If everybody had an ocean Across the u.s.a. Then everybody’d be surfin’ Like californi-a You’d seem ’em wearing their baggies Huarachi sandals too A bushy bushy blonde hairdo Surfin’ u.s.a.

July 21, 2004

How funny, it's been exactly one month since my last update.

I realize that I made quite a few errors in the last one.

I just didn't catch them,

and I apologize for that.

Well, alot sure has gone on in the last month.

We finished up baseball season.

On the 17th there was a picnic and trophies were passed out.

Last night, the 12,13 and 14 year olds played one last game on

Ron Cox Field.

Today they start tearing the field down and in its place

will be a new baseball park.

Can't wait.

We also went to Fed Ex's company picnic.

Everyone had alot of fun.

Tom won a gift certificate to Red Lobster.

I was really hoping for the one to Lowes.  Oh well.

We haven't gone yet.

I had heard a rumor that I was going out to eat for my birthday,

but that didn't happen.

Instead, I went to a place called the Smokey Banana

and got a tattoo on my ankle.

Seriously, I would not kid you.

It goes all the way around and is ivy leaves.

I love it.

It hurt like hell, but I'd do it again.

Next week, Tom and I are on vacation.

I am so ready for a real vacation,

 too bad it won't happen this year.

We are taking the boys to Cheyenne two nights for concerts:

ZZ Top/Marshall Tucker Band

and

Brad Paisley/Chris Cagle

And then Tom and I are going one night by ourselves to see

Kenny Chesney and Uncle Kracker.

Next year I'm going to Jamaica.

I don't care if I have to swim there,

I am going.

Oh and I guess I'll take Tom too,

since it was his idea.

Last week Stefani left her husband and now resides on my

front room couch.

I now remember why I was happy she moved out to begin with.

I cannot stand the arguing that has gone on since she moved back.

We're hoping this is a permanent thing,

her leaving her husband,

not living with us.

We won't miss him, believe me.

The boys start school the 12th of August.

So I'm trying to get things ready.

I'm pretty sure they aren't ready to go back yet.

The 20th of August,

Tom and I are flying to Salt Lake City

for the National Truck Rodeo.

They could have picked a better place to have it.

Well, that's about all for now.

Have a great rest of the summer!!!!

June 21, 2004

Dear Family,

After weeks of costant rain and being stranded on this desert island

without food or shelter or company,

I have decided to end it all.

The only question I have left is, how?

Do I throw myself off the cliff to be thrashed about by the waves and

thrown amongst the rocks?

Or do I just stay here on the beach and finish starving to death,

where one day they may find my remains?

Will my family continue to search for me? 

Or will they give up like they gave up on Tom Hanks in Castaway?

Will my story be made into a made for TV Drama or a movie?

And who would they get to play me?

Winona Rider?

Christina Ricci?

Maybe even Sandra Bullock, although she is too old.

It will be a great movie though.

Of course the fifteen years of my life have not been quite

as glamorous as I had hoped.

I'm feeling the end is near. 

It's getting harder for me to write.

Good bye my family and freinds.

Oh my gosh! 

The rain has stopped, the sun has come out,

and it's time for lunch.

After lunch we're going down to the lake to go canoing.

Gotta run.

Loving summer camp.

Have made a lot of new friends.

See you in a few weeks.

Your loving daughter.

June 9, 2004

Cowabunga dude!

I guess I haven't been keeping up on my page as well as I had intended.

Life kinda got in the way.

We've been keeping pretty busy around here.

Hmmmmm.........

What has been going on since last I wrote?

Well, funny you should ask,

cuz I'm gonna tell ya.

The last week of April, Tom and I had our vacation.

Due to the fact that my car would have probably blown up

somewhere in the middle of Nevada,

we did not make it out there.

I hate my car.

I need a new one.

But that sure as heck isn't going to be happening soon.

Tom and I had a nice week off though.

We did yard work the first three days.

Then is started to rain and snow,

so we went in search of furniture.

We got a new couch and bed.

The beginning of April was the start of baseball season for Matt.

His team has only won one game so far.

But Matt has been playing well.

Zack's baseball season started the beginning of May.

