October 26, 2008

Slacking again

I'm starting to get really bad about posting! What the heck is up with me? Well, I can let you in on some things. Friday night I went to Fritz's with Bruce. We spent some time there having fun. I hadn't been back down to Fritz's since before I left for Oklahoma. It was good to get back there and see all the familiar faces and help put Fritz's daughters through college.

Saturday afternoon we had some family fun. We took Clone to some local seasonal attractions. The Pumpkin Patch and Edwards Apple Orchard (Or as Clone called it, "The apple torture"). Edward's was destroyed by tornado back in January and it was good to see that they were up and running again. The new buildings looked nice and the new layout was much more customer friendly. I hate to say this, but it almost looks like the tornado was almost beneficial to the business. It may have been heart breaking, but the buildings look fantastic and are much larger.

Some of the highlights from the day are:

My impressing the crowd and staff at The Pumpkin Patch with my skills at the pumpkin launcher. Think of a water balloon slingshot set on a permanent pole. They have two smaller ones that are actually water balloon slingshots and a large one that is custom made using what looks like surgical tubing. The guy running the games was verbally impressed with how far I could pull the tube back. The other people out there had trouble pulling it back with in feet of how far I could pull it. Now, I'm not saying I'm strong, I just have a good technique for these things. Another guy that tried between my two turns came over and was talking to me about how far I flung those pumpkins.

Clones favorite souvineer wasn't anything we bought, but a piece of wheat I picked while we took a hay ride. The boy wouldn't let go of it all day and even brought it in the house at the end of the night.

At night we went to a Haunted Hayride at Lockwood Park that was put on by the Rockford Park District. It was fun, Clone was brave and didn't get scared. He just sat there and looked on entertained by the antics of the monsters.

Overall we had a great time. It was something we needed.

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October 09, 2008

Happy Anniversary!

Today, October 9th, is Ktreva and mine's 9th wedding anniversary. 9 years ago today my beautiful and loving wife took one for the team and threw herself on the grenade that is Contagion.

I couldn't be happier.

Happy anniversary honey! At least we get to spend it together. A month ago at this time we thought I'd be in Oklahoma still.

Life is good.

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August 12, 2008

What a stupid arguement.

On the ride home tonight Ktreva and I were going over our plans for the week and the needs of the boys before school starts. Then all of a sudden Ktreva says rather upset like, "Why do you do that?" I had no idea what she was talking about. So I ask, "What do you mean?" She gets even more upset and says, "You did it again!" I'm still confused... I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I really want to figure it out so that I can stop doing it. Thus I ask "What am I doing?" That is when she goes off and says, "You always ask me questions! You answer my questions with questions!"

Okay, I can understand that. But usually it's because I'm trying to figure out what she is asking me or what information she is looking for. Most of the time I'm trying to get clarification on the question, not avoiding it. This arguement turned into a full meltdown and I was confused because I was trying not to ask questions and she is getting madder because I just don't understand... but I can't ask questions to help myself to understand.

The boys are in the van and just watching in amazement as we argue over the whole thing. Finally Boopie speaks up and says, "Mom and Dad, this is the stupidest argument I've ever heard!" Now he's right, because the whole time I'm trying not to laugh at the utter stupidity of the whole thing, Ktreva is getting more agitated, but even she is laughing at the whole thing.

Personally I think she was just picking a fight because she missed fighting with me while I was away.

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July 27, 2008

The weekend is over.

I didn't really do anything this weekend. After being gone so long, I decided to just stay home and hang out with the family. Actually I was just trying to get some resemblance of normalcy. I know the next couple of weeks are going to be really hectic and I'm not sure how things are going to go. Right now I'm planning on spending a lot of time in the office to try to get everything caught up.

I'm bound and determined to get this job wrapped up as quickly as possible.

I know this project is probably going to last until the end of the year, but a lot of it should be able to be handled out of my office. Once I get to that point I think I can start doing my job out of the Rockford office again. Right now it looks like I might be returning to Rockford sometime between the 9th and 15th, but I'll probably be heading back down to Oklahoma sometime around Labor Day.

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July 23, 2008

Goodbye Jack.

