How would I even begin...

I don't know how I might explain what has happened over the past year or so, but I will try to convey some thoughts.

This past year has been, I think, the most trying and confusing time that me and my family have been through. The last time I posted, I was a high school chemistry and astronomy teacher at our local school in Ashland, KY. It is a good school and has about 1000 students. Much bigger than any other school I have taught in. However, I did well and enjoyed it for the most part. As with any job, it had it's problems, but I had a great job and I knew it, although it was a ton of work. I also taught AP Chemistry. That is a very rigorous curriculum; I fell asleep most nights of the week while studying chem, making notes, working out problems, making sure I understood concepts, and planning chem labs. It was exhausting. I love chemistry, but it was very taxing.

So, when someone told me that the prison across the river (in Ohio, about 20 minutes away) was hiring and paying about $10,000 more dollars a year, I was interested. I was even more interested when I learned that I could not take any "homework" or school materials INTO the prison, and I also was never allowed to take any work OUT of the prison. That only meant one thing: my evenings would be free. There was no overtime, and I worked about 40 or so hours a week. I thought, "It doesn't matter what goes on during the day, I can deal with it if I know I have no work to do at home!" How wrong I was.

I don't want to publish for all electronic eternity some of the things that I saw, know, heard, and experienced, but the short of it is that I found out what I can deal with in life and what I can't. I have always been the type of person that never wanted to find something that I just could not do. Now, there are plenty of things that I am not physically able to do. And certianly there are things that I do not have the talent for. But I mean, if there is something that I can do, but it is just hard, then I will do it if I have to. In the prison, I think I found my limit. I stayed there for 5 months and decided to quit. That was another thing that was so difficult: quitting. I have never quit a job without somewhere else to go. But I did this time. My family was suffering tremendously because I was so stressed and upset and could not seem to come to terms with going back every day. There were plenty of nights of fitful sleep, and sleeplessness, because I so deeply dreaded going back there each morning.

When I hired into that place, people told me that no one on the outside will believe you or understand you when you try to tell them about this place. They were so right. Unless I sat with someone face to face, I don't think there is anyway to convey the kind of misery that surrounds that place. Most of the prison workers simply say, "I work in hell".

So, I quit. I wasn't sure what to do then. I applied for many, many jobs and didn't get any. I enrolled in an EMT class; something I always wanted to do. I also applied to join the Louisville, KY, fire department. That was a great thing because it kept me motivated to run and work out and lose weight. I lost 40 pounds during the spring and early summer. I passed my civil service written test in February, and then passed my PAT (physical agility test) in April. It was maybe the hardest physical test I have ever taken. I was told a few times that the Louisville PAT is one of the hardest of all the fire departments in the country. I know firefighters that have done the firefighter challenge and they say that is a walk in the park compared to Louisville.

I will have to catch up on more details later. Time to go for a ride and out to dinner with the fam.

-Crazy-A

Signs of the times...

I have been reading a lot on CNN and MSNBC about how to tell if the economy is getting poor by how many big rigs you see on the road. They also talk about watching cargo trains, like in Elkhart, IN, to give a clue to the economy.

Well, in my hometown of Tawas, MI, we have another way of doing it. My dad used to work in an open pit gypsum mine in Tawas. There are actually three gypsum mines in the local area, but I believe the National Gypsum Mine is the only one still in operation. Anyway, I was talking to my brother-in-law, who works at the mine, (and also used to work with my dad), and he told me how many boats they are scheduled to load this year.

So, let me give you a short background. Tawas, MI, is right on L. Huron. There is a gypsum loading dock, (we all called the "port", because it is one... ), right there that the big lake freighters would come in and get loaded with gypsum. They would take it to the Chicago area, Cleveland... I don't know all the places they would go, but some of the boats, like the Sam Laud, would hold 40,000 ton of gypsum. Another common boat that came into port was the Buffalo. The picture here is the Buffalo being loaded at the Tawas Dock. So, when I was a kid growing up, we would always drive down to the port when dad was loading a boat so we could see those big freighters. It was awesome.