His team is undefeated so far.

Zack has done remarkably well.

He has hit a few home runs

and is playing catcher and in the outfield.

Baseball season will be over the end of June.

On the 20th of May the boys were set free by

the 27-J School District.

They have driven me nuts since.

Oh, nope, I was nuts before,

so can't blame them.

Stef and I went to see Jimmy Buffett in concert

at the Pepsi Center on the 18th of May.

We had a blast. 

I definitely have to go next year.

That was my mother's day present from her this year.

Matt is taking Advanced and Jazz Band this summer.

Patrick is still waiting for someone to call him about drumline practice.

And I really wish that 15 year olds could get a job.

On June 5, Tom competed in the State Truck Roadeo

in the 4-axle division.

He came in 2nd place.

He was robbed, he should have got first.

Next year.

Anyway, he and I get to go to Salt Lake City in August

to see the National's.

And he got a really cool trophy.

For Tom's birthday, father's day and christmas present,

I bought him a

2004 Suzuki Savage 650.

Yes, I am insane.

It's silver and very pretty.

I probably shouldn't say that about a motorcycle,

but it is.

The weather has been,

how shall we say,

on the warm side.

Monday it was 103 degrees in my

backyard.

Pat said the bank thermometer was reading 106

when he and Stef drove by.

Today, however, it is really ugly out.

It's in the 70's and all I see is black clouds and lightning.

And I can hear the wind blowing and the thunder rumbling.

Not that thunder rumbles here.

It's more like the sound a bomb probably makes.

It would be nice to get some rain though.

We have been missed by the rain gods the last few storms.

We had golf ball sized hail a week or so ago.

And we've been spit on.

Not much moisture.

We sure could use some.

And I want to be able to blow off fireworks on the 4th.

It's the little things in life that make me happy.

I have no grand ideas anymore.

So I'm content with my family and animals,

my gardens and the little things.

April 6, 2004

Happy Spring everyone!!!!!

Spring is a great time of year.

The days get longer and warmer,

the flowers and trees start to bloom and the grass turns green.

And baseball season starts.

What more could you ask for?

April also starts the countdown to the end of the school year.

Which is May 20.

There are also a few birthdays this month.

My friend, Arnette, which was April 3.

Stef on April 9 (she's going to be 20.  I feel old =( .....)

Matthew on April 21 ( he's going to become a teenager)

And my nephew, Mikey on April 22.

We are also going on vacation the last week of April.

And this year.........

Drum roll please............

We are leaving home.

Amazing, yes, I know.

And all of us are going.

My friend, Chris,  is graduating from the

University of Reno on May 1st

and we will be there to see her do this.

Matthew has already started baseball practice and his

first game is this Friday the 9th.

They are in a new league this year so it should be interesting.

Zack should be starting soon.

Not too much going on around here.

We've been working on doing some things out in our yard,

but the weather hasn't really been cooperating on the weekend.

Great during the week, but cold and rainy on the weekend.

We got a new gazebo for our patio,

looks great.

And I'm spray painting the patio furniture to match it.

Last weekend Tom got both lawns fertilized and seeded.

Hopefully this will help them.

They aren't looking too great right now.

Well, I hope that everyone has a Hoppy Easter and that

the Easter Beagle brings you lots of treats.

Or the Easter Bunny.

February 24, 2004

Well, either I'm extremely bored lately, not working much,

or have nothing better to do,

but here I am updating my page again.

It's really none of the above.

I have plenty to do to keep me from being bored,

I'm working as much as I normally do,

and I do have better things to do than sit here in front of the computer.

Apparantly, I don't wish to do anything else, or I would.

I'm getting really antsy for it to warm up and become spring.

I've seen the telltale signs that it will soon be upon us.

Raccoons, skunks, bees and the geese heading north.

Oh yeah, and the farmers out on their tractors plowing up their fields.

I have gotten some seeds started for my garden.

Hopefully I'll be planting some pumpkins,

zucchini, green beans, cucumbers, and acorn squash, and

watermelons.

Along with some tomatoes and peppers.

It's been on the warm side.

Well, depending on who you talk to I guess.

It's been in the 50's and last Thursday it was up in the 70's.