Ktreva's grandfather passed away yesterday. It's never easy when a loved one dies, but right now is even harder. I really wish I was back home and able to comfort and help her. Unfortunately I'm 600 miles away. I completely feel like a failure as a husband.

Her grandfather was the only in-law I had that liked me. Whenever we would visit Jack and I would spend hours talking. This man lead a long and interesting life. He fought in World War 2 and would tell me stories about that and the difficulties of his childhood growing up an orphan. It was just this last December listening to his stories that I realized that he fought with the 101st Airborne, Easy Company. Yes, Band of Brothers fans, the same unit. He made all the jumps and even was at Bastogne. I was hoping to hear more of his stories this year at Thanksgiving.

Jack was also a pilot. He owned a recreation P-51 Mustang and would fly it for airshows. He was proud of that plane. I remember the first time he showed it to me at one of the airshows. It was a beautiful craft that was well maintained.

I liked Jack. He was a smart man with a great sense of humor. Unfortunately since they lived 12 hours away, we didn't get to see him as much as we would have liked. It was a situation we couldn't remedy without moving closer.

Even though he didn't fly during World War 2; he did serve, honor and fight for his country, and he was an avid pilot. I feel this is appropriate for him:

Missing MAn.jpg
The missing man formation as done with P-51 mustangs.

God speed Jack. Thank you for everything.

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July 16, 2008

Today should be a National Holiday.

Today is Ktreva's birthday. She turned a very beautiful and sexy 29. I'm trying to make today very special for her. She's not really liking this whole Oklahoma situation. Even the best case scenario that I'm back in two weeks doesn't make her happy. Since she is really upset over the whole thing I want today to be extremely special for her.

Please,

Please,

Please, go over to The Reality Ranch and wish her a Happy Birthday today. She deserves it. Heck, she should be nominated for sainthood just for marrying me.

Thank you.

Thanks!

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July 07, 2008

Golf, Water Slides and beer.

Even though our vacation didnÂ’t go the way we had originally planed, we still had a damn good one. On Monday we wanted to get together with lovely, talented and charming Tammi of TammiÂ’s world. SheÂ’s up and leaving us Northern Illinois folks for greener pastures. I donÂ’t blame her; it just sucks as she makes the best Mexican Manicotti. That and I love to sit and talk with her. I know Ktreva feels the same way, about the talkingÂ… not the manicotti. First we went to lunch at Der Rathskeller. After lunch Ktreva and Tammi went clothes shopping and I took the boys to Volcano Falls for some mini-golf and go-carts. Clone was big enough to drive the kiddie carts by himself this year. He was THRILLED!

On Tuesday we took the boys to Coco Key Water Resort. We have two water resorts in Rockford, Magic Waters and Coco Key. The boys chose to which one we went. Coco Key is an indoor water park and the boys figured that it would be less crowded. Boopie also figured Clone would have more fun as itÂ’s more geared to younger kids. The whole family had fun. We spent over 6 hours there swimming, riding the slides, floating in the lazy river or just sitting in the hot tub.

On Wednesday we loaded up the family and headed to Macomb, IL. Ktreva had been asking since weÂ’ve been married to go to Macomb. For those of you that donÂ’t know, I graduated from Western Illinois University. I tell stories about it all the time. Ktreva wanted to see where these stories took place. We drove around and I showed them the residence halls I stayed in, took them into the student union, showed them some of the houses that held parties we frequently attended. ETC.

WIU Wetzel Hall'

Here the family is posing next to the sign for Wetzel Hall. ItÂ’s the dorm I lived in as a freshman and sophomore. That night I took them to my favorite Pizza place for dinner, AurelioÂ’s. The pizza there was just as good as I remembered. After dinner the family wanted to see a movie so we went and saw Hancock.

Thursday before we left we ate lunch at a place on the Macomb Square that advertised Chicken Lips. Ktreva asked me what they where, but since this restaurant was new since I attended college, I had no idea. We decided to stop in for lunch. If you want to know what Chicken lips areÂ… youÂ’ll just have to go to ChickÂ’s on the Square and get some for yourself.

