I'm Baaaaaaaaack!!!

Wow! It's been two whole months since I've added anything to my blog. So, as boring as my life is, I must come up with something. For starters, I finally had the Summer Trivia BBQ two weeks ago. It was alot of fun, a real hit as usual. The good news is that we didn't burn the deck down. The bad news is that we DID manage to burn a giant black monster spot on it. About 2 ft in circumference. When I use the word 'we', I use that term very loosely as I was in the kitchen for the entire emergency. It was all a huge accident (alcohol involved, of course, but still an accident). I won't go into detail here because I am afraid it would seem like I was blaming certain folks, which I am not. In fact, I think the Big Black Spot will be quite a funny memory for years to come. But, to glance out to the deck and see my friends running around with a hose, and then myself running out to see what the hell was going on, was quite a bit of bad excitement. Actually, the fire had gotten inside the wood (wood composition, actually, which was part of the problem) and smoldered there for almost an hour. The whole time it was being hit by water from the hose from above and underneath....seemingly to no avail. Finally I had the idea to put ice on top to cool it down......it seemed to work.....maybe it was just through burning anyway?
So I will get a big plant or a small mat or something to cover it up...really no big deal in the end.

Lets see, what else? Hailey, my beautiful grandaughter, started kindergarten. She absolutely loves it, has made lots of new little friends and is learning lots of new little things. Great big things to her, I'm sure! Evan is doing just great....he's 7 months old now and laughing and smiling all the way. Well, that is, until something doesn't go exactly his way and then watch out! Man, can that little young'n scream!!!!! Russell and Brandi seem to be taking it all in stride. It does seem, however, that they have gotten themselves into a bit of a financial bind. About six month ago, they told me that they had decided to try something new with their finances. To my dismay, they had decided to make Russell the Money Man. He would now be in charge of paying all the bills, etc. Now Russell makes very good money but letting him take care of the bills was a disaster waiting to happen. And I guess it did. Seems he was using the tried and not so true policy of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul and by the time Brandi realized something was amiss, they were approx. $10,000 more in debt than before. In fact, Russell had even pulled out about $1,50o, I think, and tried to gamble his way out of his mess. Ouch! I am almost positive that his deceitfulness was not done in an evil manner.....that he truly thought he could handle everything. Well, at the end of the day, Brandi has flipped out and taken back the finances (Thank God!). Apparently, it all had come very close to her leaving but they have decided that if they buckle down and pay attention they can gradually dig their way out. Hopefully a lot of lessons were learned here....hopefully Russell has come completely clean and told Brandi everything. I feel very sorry for him if he hasn't. They both are quite stressed by the whole series of events (understandably). I'm hoping and praying that, together, and I do mean together, they can get over this. They have so much more going on, positively, then most of the young couples I see. However, they do have a couple of serious problems......one is the money issue...money has become quite the driving force in both their lives....not a good thing. And the other big problem I see is trust. By that I mean, lying. Mostly on my son's part, I am embarrassed to admit. But, hopefully, he is beginning to see the gigantic error in his ways. Keeping my fingers crossed and my prayers at hand for them.

I don't know if I have mentioned before but I am retiring in May. Very scary stuff. I have figured everything out and I won't exactly be rolling in cash but the way I've figured it, I will make it. I am just sick of working. I like my job and the people I work with; its the schedule and the having to get up every morning and the having to plan my life around working...its all that part that I hate. My immediate problem is that I need to start working a little overtime very soon. They tell me that some will be available for me very soon but, as of yet, not much has presented itself. The thing is that I have to pay for two weeks in New Orleans in January (about two grand?) and I have about $1300 of furniture I'd like to pay off before I retire.
Wish me luck!

I think that is about it for now. Like I said....pretty boring stuff. Aw, life goes on......