Not really too much going on around here lately.

Just been hauling everyone to the dentist for checkups.

Matt has a band concert this Thursday.

Zack was named Student of the Month this month.

Tomorrow I get to go to school and have lunch with him.

We are very proud of him.

He also scored the highest in the school district in math again this year

for his grade.

Patrick is doing good in school too.

Just got his first six week grades for this semester today

as a matter of fact.

Well, I guess I should go and do some of those things that I don't want to do.

I really wish the maid hadn't quit again.

And the boys and Tom are no help in keeping things picked up.

But they're definitely better at it than Stef was.

We have a couple birthdays coming up in March.

My mother-in-law, Patty, has a birthday on March 1.

Oh, really soon I just realized.

And my son-in-law, Shawn, will be 21 on March 11.

Happy Birthday to both of you!!!!

Oh my gosh, I wrote 1904. 

September 18, 2003

Wow!  It's the middle of September.

Where did August go to???

And here I thought I was doing a good job keeping up on my page lately.

Silly me.

Well, the boys started school on the 13, 14 and 15th of August.

Like you really thought they could all start on the same day.

Yeah, right.

Zack is still at Northeast, Matt is still at Overland Trail and

Pat is now at Brighton High.

They are all doing well so far.

Pat is having a lot of fun being in high school.

This week is Homecoming Week and he and his friends have gone to all of the events so far.

They went to the Powderpuff Football game on Monday and the Water Polo game last night.

Tonight is the Bonfire,

tomorrow during the day is the Homecoming Parade

and tomorrow night is the Homecoming Football game.

Saturday night is the Homecoming Dance,

which Pat will also be going to.

On Tuesday, Stef and I went to the Softball Homecoming game.

A bunch of the girls from past years were invited by this years softball team

to attend the game.

They had a little ceremony before the game honoring them.

It was a lot of fun.

We also were able to stay for the game which Brighton won 10-0.

Zack is playing flag football now.

He is the only one doing a sport right now.

Matthew was asked to join the Jazz Band at school this year.

He was very excited about that.

Pat is still in band too.

He made first chair in the percussion section.

The weather is starting to change from summer into fall here.

I have decided that fall is my favorite time of the year.

I'm going shopping this weekend for Halloween decorations.

We didn't do much last year,

but I am ready this year to decorate.

We had more snow in the mountains last night.

It is so nice to look at the mountains with their white peaks.

Not much else going on around here right now.

A couple of birthdays to mention:

My niece Candice turned 16 on Sept. 13

and

my brother Mike will be 40 on Sept. 19.

Happy Birthday to both of you!!!!

July 31, 2003

Can't believe July is over. 

The boys start school soon.

Pat on the 13th of August, Matt the 15th of August.

I have no idea when Zack starts, but I believe it is somewhere close to when the other two start.

Pat goes and registers for High School(scary) on the 8th.

Baseball season ended last weekend for us.

Now I have way too much time on my hands.  (just kidding)

Pat's team ended the season in 9th place.

Matt's team ended the season in 2nd place and came in 3rd place in the tournament.

I think Zack will be the only one playing sports this fall.

He will be playing flag football.

Tom tried to break his ankle last week.

He had a run-in with some freight on his truck.

Luckily it was only sprained.

And even luckier for him, he got a three day weekend out of it.

The good news is that he's up and limping this week and back at work.

For my birthday, Tom brought home a new kitty.

Not my idea.

He did it all by himself.

The kitty is very cute though.

He's gray and white with blue eyes.

And his name is Salem.

Not much else going on around here.

Pretty much all I've done all summer is work, water and baseball.

If you take the work out of that phrase, it would have been a better summer,

now that I think about it.

Don't have a big garden this year.

Haven't had alot of help outside either, so that's probably a good thing that it's small.

Only have salsa planted.

You know, tomatoes and peppers.

Had a small scare this summer.

The landlord came over to have the property appraised.

Found out it was for a loan they have out on the property,

so we don't have to move.

But it has got us thinking a bit more of finding a place of our own.

The only problem with that is, of course, money, and

exactly where we want to live.

We know we want property,

and I've seen lots of property I would want to have,

but we'd definitely like to stay in the Brighton School District.