After leaving Macomb I took the family to some of the places I visited on my canoe trip last month, then we went to Wil and RedÂ’s place for the weekend. At this point I really canÂ’t go into too many details. As soon as we had our tents set up, Wil started pouring beer down my throat. Between him and Noah they forced me to open and drink 4 of the growlers of Carlyle beer I brought. The only reason I didnÂ’t get into the other two is because Ktreva reserved a growler of the Irish red for herself and one of the growlers of stout was for Petey. After the growlers were gone we went through a couple of cases of beer.

On the Fourth of July, Wil hosted a Beer Tasting for some of his friends and family. It turned into quite an affair. I really wish I could go into more details, but the details get really fuzzy. I do know that at one point I was yelling at someone over their review of a beer. Three of the members of the Blue Grass Band Noah belongs to showed up and played some music. Boopie and Clone set off some fireworks. And then a bunch of NoahÂ’s drunken friends showed up. Good times, good times.

The family and I ended up staying until Sunday. I was figuring Wil and Red would have booted us off of their property by then, but they encouraged us to stick around. We had a couple more cases of surplus beer and some surplus food that needed eating. So we hung around, the boys played on rock piles and we were able to visit and talk with good friends we donÂ’t get to see too often. It was one hell of a good weekend.

Although I do want to know how NoahÂ’s band did on Saturday night. They had a gig at a local bar with other bands. The only problem is that the other bands were all metal bands. I waited up Saturday night for stories, but he just never came home.

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May 22, 2008

Rescued!!!!

Just when I thought the hellish nightmare of single parenthood was going to kill me, in sweeps Ktreva like a Navy SEAL to rescue me! She got done early and drove straight home as fast as she could. Sensing her getting closer, Clone and Boopie even behaved. When she arrived, she kicked in the front door, took the boys out with a rapid fire hug and kiss and saved me!

My Hero!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take her upstairs and give her the reword reward she rightfully deserves! Well, okay, I'm just going to do that thing that I like to do that makes me happy and doesn't really do much for her, but I don't care because I got mine.

Update: Okay, it did do something for her... twice.

Yes, I know I'm going to pay for this post.

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May 21, 2008

Clone strikes back, Day 3

Since I last left you, let me give you an update on what has happened. Clone reminded me last night at least 50 times that his graduation from Pre-school was today. In fact it started around 7:00 PM and kept on until well into the evening. In fact it kept on even after he went to bed. I kid you not he woke me up at 10:45 PM to say, “Dad, time to get up, I need to graduate!” Of course I sent him back to bed.

Then he woke me up at around midnight to tell me he was thirsty. Then he woke me up around 1:15AM to tell me it was time to get up to graduate. The next wake up was at 2:30 AM, but this time it was “Dad, I had an accident.” Yea… no more drinks after bedtime. He woke me up again at 4:00 AM saying it was time to graduate. Finally he woke me up at 4:45 AM again for graduation.

When the alarm finally went off at 5:45 AM, I felt like I had barely slept. Then to make matters worse, when I went to wake him up… he gave me attitude saying HE was tired. Yes, he’s still alive. No I did not throw him out of the window. Yes, I thought about it. Finally, we get on our way. His graduation wasn’t until 11:00AM, so he had to go to Grandma’s first while I worked for a while. Of course he pitched a fit because, “Dad, you’re not listening to me. Teacher said graduation is now! We have to go now.” Yea, no such luck buddy, Daddy’s gotta go to hell and earn a paycheck.

When I picked him up at 10:45 to head to the park where the party was at, it was like grandma had fed him a diet of Jolt, Energy Drinks, sugar and crystal meth. He was bouncing all over the place. Now this graduation is a potluck picnic with a small ceremony where they release some butterflies at the end. At least he got to work off some of that energy playing.

IÂ’ve known for a while that most of the momÂ’s of the kids at this pre-school are stay at home mothers. I have nothing against that. A lot of them are friends and set up play dates for their kids. They are also those prissy Real Housewives of Orange County wannabe women. They dress in their latest California fashions and try to emulate the stars. I was one of three guys there. One of the otherÂ’s was a grandfather and retired, the other looks like he was on lunch from a construction site. Especially since every time I see the guy he is wearing a different T-shirt for the same local contractor. Needless to say most of the food other people brought were homemadeÂ… either by the moms or by their housekeeper.