Anyway, when my dad was alive and loading boats, like in the 80's and 90's, the National Mine would load anywhere from 30 to 40 boats a year with gypsum. This was all shipped to places to make building material, mostly sheetrock, or dry wall, whatever you may call it.

The sign of the time is: this year they are scheduled to load anywhere from 4 to maybe 8 total.

It is much easier than counting semi's on the highway.

Hot days are comin', I think...

Well, I suppose I am feeling a lot better this weekend.

I guess I got a good dose of life and friends and that's about what it took.

A wonderful friend from my college days got ahold of me about a month or two ago and it was great to catch up. Then, about 3 weeks ago I drove up to the Hillsboro, OH, are and visited him and his family. He is starting a dairy farm and has a great little place. Then, this weekend, our whole family went up there and spent a couple nights. I drove the kids (as well as my mom) around in their big tractor, a 150 HP Deutz-Allis.

The picture isn't "thier" tractor, but it is exactly the same, and theirs looks just about as good. It was lots of fun.

Then me and Troy (my friend) had to unload a wagonload of hay and put it up in his barn. That was great fun, too. I did a lot of that work when I was a teenager and early 20's, and I miss it. The kids had a wonderful time with their dog, Floppy, a Basset-Beagle named for obvious reasons. And Nathan and Alia took off exploring all through thier unplowed fields. They were having a wonderful time petting the cows and running as far as they could stand without worrying about cars or people or anything. I was wonderful to see.

And Nathan decided that he loves running. He ran more on Saturday than he has all year put together. Which is great because there was a time when we were very concerned that he had breathing or chest problems. Every time he would run a few yards he would complain about chest pains. But I think he ran about 2 or 3 miles total on Saturday and there was not any problems at all. His new saying was like this:

Nathan: "Are we going back up to the barn?"
Dad: "Yes"
Nathan: "Are you walking all the way there?"
Dad: "Yes"
Nathan: "Well, I'll be running."

Then we'd be going to the pond or something... "Well, I'll be running." He is so funny.

Then today at home I got a lot of work done. Mowed my grass (again... 3rd time this year already). It was 92 degrees. Then I busted up the rest of the sod for my garden area. I was using a shovel, but then I found my sister's maddox, or pick-axe, or whatever you want to call it. So, I spent about an hour and broke all that up. Then went for a run... didn't wanna run too far with the bad heat and me not being used to it yet, so I ran a couple miles, ssssllloooowwwww. -ly.

THEN, went out and bought some petunias for my flower boxes on my front porch. Then, just put in some laundry and chilled out till Shannon brought home Papa Johns.. which was a great supper after a great day.

So, we'll see if I can keep up on this blog better nowadays. I think I am over the funk of being here and not up North... not completely, mind you... but feeling better about things. It has not been an easy adjustment, but with good weekends like this with good friends, things might start lookin' up.

Snow Daze

OK... so I have had the best week since I have moved here...

it's simple... just get a couple inches of snow, and some ice, and lots of power outages, declare a state of emergency, and...

viola!

5 days off of school!!!

Yea... that's BY FAR a record for me... the most I have ever had was 2, but this is Friday, and it is my 5th day off...

life is tough here in the Southland.

ROFL!!!

a bit better

Well, things aren't so bad now... I guess I just had to adjust.

Christmas was good; kids had a wonderful time. Christmas break was excellent. I went to Tawas for a couple days. Saw some good friends and spent some time with a cousin I haven't seen in years... nice to see him. Shannon and the kids stayed here, her dad is still not doing good.

I asked my students today if it ever gets cold here or if it ever snows here. Living in the Big Snow Country for so many years has really made me expect snow more than I thought. It has been 60 during the day and 60 during the night for a couple days now... one day was supposed to hit 70, but it didn't. I slept with my windows open again!

Back to school today... not very exciting, but a man has to work, at least until I can find a way out of it.