Unfortunately, Brighton seems to keep growing,

and there is less and less open space around the outskirts of town.

Oh well, some day we'll find something.

At least I don't have to worry about it now.

Well, I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of their summer.

July 16, 2003

Wow, the last month sure has flown by.

Our vacation? sucked.

Tom went to the dentist and received the first of four deep cleanings.

The second one was yesterday.

Our cat Grr went to the vet during our vacation also.

He had an absessed tooth pulled and his teeth cleaned.

And two weeks later he died.

He was 14 years old.

And is now buried in our backyard under the bushes.

Four days later, the 3rd of July,

our Norwegian Elkhound, Taffy, died.

She was 14 years old also.

We had to have animal control come and take her away.

 It's against the law to bury your animals in the backyard and someone would

have noticed us burying her.

Needless to say it was not a happy week around here.

The 4th of July was lots of fun this year,

as we were allowed to blow off fireworks.

Stef and Shawn and Shawn's brother came over and we barbarqued and watched the city's

fireworks from our backyard and then blew off the ones we had bought.

I worked full time at the shop last week.

My boss went to Cancun.

Lucky her.

And this week I'm back to my regular hours.

It has been hotter than hell here for the past week.

At least 100 every day.

My yards look like I haven't watered in months.

Even my plants in the house looked like I hadn't watered in a month today.

I just realized all I've done is whine for the last ten minutes.

At least paper listens.

Although technically this isn't paper.

Oh well.

Tomorrow is Matthew's last baseball game of the season.

They are 9-2 and will be going to tournament.

I believe they are in first place.

Matt has been playing catcher and first baseman all season.

Last night was Pat's last game.

They ended the season 3-9.

We are not sure yet if they will be going to tournament.

They have a lot of good players on their team, just couldn't seem to keep it together

through a whole game though.

Pat played left field and third base all season.

Last night his coach put him in to pitch at the end of the game.

This was the first time all season he let him pitch.

He did pretty well.

If he'd let him pitch more during the season it would have been better for Pat.

I think if he keeps it up he'll be a really good pitcher.

School starts for Patrick on August 13.

I can't believe I have a month to get them all ready for school.

I'm going to take some pictures of the boys and maybe Tom will get them put up on our site

after I get them developed.

We shall see.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer.

Well, the year is half over already.

June 5, 2003

Time sure does fly sometimes.

We've been pretty busy since school let out.

I can't believe it's been two weeks since then.

Matt and Pat are playing baseball.

Matt has games on Monday and Thursday and

Pat has games on Tuesday and Friday.

And in between they have practice.

Their games will go through the 17th of July.

Matt and Pat also started band yesterday.

That is four days a week, in the mornings.

It runs through the 26th of June.

Zack isn't involved in anything at the moment and he's driving me nuts.

So I think I will be getting him into swimming lessons.

Stefani and Shawn moved into their own apartment last week.

It's a really nice apartment.

On the third floor.

Glad I didn't have to help them move.

But they boys did.

We've had quite a bit of rain lately.

Which we do need, so I'm not really complaining.

Especially when it's been raining on all of my watering days,

so I haven't had to water.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Matthew was bit by a dog.

He was bit in the thigh and it required only about 6 stitches total for two spots.

The dog was a friends dog and no one told him he wasn't friendly.

And it didn't help that the dog turned out to be a pit bull.

We're going to a Rockies game this Sunday.

I'm excited. 

We haven't been to a game in over a year.

As of June 1st, Tom is officially with Fed Ex Freight West.

And what a pain in the a---- this has been.

Somewhere, someone, could have made sure that this switch over would have gone

a heck of alot smoother than it has.

And on top of it all, they've screwed up our insurance somehow.

As in, we aren't in the system.

Not a good thing in this household.

The middle of the month Tom and I will be on vacation.

Tom has a dentist appointment his first day off,

 and the boys have a total of four games during the week.

So I don't think we will be doing much of anything.

We were thinking of going camping during the middle of the week,

but that won't work with the boys games.

We will  probably hit Six Flags on the weekend though.

Let's see what else is going on this month....