Me, I just ran through the grocery store and bought a pre-made fruit tray. According to the list I was supposed to bring a fruit, vegetable or chip item. I thought the fruit tray fit nicely into that. The really stuck up moms looked down their noses at me. Then again I just kind of let it roll off, I was the only one there wearing a suit. I left work to go to this, and had to return. One of the busybody wives struck up a conversation with me and asked about my wife. I explained that she was in Chicago on a business trip. She gave me a snide little, “Oh”. To which I responded, “She has a pretty good career going and I supported her decision to keep it after Clone was born. She’s one of those women that doesn’t want to be judged by how good their cheesy potato recipe is.” Yea, I wasn’t making friends.

I guess their must be some competition between them over who has the best cheesy potato recipe because that is what most of them brought was some combination of potatoes and cheese. They were good, but honestly I could have gone for some variety.

As soon as the ceremony was over I took Clone back to GrandmaÂ’s and I returned to work. Clone was now upset that he only got to play at the park for two hours and tried to get me to agree to let him play a couple hours more. Yea, that wasnÂ’t happening.

At least now itÂ’s over.

Right now IÂ’m waiting on Bruce to call me so we can go pick up some firewood for this weekend. BTW, no beer review this week. With me being home alone with both boys and trying to get some housework done, there just isnÂ’t time.

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May 20, 2008

Contagion under siege, day 2.

Okay, last night went smoothly, relatively. Other than one meltdown where the boys were fighting, not much else happened. Clone decided he couldnÂ’t figure out how to put on his Pajamas. HeÂ’s only been doing it himself for at least 2 years. Boopie was actually well behaved.

This morning is a completely different story. We start with Clone not wanting to get out of bed. Then it turned into we couldnÂ’t find his shoes. He had them yesterday, but today we canÂ’t find them. When I asked him where he took them off at, he pointed to a spot on the floor and said right there. Yea, like he knows the exact spot where he took of his shoes. After 30 minutes of tearing through the house trying to find his shoes, I wake Boopie up to see if he just happens to know where they are. Sure enough he doesÂ… They are under BoopieÂ’s bed. DonÂ’t ask me why, but that is where they were.

Clone was particularly whiney. He complained about what side of the vehicle he was getting into on to what route I took to Grandma’s. When we arrived he then became clingy because “he was sad.” He wanted to get out on the other side of the vehicle. Thank jeebus I was dropping him off.

WorkÂ… uh went.

I pick up Clone to find out today while playing with the other kids he made a sign and glued it to the side of the house. It was a sign to tell the other kids where they could find him once he left, it had a map and everything. Needless to say my mother was not amused when I started laughing and said, “Who in the world would leave a five year old unattended with a glue stick?”

I get home and jump onto the computer to see if any of my shipments arrived were they where supposed to. Spurs did receive his DragonÂ’s Milk. (Score one Contagion!) As soon as I start up the browser I can see something is wrong. So I check a program I installed on the computer to monitor itÂ’s activity. Sure enough Boopie was on the computer this morning after I left the house. I donÂ’t know where he went because he deleted the history. When confronted he lied about it, the boy just isnÂ’t going to learn.

Now itÂ’s time for me to go start cleaning the kitchen. IÂ’m sure many great stories will continue.

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May 19, 2008

Contagion under siege!

Day one. Ktreva has left this morning for a week long business trip in Chicago. I have been left to my own devices with Boopie and Clone.

This morning, after dropping Clone off, I had to take Ktreva to get a rental car and then go to work. Work sucked. 4 of my six peers are gone this week . The two that are remaining, one is useless and the other is struggling with her unit. That left me to run 4 units. Fortunately I was all caught up on Friday when I left. For now I am behind. I spent most of the day trying to handle the needs of 70+ employees by myself.

Rumor has it that I may have been slightly grouchy today.

I was late leaving work due to my situation and missed a political meeting that I really had wanted to attend. Needless to say, I was not amused.