Hope everyone is doing great... my love to all who love.

PS, got a fish tank. I love it and the kids think it is the best thing since square butter.

AWESOME!

Got to talk to my long lost friend tonight... what a blessing! I didn't expect to hear from him; I was on skype and he happened to log on and we finally got to talk. Man, what an encouragement it was for me... it was like a blast of fresh air to hear the voice of my true friend.

Don't shave... don't cut your hair... looks great.

Nuff said...

snow day

You guys would laugh... about 1/2 to 1" of snow... and it is not even cold enough to stick to the concrete or the roads. So, imagine snow in the grass and a wet driveway. "School closed due to inclement weather".

Life's pretty easy here, I gotta tell ya. I have never shoveled. I scraped my windows a couple times... but that was easy, too. I walk to school every day now... 2 miles each way. I can't tell you how many people have tried to give me a ride... at least 5 in one day when it was "raining". Everything is close, anything you would want... any food you would want (although I can't eat it)... and 500 churches to choose from.

Could life get any better? I submit that it can NOT!

lol... just a little BR sample...

birthday

Well, had a nice B-day... 39. One more year and I am rolling over the hill... I hope it is just a cliff and make it quick! LOL!

The family took me out to Texas Roadhouse (steak house in the area) and I had one of my favorites... T-Bone steak! It was very good! and then the kiddos got me some of my special treats: peanut M&M's, pistachios, and A&W Root beer.... they are so cute. But they made sure that I would share them with them! They are funny little tikes.

I guess they are really getting into the Fattest City in the world thing! HAHA! (Not really, they are still eating their halloween candy... one piece a day (at most!) So it will last for QUITE a while!

Trimming the tree

So, I am still in the "missing mode" - I wouldn't tell the wife that, but I think this is gonna be the worst Christmas I have had in a long time.

Each year around this time I begin reading A Christmas Carol. It is a very festive and relaxing thing for me and really is fun for me. I look forward to it every year... it is kind of a special, personal thing with me. I should have seen this one coming...

I picked up the book a couple days ago and tried reading it... I couldn't get into it... I have TOO MUCH on my mind! I didn't realize just HOW stressed I really am. I can't even read A Christmas Carol b/c I can't even focus on it. I am not in a good place...

I knew the season was not what I wanted it to be, but then there is more...

We got a "gas burning, fake log" artificial insert for our fireplace. It lights with an electric spark. I lit it and found out something... there is no wood smell and no wood burning sound. It hisses as it burns... that's it. So, that is fake. And it makes me feel like "what in the world am I doing here, in the CITY...?"

Then, tonight, we put up our tree. It is a fake tree. There is no smell and it is out of shape and weird. I have never had an artificial tree before. We always cut our trees ourselves; it was a great family thing and the kids always had SO much fun!! And when we could, we would get with Joe and Danette and the kids and we would all cut our trees together! That was the best! Man, it isn't even COLD here! There is NO SNOW. There are still BIRDS chirping outside! So, I have to admit it... finally... I am depressed.

HOWEVER!!! The kids had SO MUCH FUN! They were hooting and yelling and saying how much they LOVE CHRISTMAS! I am SO glad that they did, b/c if they had not liked it or had said that they didn't like the fake tree... I think I would have just broken down. But, they didn't and they still loved that the family is all together.

I need to learn to see the world through my children's eyes...

missing

missing....

Snow... believe it or not-but I won't in Feb! It was raining this morning.

Nice neighbors... mom parked on 2 feet of the neighbor's yard and my yard... we got a note to move it or be towed.

L. Superior... nuf said.

Woods... it's ALL hills here.

Parking... you see the pics... I already dented/scratched my truck dragging it across the bricks lining my driveway.

Fireplace... i bought a GAS fireplace insert with FAKE logs... you don't even use a MATCH to light it! But, don't worry, I can't get it to work anyway.

Room... our house is much smaller.

Friends... we have none. Oh, we have acquaintances... but no friends.