June 2-- My Dad's birthday

June 20-- Jeff's birthday (our nephew will be 1)

June 22--  Chris and Wade's 1st anniversary

And Flag Day and the first day of Summer are also thrown in.

It's been a little hard to enjoy my yards much with the rain we've had.

But I'm looking forward to it drying up a bit so I can.

Everything is in bloom.

And I've almost gotten everything planted.

Almost.

Well, I guess that is all for now.

Oh yeah, for those of you that haven't heard,

Pat graduated 8th grade and gets to go to high school.

Zack gets to go to 2nd grade.

Matt gets to go to 7th grade and

he made Honor Roll the last quarter.

We are very proud of him.

With his new medication his grades went from D's and F's to

A's and B's in one quarter.

Happy Midsummer!!!!!!

May 1, 2003

Happy May Day!

I know it's been a while since I last did an update.

We've gotten a new computer and today is the first time I've attempted to try this.

Let's say it's been interesting.

I am definitely not very computer literate.

I found all the right places completely by accident.

I am hoping that when I'm done with my update and I hit the save button

it will really save.

Well, we're nearing the end of the "birthday season" around here.

Shawn's birthday was March 11, he's now 20, and yes, he and Stef are still together.

Stef's birthday was April 9, she's now 19. (god I'm old)

Matthew's birthday was April 21, he's now 12.

We celebrated his birthday on Easter, the day before.

Shawn and Stef came over too.

This Sunday, we will be celebrating Tom's birthday. 

He will be 35.  (finally.  anything under 35 sounds really young to me. hahaha)

We're going with a Mexican theme for dinner, since he was born on Cinco de Mayo.

Pat's birthday is May 7 and we will be celebrating it the following Sunday.

He will be 14.

Stef and Shawn are moving again. 

This time into an apartment of their own here in Brighton.

They will be moving in the end of May.

Matthew is at Outdoor Ed. this week.

They left yesterday and will be back on Friday afternoon.

It is held in Estes Park.

I haven't been called to come pick him up yet, so I'm assuming he's having a great time.

His new medication has been really wonderful.

The kids only have 16 days left of school.

Don't know yet what's going to happen to Pat.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he's really going to graduate and go to the high school

in the fall.

He's blown off his math class most of the year and

now I think he's starting to panic.

I'd really like to kick him in the butt,

but he's bigger than me and it would hurt.

I've given up yelling at them about their bad studying habits.

I figure the more summer school they have to go to, then maybe they might start

to figure out how to get good grades.

Of course, this has ruined all vacation plans again this summer.

Last summer, we went without Pat.

This summer we will just be staying home.

I think we are going to try to do a few things this summer.

Whether the boys will be going is another subject.

Between summer school and baseball games we're hoping to get to at least one or two

Rockies games, go to Elitch's(Six Flags),

go camping, go to a couple car shows(Volkswagen),

and I'm hoping to get to see Kenny Chesney at the Greeley Stampede.

And for those of you who havent' heard yet,

I finally had my teeth pulled the 15th of April.

The first week, I don't remember much.

Percocet is a wonderful drug.

Second week was better and now I'm doing great.

The only wierd thing is getting use to teeth that don't look a darn thing like the ones I origionally had.

But I'm getting use to that too.

The best thing about all of this is how great I feel.

I didn't realize how crappy I felt all the time until I woke up a week after getting them pulled

to find out how great I felt.

I have tons of energy now.

And I'm in a good mood 90% of the time.

I think Tom and the kids are really glad about the good mood part.

I was really a crabby old bitch.

I even admit that now.

So all in all, it has been worth it.

Well, that's all for now.

The kids get out of school May 22.

And the weather has been nice enough for me to get my gardens pruned and some petunias

and geraniums planted.

Still have to work on my veggie garden.

I hope everyone takes some time out to enjoy the flowers and warm spring days.

March 20, 2003

Happy Spring, everyone!!

Yes, at 11:16 am mountain time it was officially spring.

But if you look out our front door you would not believe it.

We have spent the last two days being snowed upon.

We had at last count at least 2 feet of snow on the ground.

With drifts that were higher.

The boys and I have been at home with each other since Tuesday.