After picking up the boys I took them to the grocery store. We were pretty much out of food. In hopes of encouraging the boys to behave, I told them they could each pick one meal they wanted me to make this week AND they could get anything they wanted for dinner tonight. This idea backfired as all I got were generalities. Boopie said he wanted Chicken. What kind of chicken? I don't know... just chicken, you decide.

It kind of defeated the purpose. When I asked what they wanted for dinner tonight Clone decided it should be peanuts and bananas. It wasn't until we were almost done and I had picked just about everything that they both started asking, "Can we get this?" or "Can we have that?" Yes, both boys are still alive... barely.

As I sit here and type this I hear crying coming from the other room. They are beating on each other.

Why can't they behave when momma is gone?

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May 08, 2008

He's daft.

Boopie has made me want to quote Sheriff Buford T. Justice, "There's no way, *no* way that you came from *my* loins. Soon as I get home, first thing I'm gonna do is punch yo mamma in da mouth!"

Okay, as I told you all two days ago, he turned fifteen and we gave him an I-Pod Nano. That night I told him no less than four times that he is NOT to bring it to school. We've been having problems with his grades and behavior in school. The last thing he needed was this distraction.

Yesterday on lunch I had to run home because I forgot my wallet. Since I was home I thought I'd check to see if he actually listened. I looked in his room and couldn't find the I-pod. It wasn't on the docking station, it wasn't on his desk, shelf or dresser. In the morning before I left for work it was on the docking station. I was annoyed, but I figured it was a new toy and he wanted to show his friends. So I decided that I was going to let him off with a warning.

Ktreva had to have a tooth pulled yesterday so she went home from work early. I had just gotten out of a meeting when she calls me and tells me that we got a letter from school that Boopie is FAILING 5 classes, including Gym. Now, if you recall, we have been having trouble with him all year. We have arranged tutoring for him, we have checked his homework, we have called the school. Hell, I sold all of his video games. Now I have him doing all kinds of menial labor around the house. You know like cutting up branches into exactly 12 inch lengths and stacking them neatly, digging holes and filling them back in, etc.

When I got home I asked Boopie were his I-pod was. Of course he told me it was on the docking station. I ask, "Did you take it to school?" and he starts to lie saying no, that it was on the docking station all day. I called him out on it. Needless to say I've confiscated the I-pod. He got to enjoy it for less then 12 hours. When I asked him why he took it to school he said he wanted to listen to it. I gave him the third degree regarding hearing me tell him not to take it to school, and he confirmed he did. He just couldn't tell me why he would do it. (Because he thought he wouldn't get caught.)

Then we talked about his grades. People I don't know what to do. The school won't hold him back. We spoke with them about it. The only option we have is to send him to another school next year. One designed for troubled kids.

I hate to say this, but I'm about to just turn him over to his father. We can't do anything about this if his father undermines and undoes all the work we've done. Both Ktreva and I are at our wits end about the boy.

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May 06, 2008

Boopie's gonna need a new nickname

Today is Boopie's Birthday. He turned 15. That means he's one year away from driving. May the powers that be help us all when that happens. He really hates his nickname, especially when I'm in the school parking lot waiting to pick him up and I start screaming it at the top of my lungs and waving at him. Maybe I'll have to give him a new one.

We've taken him out to dinner, eaten some Strawberry Cheesequake cake from Dairy Queen he had to have. Now I have to turn the computer over to him because the big gift we got him was an I-pod Nano with a docking station. So he wants to go throw all these songs on there.

Even I'm not cruel enough to say no today.

Well, okay I am, but Ktreva promised to do that thing I really like that she hardly ever does if I let him load it up.

I'll see you all tomorrow!

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April 24, 2008

I'm Back!

Let's see... MuNu has been down for me for about 15 hours. Yes, I have posts to make, including a beer review.

I'm home today. I was supposed to work, but Clone was up in the middle of the night vomiting. I thought it was just food poisoning as I'm feeling a bit off. I took him to the sitters and went to work. I was there about an hour when I got a call that he's complaining of an upset stomach and was getting sick. So I headed off to get him.

Also, last night my mother was taken BACK to the hospital. She had another heart attack. They are going to perform the surgery today to do the fourth artery, they originally were going to wait, but feel they can no longer do that.

To top things off, I am supposed to head to a re-enactment today. Now I'm not sure if I'm going.