Church... but we didn't go to church for the last year there either... but here we try, and have not found a great place yet... still looking.

Fellowship... goes with the "friends" category... we have NO Christian friends to talk about the Lord with. Oh, yea, EVERYONE here is a "Christian"... being Bible-belt and all, but I can't really tell whether or not they actually KNOW CHRIST! (Just a soap box... I am quite sure there are many solid Christians here... just haven't had the chance to talk to any in-depth.)

Coffee... with friends... with Joe. With Otto.

Music... with friends... playing/recording with Joe and his crew. That was a great time.

Hunting... with Larry and the gang; processing 6 deer in one night... mucho funo. (Spanglish)

Trapping... with Larry and all the 'coon and beaver we got. That was an awesome year for me.

Clean air... all i smell is exhaust when I run.

Country... being able to drive in the middle of nowhere and just walk/look/smell.

The old life. The country life. The small-town life.

fattest of the fat

SO... big news in DEATH VALLEY...

the local paper published an article... Huntington, WV (which is right next door, like Ironwood and Hurley), and Ashland, KY are the FATTEST cities in America! Actually the five counties in this area of WV and KY are the fattest. So, putting it all together, I live in the FATTEST city of the FATTEST nation on Earth!... I moved to the fattest city in the WORLD!

And, really... not being mean... but I see more large individuals here than I ever have. Me and Shannon have mentioned that to each other many times since we got here. Now it is just confirmed on a survey level.

wow... I think I better go for a walk, or do a sit up.

Opening Day

Yea... you guys know what it is... Opening Day!
But, alas, I am not in Michigan, so it doesn't really matter... LOL

Around here, they don't understand missing school for Deer Day. How could they?

Instead, it was 55 here yesterday and last night, so I slept with the window open so I could hear the rain tap on my sill... nice...

And me and my mom have been clearing out all the overgrown shrubbery from around my house, and all the ivy... actually I did all that a couple weeks ago... it was crazy out of control. So, I got the chainsaw and went at it... I also used it to trim the hedges. It was pretty dangerous, but, hey, I don't have any hedge trimmers.

So, now me and mom carried bucket after bucket up my hill/front lawn to where the hedges where and filled it in with the best compost you have ever seen, from my sisters place. (She just makes the best compost...) Now we are gonna plant flowers in the back, and along the side we are gonna put asparagus and rhubarb, and then dig up some of my side lawn for a garden next year. Like she said, we are "displaced farmers". My shoes are covered with compost.

The YMCA had a Princess Dance tonight that ended with a special Daddy-Dance... it was precious. Pics later.

Shannon's dad is going down hill; I wouldn't expect him to last a lot longer... pray for her/him/us.

Kids are great, excellent, wonderful... Shannon and I have looked at pics of the Northland and wonder why we came here. I just read starlajane's blog and wondered why I am not hiking the North Country Trail myself... then I remember that I didn't hike it when I lived there... so why would this year be any different! LOL! Anyway, missing the Northland... I got on youtube, of all places, to find video of Lake Superior. I definitely miss BIG WATER. Or any water other than tap water, for that matter.

Hope all is well out there...

btw, they call this place Death Valley for all the allergies, sickness and cancer that everyone gets here... why did you guys make us move here? Just wondering...

Just Southern humor...

So, I was in class today and a student told me what he said earlier in another class....

Teacher: Tell me a joke.

Student: Women's sports.

Teacher: No, tell me a real joke.

Student: Women's rights.

Yea... i'm in the South.

Our House

Our Galley Kitchen



Florida Room/Dining Room


Turnip Head


Little Nut


Swing Set and half of back yard (not quite half)


Bathroom


Squishy Driveway (Sorry it's blurry, but you can see the busy road in the very lower right hand corner.)
I am standing across the street when I take this pic.


The other side of our house


And the front again


Living Room


The camera was full, so I had to stop. More later, now that I found the camera cable!

