she got home. My dad and step-mom were going to meet up with my mom for dinner before Dan's gig, but found out that the Legion didn't serve food on the weekends. My dad ended up heading over to Triangle park and my mom and her friends ended up having a pizza delivered to the Legion. I showed up around 8:30 to find out that the band hadn't started playing yet. I set up my mom's camera to record the band and just let it roll. My brother has been playing in bands for most of his life, through many genres of music, and with moderated success. Most of his bands haven't been too main-stream usually leaning to something alternative or original (see barnyard animals post post HERE). Most of his bands usually have very talented musicians, but not the greatest singer. The latest band "Big Caddy Daddy" is the best one that he has been in yet. Great musicians and singers, a set list that you can dance to, and a fun attitude. There was a pretty good crowd at the Legion and everyone danced most of the night.

I hung out recording their show until a little after 11:00. In between sets I had a chance to talk to Dan and he showed me his custom "fuzzy" drumset. He put some fake fur on his set and had a couple skulls topping his cymbals to name a few things. I took off for home not long after that.

Sunday: After church and a trip to the store, we all met up again and I took my dad, step-mom, and brother up to the lake for the annual Clymer family fish fry. This is always a good time with good food. Unfortunately my in-laws lost their shade tree to rot so we spent most of the time under the canopy or looking for shade since the sun was freakin' hot. So we sat around, visited, ate, and looked for a place for a nap. After a while my dad and brother took off for home and we took the boys down to the lake for a swim. William is getting alot more comfortable around the water and isn't too afraid about getting in some deeper water if he is on a float. He actually fell off a float and went underwater for a nose-full once, but it didn't scare him out of the water. We really need to get him some swimming lessons. After that and some more food (urp) we packed up and headed for home.

Monday: Jen made a run for the new Dunkin' Doughnuts to grab a dozen for breakfast. They are good, but I am not sure they are worth the drive. The doughnuts are Meijer are still very tasty. We decided to have a cookout at our house and invited everyone over. My bother wanted to make steak Fajitas and grill some corn so they stopped out in Amish country in the morning to grab some stuff. Everyone made it over to the house a little after noon. I thought we were trying to eat between 2 and 3 but Dan thought we were looking at between 4 or 5 so I ended up putting out some stuff to snack on while we were visiting. I love my brother, but when he tries to cook something, it usually doesn't turn out that well for one unforeseen problem or another. Of course I was trying to help, and Betty was trying to help, so we might have had a few too many Chiefs in the kitchen. I just drifted out of the way after a while and just stayed on stand-by in case I was needed. Stuff happened all day to make it one to remember for myself at least. Mom spilled her full pop on Jen. The sirloin that Dan got had huge bones in it like a T-bone (usually sirloin is boneless). Then Dan brought in the cooked steak to cut it up and put it in with the sauteed onions and peppers. Betty asks if that is going into this and Dan says "yes". Well Dan thinks she is asking about putting the steak in with the onions, but she is asking about putting the cooking summer squash in with the onions, which she ends up doing. oops. they end up picking out the summer squash and putting in the steak. Bottom line is that the fajitas were simply delicious, great flavor, tender meat, with a hint of brown sugar (from the squash). It was seriously the best fajitas I have ever had. We ended up eating out on the back deck on a fantastic evening. I was worried that it would be too hot, but in the shade with a bit of a breeze was perfect. So some more visiting and the company decided to head back to the hotel. My dad brought a cooler to stock up on the Win Schulers cheese since he can't get it down in Alabama. After they left we did a quick clean up, which wasn't much thanks to Betty. Jen and I were sitting in the front room watching TV and thinking about putting the boys to bed, but not physically able to. I notice that Andrew is going to the fridge quite alot to get a glass of water, which usually he doesn't do. After the third glass I told him that was enough. Then I hear the water running in the bathroom. I go to see what they are up to when I see that the back of their new dump trucks are full of water and the carpet is soaked. I yell at the boys (yeah I was cranky) and tell them to get upstairs and to bed. We soak up the water with towels and I get out the steam cleaner to pull water out as well. After cleaning up I apologize to the boys for yelling at them and we put them to bed. I finally drag my butt up to bed around 11:00.

It was a long but a very good weekend...