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I'm Back!

Let's see... MuNu has been down for me for about 15 hours. Yes, I have posts to make, including a beer review.

I'm home today. I was supposed to work, but Clone was up in the middle of the night vomiting. I thought it was just food poisoning as I'm feeling a bit off. I took him to the sitters and went to work. I was there about an hour when I got a call that he's complaining of an upset stomach and was getting sick. So I headed off to get him.

Also, last night my mother was taken BACK to the hospital. She had another heart attack. They are going to perform the surgery today to do the fourth artery, they originally were going to wait, but feel they can no longer do that.

To top things off, I am supposed to head to a re-enactment today. Now I'm not sure if I'm going.

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April 17, 2008

Yesterday.

If you're looking for the beer review, I didn't do one this week and am not planning on one right now. With everything else going on, it just isn't a priority. They will continue next week.

Mom had her surgery. She had four blockages, 2 at 99%, one at 89% and one at 75%. They were thinking of doing bypass surgery, but because of her age the decided that stints would work better. The surgery went well. They were only able to get three of the four stints put in yesterday. When they finished with the third one she had been on the table for a long time and they felt that putting a fourth one in at that time would just jeopardize her health even more. They are going to wait until she regains some of her strength and do the fourth.

During the diagnostic phase they also found two extremely large gall stones. They told us she is going to have to have her galbladder removed in the next year or so.

Mom is doing fine. She's not handling the pain and discomfort too well and she is being very picky about how things are going to be done. IE she likes Diet A&W rootbeer. Other than water or milk she refused to drink anything but Diet A&W rootbeer. She was telling the nurses and staff that if they can't bring her a Diet A&W rootbeer, then she doesn't want anything else. Even if it was diet rootbeer by a different company, she wouldn't accept it. So my Dad is bringing her some.

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April 16, 2008

It wasn't indigestion.

It seems that mom had a heart attack last night. They've taken her into surgery for an angiogram and to place a couple of stints, that was about 2 hours ago. I haven't hear anything new since. In cases like this, no news is good news.

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Horrible day.

Yesterday is a day that will forever go down in my book as one of the worst days ever. It started off nicely enough but things took a turn for the worse quickly.

It all started while I was in a morning meeting, just after the meeting started one of my employees came into the conference room and advised us of an emergency. An employee that doesn't report to me had collapsed at her desk. Her supervisor, another and the managers went to check on her. The rest of us stayed in the conference room to finish the meeting. We paused for a moment when the ambulance arrived and then continued on. A couple of minutes later when it left with in minutes of arrival lights and sirens we knew something bad had happened. Usually when we have an incident the ambulance arrives, they stay for about 15 minutes prior to leaving and they leave rather slowly.

Upon leaving the room we were hit with the information that the employee had passed out at her desk, was having trouble breathing and they had issues finding a pulse. They had put an AED (Automatic Emergency Defibrillator) in order to find a heart beat. About an hour later our office was hit with the news that the employee had died. Most of the day was spent trying to comfort and support an emotionally devastated staff.

Then last night around 9:45 my phone rings. There is breathing on the other end and I have to say hello twice before I get anything. It was my mother. She was calling to say that she wasnÂ’t feeling good, she was rather incoherent and wasnÂ’t completing sentences. Then we were disconnected. I jumped off of the couch, grabbed my keys to head to her house as fast as KtrevaÂ’s van could take me. While in route I called her back to see if I could get specifics and to see if I needed to call 911. I thought maybe Dad was out and she was alone having problems.

When I called her back she told me she was heading to the hospital, Dad was driving. She handed the phone to Dad and he told me she was having chest pains and was complaining of not feeling good. They told me not to head over as there wasnÂ’t anything I could do at this time. So I turned around and went home.

Through out the night and this morning I received news that she was being admitted and that they were running tests. This morning Dad tells me that no matter what happens, Mom is not going to be working for the rest of the week, which is to be expected. He also told me that mom was stable and that the doctor was in checking on here and preparing to run some more tests to make sure everything is okay.

Needless to say, not much sleep last night.

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March 31, 2008

Home at last.

And I'm ready to go back to work.

