Day To Day

Alone

It is 12:45am. I just got home from dropping off my dog, Charlie with my friend Karl. He is going to watch Charlie for a few days while I travel for business. I am going to Joplin, Missouri. It might be fun. I am excited about it because I have never been there and I grew up in the midwest and it will be nice to have a change of scenery. So, my friend, Karl, is watching Charlie while I am gone. And, as you know, my two boys went to visit their Dad last friday for 5 weeks or so. And so, just now, I arrived home feeling very alone. There was my cat, Becky, wandering around (my roommate will feed her while I am gone). She meowed at me and I petted her. My roommate is out for the night and it is soooo quiet here. I am so used to children and television and the dog and the telephone and the knocks at the door from friends stopping by…. whew! And here I am and it is quiet in my house. And I have been cleaning my house, here and there, since my kids left. And it is so nice to actually be able to get somewhere with the cleaning process. When the kids are home, it seems like an endless task. But now I can see the major improvement in just a few days. And what I clean, stays clean, and my stuff is where I left it when I went to work that morning. It is nice. It is funny, though, that I realized that I have called them everyday since they left. I was thinking it would take a little while before I started missing them, but it was really right away. And now, with Charlie gone….Wow! I am feeling fairly lonely. Well, now it is after 1am. I have to pack for this trip. I know, it is last minute, but I started school on Monday (Chemistry with Lab) and the class is Monday through Thursday night after work, so there was no time to pack ahead of time. My friends would probably say that I always have something causing my procrastination. Before I go pack, though, I want to tell you that my step-dad had a stroke last night. He is still in the hospital, and my mom has been there with him. He is in my thoughts and prayers, and I am sure everything will be ok.

It is 2:30am. I went outside to test my pool chemicals and clean the filter and set up the timer so that my pool is ok while I am gone. It was weird to go outside and not have Charlie at my heels. He always wants to be outside with me. I cleaned my filter, checked my chemicals, added some cholorine tablets to my floater, and now I am ready to pack since the dryer is done spinning and my clothes are ready for the suitcase.

bis spater.

Day To Day

Getting A Break From Kids

Today, I took the day off of work and drove my children to Yuma to go with Mark. They are going to San Diego with him for the next 5 weeks or so. It will be nice to have a break. I start Chemistry class on Monday and it will be nice to focus on that and my work without having to worry about my kids for a while. Plus, the kids will have fun with their Dad and it will be a nice vacation.

Family

Mark Is Back From Iraq

Mark arrived back from Iraq a few weeks ago. It was very nice to hear from him and to see him too when he came to visit the boys. My boys are going to be going with him this Friday to San Diego for five weeks. It will be nice for them to all spend time together and it will be nice for me to have a break. I am really glad that Mark arrived back in one piece.

Adventures

Come Sail Away!

Karl and I went sailing today on Lake Pleasant. One of my customers from work needed to work on the trailer that holds her sailboat and, in order to do that, needed the boat to be off of the trailer. So, I was asked to take the boat out for the day and asked Karl to be my captain. It was a wonderful day at the lake and all went perfectly. Now I am a bit sunburned (in spite of the fact that I used sunblock). It was a fabulous day.

Family

Jacob Was Hit By A Car

My son, Jacob, age 10, was hit by a car today. He is fine. He just got a pretty good bump and bruise on his elbow. He failed to look both ways before going out into the street on his roller blades. It could have been much worse. Thankfully, it was not. Hopefully, he has learned his lesson about looking for cars before going out into the street. My heart skipped a few beats when my youngest son, Lucas, age 6, came running up to me and said “”Jacob just got hit by a car””. It is quite a scary thing to hear.

Day To Day

St. Patty’s Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Tonight, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I am not going out for St. Patty’s Day. I am sitting here with my roommate making Blarney Stone Cookies. My Mom used to make those all the time when I was a kid. Now I am making them. My roommate is playing guitar. (long story short, I needed the money and Jason needed a room). So, tonight, there will be no Patty’s Party. Payday is still a few days away and my budget is tight. Making cookies as Jason plays and sings Elvis Costello is really a cool time. I just put the icing on the cookies. Now he is singing Brown Eyed Girl.

There has been so much that has happened and so much that I have realized in the last month. I have not created entries here because I was either too busy or too proud to let the world know what was happening. I made a few bad choices and I became pretty darn broke. The budget I created in December is getting me back to life slowly. Another month or two should really do it.


My boys and my dog and I did manage to go camping this past weekend by the Rio Verde River. It was so nice. I borrowed a tent from a friend and packed up a bunch of blankets, sleeping bags, supplies and food. We met up with Karl and Mike and Stacy and Brenda and Erik and Erik’s daughter, Destiny, and four other dogs. It was a great time. The weather was great on Saturday and Karl cooked french toast for breakfast. The kids and the dogs and all of us went walking by the river. The scenery was beautiful, the air was great, the day was nice. At night, we had food and marshmellows at the fire. The kids went to bed, the grownups talked around the fire, the dogs slept on the dirt. It was fabulous and the moon was full. Sunday, it rained all day. The dogs got muddy and we all got pretty wet, but it was nice for the most part. We ended Sunday at about 5pm and the boys and I drove home.

Ponderings

Backtracking Again

“Panaflex Soloflex Genuflect Pope

What the world needs now is babies, guns and hope “


–Sheryl Crow

I love that song. I was listening to Sheryl Crow the last few days. I have not listened to her at all in many months. It seems that there are a lot of things that I have not done for many months. Listening to Sheryl Crow again I have realized that I need to back step a bit. I got on the wrong path. It seemed right and God knows it looked right to me, but then I came to the dead end sign. At least there was a sign. I did not have to travel the length of the road to find out. But I stood there for quite a while not believing the sign was real, but it was and it did not go away. So, I will back track a bit and look for the road that I am supposed to be on.

Concerts

Rolling Stones Concert

Well, it is 3am.  I just got home from the Rolling Stones show.  Tearing down the stage and loading it out went extremely smooth.  I have not worked a show that smooth in a long time.  I got to see most of the show as well, and it was a great performance.  One of the Roadies, for the Stones, that was directing the group I was in, told me that he appreciated all my hard work and said I kicked ass and so he gave me a Rolling Stones guitar pick.  That was pretty cool.  I started jumping up and down and smiling and I thanked him several times.  The whole show was great to work.  The roadies for the Stones are a great group of people and a pleasure to work with.

Day To Day

Graduate School Plans

During lunch today, I rode my bike up to the ASU campus and finalized some stuff on my application to graduate school.  It is such a nice day outside and the bike ride was very nice.  I parked the bike and walked around the campus.  There was a band playing in a courtyard and there were students walking around everywhere.  It was a great feeling to be back on a campus wandering around.  I will be glad to start school again.  Graduate school is going to be a challenge for me to juggle with everything else I have in my life.  I work well when challenged, though, and I am very excited about this.  It is about time I stop spinning my wheels and get moving.