Tom was home yesterday and was called this morning to come to work.

Lucky him.

Basically, Spring break started for the boys on Tuesday.

We are still home together.

I think I will be going to work tomorrow.

Tom and I spent yesterday shovelling the walkway and the sidewalks and the driveway.

Today, I can't move very well.

We didn't think we were ever going to dig out the driveway, let alone the cars,

when a friend of ours came driving down the street on his tractor.

He scraped the driveway and moved some snow out of the way so we could

get out of the driveway.

I am eternally grateful to Ray.

Because we would still be out there shovelling if he hadn't come along.

Being home for a few days has been a good thing. (Get back to me later.)

Matthew started some new medication for his ADHD.

He is no longer on Ritalin.

Now he is taking Straterra.

It's a non-narcotic medicine.

And the doctor thinks it will work better than the Ritalin.

So I have been able to see how he does on this stuff the past three days.

So far, so good.

I think his teachers will be happy with him again.

We have been watching the news off and on since things started happening last night in Iraq,

as I'm sure most of you have.

I'm not sure how I feel about all of this.

I was hoping that I wouldn't have to see anything like this again in my life.

I guess all I have to say is, may the gods look out for us and bless us all.

March 10, 2003

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I updated my page.

I swore I did it after Valentine's Day.

Must have been a dream.

We've been keeping pretty busy this past month or so.

Let's see, I don't know where to start.

I worked 65 hours in 5 days the week of Valentine's.

I think I've almost recovered from that week.

Almost.

After we got done working the 14th, at 7:30 pm,

we came home and took the boys out to dinner.

We painted Pat and Matt's rooms in the basement.

And we got linoleum for Patrick's room and got it all layed.

So his room is done.

It looks nice too.

Still have to get the flooring for Matt's room.

I think Zack is enjoying having his own room.

It sure does stay clean now.

Guess we now know who the slob was when it was Matt and Zack's room.

Matt and Pat have been to the dentist.

I've been to the doctor and to the rheumatologist.

I will be going to see the rheumatologist again this Wednesday.

And Zeus and Apollo have been to the vet to be fixed and declawed.

Boy, were they pissed off at me.

But they are doing much better now and have forgiven me.

I think.

We also had 11 days straight of snow the end of February, beginning of March.

But this weekend it warmed up again.

After the cold and the snow I was ready for a break in the weather.

So this week it's going to be in the 60 and 70's.

Pat has had two concerts in the past month.

One was a jazz band concert on the 13th of February

that I didn't get to see.

Cuz I was at work.

I worked from 6 am to 1:30 am that day.

Tom, however made it to the concert.

The last concert was last Tuesday.

The 8th grade band from Overland Trail and the

9th grade band from the Brighton High got together for a concert.

It was really good.

We had to go and pre-register Pat for high school two weeks ago.

They had tables set up with all the sports and other activities and clubs that the

incoming 9th graders could check out.

Now, for those of you who haven't seen Pat recently,

he is 5'11" and weighs almost 200 lbs.

And has shoulders broader than Tom.

A very big boy.

Anyway, the football players got his attention finally.

They were very excited to see him, until he made them cry.

He told them he doesn't want to play football.

I bet they hound him next year.

It was kind of funny.

He now has the record at the middle school for bench pressing 200 lbs.

The old one was 185 and that was set by Stef's friend Carson.

He will be playing baseball this spring.

So will Matthew.

I signed them up this past weekend.

The season starts the end of April.

Which is nice, because it will be much warmer later into the evening by then.

Zack didn't want to play baseball.

He has informed us that he wants to play football.

So he will be joining me in the bleachers.

I had parent/teacher conferences in February for Zack.

He's doing really well in school.

And his teacher told me that he scored the highest score out of all the

first graders in the district in the district math test that he took in January.

I was amazed.

He didn't get this from me.

I suck at math.

Apparently we have a little math whiz amongst us.

And he can multiply too.

I didn't grasp multiplication until I was in college.

Well, maybe junior high.

I said I sucked at math.

Tom and I are doing pretty good.

He's spent most of the winter (annoying me) doing models.

And I've taken up embroidering again.