Vacation over

Well, it is the last day of my Fall break. With "year-round" school here, we get a break every nine weeks, and then a shorter summer. I knew of this break before we moved here and I have been looking forward to it ever since I got here! It has been so stressful and troublesome since we arrived, I really wanted to plan to do SOMETHING for the break! But, alas, I frittered it away, sick and tired.

At one point I wanted to go up North (Tawas) and see friends and family. That didn't work out... I thought I might start an EMT class that would meet 3 times a week until Christmas. This is something I had been wanting to do for a long time so I thought it might be the time. I enrolled and then thought about it... "if I have this much time and money (which I don't) then I need to be doing something else with it than take a class I don't need". SO, I dropped it after the first meeting.

Then I got sick and slept half the time for about 3 days. Then, Friday I felt better and cleaned a bunch of shrubs out from around my house, which was great! It felt good to have a bit of energy and get some yard work done. After that, I was exhausted. Yesterday all of us and all my sister's family went to Columbus to the zoo. That was fun, but it was a long day and it was obviously too soon for me to be that busy b/c I am sick again! Tomorrow I go back to school and I don't want to... I feel like I wasted my week's vacation and that is very frustrating. 

However, the kids have had a great time being with us and with Grandma and playing outside and sleeping with daddy and all that fun kids stuff... so that is a bright light in my week. 

Me and Raymond (Kelly's hubby) went kayaking and fishing one day last week, right when I was starting to get sick the first time. It was nice and I enjoyed it, but it is not the Northland, that's for sure. I have lots of aches and pains and life is really getting me down.... 

About 3 weeks ago I ran a road race. It was great fun and I did better than I thought I would, but I pulled some muscle or tendon right at my hip somewhere and I haven't been able to run since! I don't get it... I can run about 30 yards, then it feels like a screwdriver in my hip joint. If it was just an ache or pain, I would run through it, but it makes me limp and I have to lean on stuff to walk. SO, I am not running. (again). (Again, again, again).

Me and Shannon are thinking about joining the YMCA. I could lift there and swim and the kids could play and have a great time. So, I think that might be the way to go for my exercise. I could walk, but I can't stand it, so I don't.

Well, I am planing on going camping in two weeks. I sure hope it works out... I need some WW time... Woods and Water!

I know most people don't think this is "city living" but it sure is for me... and I don't really care for it. We are on a busy street and our front steps are one sidewalk width from the busy street. When the kids go out the front door, we gotta go in front of them and "herd" them to the van so they don't stumble into the street. Our driveway barely fits both of our vehicles; I scrapped the side of my truck on the cement blocks lining my driveway a couple weeks ago. Our back yard is small, but the kids can play and it is all fenced in, so there are no worries there. I got the swing set up and there is a little tree that Nathan loves to climb in... they have  a great time in the back yard... so that is great.

Anyway, I hate getting on here and filling it up with woes, but I gotta be honest... I haven't found a lot that I enjoy here at all... I am keeping a good attitude, for the most part. Our family is doing well; the kids are adjusting and me and Shannon are putting all our efforts into them and keeping everything wonderful for them. But, personally, all I do is school work. Same with Shannon... there is too much to do with school. I am trying to find a hobby or a friend or something to split up the time (that was one thought with EMT school), but so far, nothing. There are no guy friends here that I have found yet. I want to find a place to "hang out" sort of, but I am not much of a "hang out" guy... so I don't know how that will work.

I need to find the local music store and a good coffee shop. I have played my guitar a bit, and am making more time for that. That is a needed thing... but I don't do it much. I have been spending time in the Word. Good times in the mornings for me... but lacking the sleep takes it's toll, too. I get up at 5, shower, and read for about a half hour. The kids are up by 6 and then we snuggle on the couch for a while. That is a great way to start the day. They look forward to it and so do I. But I gotta have an "out" somewhere... I feel like my days are dark and closed in... not good. I was just telling Shannon that I wish I could just go over to Joe's and sit with some java and talk about life. Maybe we could go for a drive, or watch a game, or chat about the Lord... something... but, it wouldn't matter if I was back in Ironwood or here, pretty much everyone is gone anyway.