Clone had the last of his Birthday party's this weekend. We had his kid's party at McDonalds. Which after dealing with 10 3-6 year olds for 2 hours I was ready to call it the end. The important point was that he had fun.

After his party I took Clone to his first Football Game. Well okay, he's seen his brother play flag football and middle school football, but this was semi-professional football. The Rock River Raptors. I even had his name and birthday announced over the intercom and on the jumbotron. He loved the whole thing. He was pretty good up until the start of the fourth quarter. Then he started getting tired and wanted to go home. He had a lot of fun, and keeps asking me to take him again. And I will sometime... just probably not until next year.

After the game Bruce and I hooked up with Graumagus at Carlisle's for a couple of rounds of the best damned Scottish Ale on tap. This is where Graumagus tricked me into helping him move the next day. Apparently not only did he want me to give him the extra washer and dryer that I had, but he wanted me to haul it and help move it for him too. What an ingrate!

That was all on Saturday. Sunday I wake up at noon... after not getting home until 3:30AM. Grau was supposed to call and say he was coming over. I had just gotten downstairs when there's a knock on the door. Guess who? I answer the door with, "I thought you were going to call first?" He responded with, "Yea, I remembered that as soon as I pulled up." Fortunately I was awake.

The dryer was in my basement, the washer was in the garage. They had been sitting in the same spot unused for almost 10 years. It appears that my garage roof must have sprung a leak in the winter as there was a bunch of nasty water in the washer. Which made it that much more heavy. By the way, it seems that back in the 60's they made washers using cast iron. That damn thing was heavy! The extra water didn't help. Plus we had to lift it into the back of my truck. Fortunately it's only about a 3.5 foot vertical lift.

After moving the washer and dryer into his new apartment's basement, we plugged it in to check it out. I guess a 40 year old electrical appliance sitting under the leaking roof of a garage doesn't last too well... it didn't seem to work. Owell, as I told him. It's his problem now! I offered to give him his money back... but since it was free he didn't think it would be worth the hassle.

As punishment for making him take a broken washer, which I did warn him it may not work, I had to help him move a refrigerator too. At this point I should mention that Wes did come over to help with all of this. I don't want to leave him out. We go to his sister's storage unit where the frige is sitting and try to get it out. Grau had to play reverse tetris in order to be able to even thing about sliding it out of the unit.

When he opened the door we discovered that a year and a half ago when it was put in the storage unit, his sister hadn't bothered to clean nor properly empty the thing. Yea... that wasn't pleasant.

After getting that to his new place and making 398,7485 gay jokes about his curtains and just him in general we made a nice impression on his new neighbors. Lets just say me rubbing my nipples in the parking lot and saying in a lisp, "If you think that frige is dirty now, just wait until we get together later." Yeah... I think his new neighbors believe a big ol' "bear" is moving in. Even after that and the broken washer Grau was kind enough to take Wes and I to Hooters for some Hot Wings and beer.

That sounds like it was all pretty easy going and fun, so why do I want to go back to work? Well, Ktreva is in Chicago on business leaving me home alone with the boys. I'm about ready to tranquilize both of them and hide them in a closet.

Now if you'll excuse me in the time it took me to write this, I think they managed to disassemble Clone's bed.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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March 24, 2008

He's a whole hand!

Clone is all excited he hit the age of five. To quote him, "I'm a whole hand now daddy!" He says this as he holds up his hand with all the fingers spread out wide. He was very pleased with himself. In his head he has hit the first of the birthday milestones. In celebration of that achievement he decided he was going to eat some of his Easter Candy.

Clone b-day.jpg

He pulled and pulled on the plastic egg. Which on a side note it was a plastic egg that looked like an egg shaped bunny. By yanking on the egg you are effectively ripping the head off of the rabbit to get to the candy in the middle. No wonder he enjoyed it so much.

Unfortunately five is the age when kids start to take notice of the happenings in their world. They notice how things are changing politically, socially and in technology. Clone, much like his father, does not like the future he sees for our country and has decided that he is going to take a stance against it. At five years old Clone has become

see extended entry: more...

Posted by: Contagion at 04:45 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 229 words, total size 2 kb.

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