It's been a while,

but I was getting bored talking to myself and cleaning the house.

I'm anxious to get out in the yard and start working on it again.

Winter is really too long here.

And the sounds of baseball are in the air too.

Here's hoping the Rockies figure out how to play the game this year

and to the Angels having another great year like last year.

And remember, it is the time of year to start fresh, rejuvinate and take some time

to go outside, breathe some fresh air and soak up some rays.

January 28, 2003

Yes, I am still here.

I just haven't been able to get on the computer to do anything lately.

We've been having problems with the computer and every time I sit down

to read my mail, or try to update my page, I can't get the darn thing to turn on.

So, Tom's been leaving it on for me for the past couple of days,

so I thought I'd take advantage of that this morning.

Besides the fact that my body is too sore to exercise this morning.

That, and Zeus and Apollo were really annoying.

They were attacking the weights I was using for some arm exercises.

Of course, to do this, they had to jump on my stomach to reach my arms as they were

extended into the air.

They just can't attack while my arms are near the floor.

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Years.

The holidays this year were exhausting.

Not much Christmas spirit around here.

Heck, I took down the tree and all the decorations a few days after Christmas.

This is very unusual for me.

I leave everything up until after New Years.

For New Years it was just me, Tom and the boys.

Everyone made it to midnight this year.

And fifteen minutes later, Zack was asleep.

We've had a major change in our lives in the last couple of weeks.

Stefani and her boyfriend moved out on January 11.

So it's just me and a house full of boys.

A new experience for me.

And I have discovered a few interesting things in the past three weeks.

1. My house actually stays clean all week. (No, I did not get rid of the boys.)

2. The shampoo, conditioner, laundry soap, bath soap and toilet paper all last longer than one week.

3. My bathroom is clean anytime I walk into it.

4. (This one hasn't been proven yet, but it should be here in a week or so.) My gas

and electric bills should be cut almost in half.

Now, I know what you're thinking.

Only two people moved out, so why should there be such a dramatic change?

I'll tell you why.

They are slobs.

And all this time I was blaming it on the boys.

I am a bad mommy.

And I have apologized.

We are in the process of redoing Stef's room for Patrick and

then Matt will be moving into Pat's room.

So all three boys will have there own rooms.

I know this all sounds kind of cold-hearted to you all.

Like I'm glad that my daughter has moved out.

Well, yes, I am glad she moved out.

There is a lot less stress around here now.

And besides, she didn't like it here.

I know this now for sure.

In the time she has been gone she stopped by for ten minutes, once.

And she has only called me when I have called to ask her a question.

And then, she answers my question and says she has to go.

So maybe I am a bad mommy.

At least in my daughter's eyes.

I'm really hoping that whatever I did to piss her off will pass eventually.

But she's been pissed off at me since we moved here.

So I'm not holding my breath.

We're getting ready for Valentines' Day at the flower shop.

I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not.

I'm still tired from Christmas. (just kidding, I think?)

After Valentine's Day I will be getting my teeth pulled (finally)

and new dentures.

I am so excited about this finally happening.

I am tired of eating soft toast and eggs and other soft things.

I want to bite into a piece of steak or a piece of fruit.

And it might make dieting a bit easier too.

Hell, it might even improve my bad mood.

Who knows?

Not much else going on around here right now.

I know that the band at the middle school should be having a concert in February.

They usually do.

The week of Valentine's Day.

And I have parent teacher conferences coming up at the elementary school.

The weather has continued on the bizarre side here.

Last week, Monday it was 65, Tuesday it was 65 and Wednesday it was 11.

Then by Thursday it was 48.

Yesterday it was 70.

Today it will be maybe 50.

Although, it doesn't look like it will do that right now.

And we still haven't gotten any snow or rain.

The good thing is that it's been so warm all winter that no one has gotten

a cold.

I guess some good things come out of a drought.

All I know is that I'm hoping for rain or snow of any kind or

else this summer is going to really suck.

Right now I'm pulling for the groundhog to see his shadow so we at least have a

slim chance of some winter weather.

Well, I've got to get going.

I need to eat breakfast and get ready for work.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY !!!!!!!!

Tom and Vickys Archive

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