Shannon has been dealing with the same feelings. We know why we moved here, and it had to do with family. The kids love being near grandma and their cousin... I like being near my sister and grandma and all them... it is great. It is something that we hoped for for many years. On the flip side, however, that is our whole social circle. We have no friends, no goals (except to get done with school), no projects... and that is not a healthy place to live. Somehow I gotta get myself out of this funk and find what I want to do here. 

The church we go to is nice, but it is a very old church. There are very few people our age... probably 70-80% of the church is retirement age. There are a couple families in our Sunday School class that seem nice enough, but no one that I would really try to culture a friendship with. The youth group is basically non-existent... I mentioned being interested in working with the youth group, and the current youth leader thought that might work out... but that was the end of it. No ones fault, there just hasn't been any more talk about it for about 2 months. We are not making it to church every Sunday anyway, so I am sure that plays a part.

So, I wish this vacation would not have slipped by... but it has. I wish I had a friend here... but none yet. Sure, there are a couple guys I talk to at work or church, but that's it... very surface... you know the type. Nice guys, but no relationship. Probably my fault more than anything... I am pretty picky about friends, I guess.

I didn't plan on writing this much... I think, for the first time in this blog, I am concerned about what my readers will think of me... but that sort of defeats the purpose of a blog, eh? (Yea... I get teased about "eh" too... they all say, "I thought only Canadians said that... you're not Canadian". I can't even seem to transplant correctly...

Man... again, I don't know where to begin. I will only make it short this time.

Jobs are not any easier, but a bit more organized. Kids are doing great... adjusting well and liking school. It is nice to see family a lot; we are spending time with Kelly (my sister and her family) pretty much every week. Usually my mom comes and spend a couple days a week on our couch, so that is sure nice to visit with her.

That's really all we do... school and family. I finally got my puter set up the way I want it... I have a printer hooked up now... just got it figured out yesterday. I got Otto's HUGE-MAN desk in my basement... it barely fits, but it is awesome. I didn't realize that the basement floor was unlevel until the whole desk was up. So, I had to get some large tools and pry it up and stick some wood under it to level it out. I got it, tho. Found my wireless router so now me and Shannon have our puters up and running. That's nice. Had to go buy a new office chair b/c I gave my other one to Matt Agee... couldn't fit it in the truck. :)

Still SO much organizing to do, but we can handle it. We are living in our home just fine now. Still some pockets of mess in the basement (it is a finished basement with our TV and puters) but we can deal with it.

I guess that's about it. I still want to go back and try to fill in the blanks of all the move... but I don't know how to do that. It was so convoluted and crazy... I don't know how I didn't lose my mind. I think, honestly, the only reason I didn't was that I had Nathan with me and had to be strong and collected for him. It was all I could do to keep him "settled", if that is what you can call it. But he is a trooper, as always. His life started out with him needing to be tough and he is. He gets upset about some simple things, but when it comes to being strong, he is strong. 

And Alia is a princess... a drama queen extrodinaire, but a princess, nonetheless. She is so sweet and cuddly... and squishy.

Looked through a bunch of pics of the UP last night... waterfalls, snowshoeing, Lake of the Clouds, fall colors, the Porkys... and Shannon said, "tell me again why we moved here, away from all that?"

I had to think....

OH YEA... family. To be near family. Gotta keep telling myself that.

Love to all who love.

Southern and Fried

I wouldn't know how to begin to sum up everything we have been through the last few weeks. I can safely say that packing my house and moving was probably the worst thing I ever experienced in my life. I am not sure if my father's death was worse or not... jury's still out on that one. Safe to say that if it wasn't for the help of a lot of people, some of who will never read this, there is NO way I could have done it. THANK YOU to all who helped SO much... Otto and Laura, Lisa, Larry, Travis and Chrisy, Matt and Brenda, and others that I can't think of right away.

I just got internet a couple days ago. I didn't have much email... so that's was nice. I can't check my email at school, nor can I get on the internet very much at all... I can't check blogs or anything. (funny how they want a person to work at school... crazy Rebs.)

Let me try to sum up... but I will have to get more detailed another time...

We spent 4 weeks in a rented trailer. There was two rooms, so me and Nathan slept together and Shannon and Alia slept together, at opposite ends of the trailer. All we had was a couple mattresses on the floors, our deck furniture for the living room. There was a small table in the "kitchen" but I just ate in my Barcha-lounger, which I made sure to bring to the trailer so I had a place to sit.... I'm such a panzee...

We moved into our house on the w/e of Labor Day. We have boxes everywhere. Our house is smaller than the one we left, so we don't have room for all our stuff. So we are trying to figure out what to get rid of... mostly kids toys. :)

I have lots of stories of how things went wrong ever since we left, but I don't want to sound like I am in poor spirits... so that will have to come out in time. Several things have gone right, also. We are all healthy, our kids are in good schools, we are closer to my family, My mom stays here quite a bit and we and the kids love it... so there are lots of positives.

That's enough for now... can't wait to hear from some old friends. 

Love to all... God's speed in all your lives. I am reading some Xangas... nice to at least pretend that we are all close again... lol.

g'night

The good, the bad, the ______________

Well, I don't know how to shorten this up, but I am gonna try.

The people flatly refused to meet Shannon. (But she's so cute!!???...). So, we decided to try to buy the house outright. When we were wheelin' and dealin' with them, they said the purchase price would be $110k when we sell our house, after the lease is up. So, we offered them $95k... just to let them make a counter offer.

Well, they countered... their offer? $110k.

So, we offered $100k and please pay the the closing costs b/c we don't have the cash for that AND a down payment. They thought about it for about an hour and got back to us.

Their counter... $110k. AND, if they pay the closing, then it will be $112,500! So, they wanted us to FINANCE the closing costs! 

So, we are finished with them. No house is worth this much trouble.

Then, Shannon found the perfect house... and it is $20k cheaper than the one we were dickering over... so she put in a bid and now we are waiting, again.

On the plus side, my house is a wreck and all I see when I look at stuff is, "how will that fit in a box?". I dream about boxes... 

Matt Agee brought Mackenzie and Ian over to swim in the pool tonight and help move some stuff. When Mackenzie was done swimming, she went to stand up, lost her balance, hit her teeth on the metal support bar and busted off the inside of both her front teeth. She has a half-moon hole in her two front teeth! They are her permanent teeth, too... what a shame... 

I am disconnecting my 'puter on Sunday to box it up... I am afraid! I CAN'T UNPLUG!!!!

GOODBYE WORLD!! I'LL SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE!!!!

(of the Ohio River...)

Half the family in town

Well, Shannon, Ed, Alia, Spanky, and Dexter all made it safe and on time to KY. (I'M PROUD of you Shannon; I think it's the first time you've been on time in a long time... LOL! J/K)

Shannon spend 4 hours getting her dad settled into his new home. She is really pleased with it and really feels like the people will take very good care of Ed. That is a big weight off her. 

Now, to get the other half of the family there!

We had a very good plan to move into a great house and lease it with an option to buy when our house sells. The sellers were gung-ho and excited, we were very happy and very excited... the the sellers daughter came into the picture and filled her parents with all these horrible ideas about who we might be and how we were gonna take advantage of them and trash the place and leave it a wreck... so they backed out completely. There WERE even gonna meet Shannon, just to put a face to us and see what kind of people we were like... but then just cut the rope and let us fall. So, we now have half the fam there with no house to go to... 

But at least we can sleep with my sister... not very comfortably, but it is possible. SO, we won't FREEZE TO DEATH!   HAHAHA!!!

That was a Kentucky joke... if you didn't get it... I don't think ANYONE can freeze to death there...