Christmas is over. I probably should not be writing my first post in nearly three weeks at this particular time. I have a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth right now, so just be aware of this and take whatever comments I make with a grain of salt, alright?

We do not take elaborate trips for vacations. A big "vacation" for us is making the seven hour drive down to Gatlinburg for some time in a cabin in the Smokie Mountains. Alot of time we just stay home while on "vacation" and that's fine by me, honestly, as long as I do not even have to think about work the entire time. Having said that, supposedly I am on "vacation" right now. Now, I know good and well that a vacation for me at this time of year is not going to include a trip, and it is definitely not going to be a vacation where I do not have to worry about work. Why? Because it is the holidays. And that means that we are short staffed, everyone wants (expects) me to figure out a way for them to not have to work. This years holiday scheduling for me had been the most difficult of the 8 previous "holiday schedules" I have created since 1998. Unexpected personnel changes in the weeks just prior to Christmas have been the predominate reason why. I worked as the evening RC on December 23rd (while I was on vacation which supposedly started on Dec 20). And the entire time since I stepped out of the office on Dec 20, I have been worried about our schedule for at least on reason. I keep checking my YSB email (Kim says: "Why would you check your work email while you are on vacation?" - and of course I just think how I would love to not have to worry about it, but it is an absolute fact that I have to worry about it) and every time I do this while I am on vacation I just clinch my teeth because I just end up becoming aware of additional staffing/scheduling problems that I must deal with.

I just want (and i believe really NEED) a vacation where I am not constantly stressed. I mean, the holidays do that anyway, but add into it the constant worry about the shelter schedule and the only thing making it a vacation is that I am not physically in the office.

.......why am I putting all of this on here? I have no idea. I know that anyone reading this is probably on here because they want me to post how Christmas was and really has no interest in my aggravation with work issues. And that's fine, of course.....

Christmas....I have to be honest. This was the strangest Christmas I can remember. Do you want to know the first thing I did Christmas morning? Usually, I am woken by exclamations and announcements that Santa had indeed visited our home. Well, I slept absolutely terribly Christmas Eve night and when I finally did get out of bed first at 6:20am, the first thing I did walk walk quickly into our bathroom where I proceeded to puke my guts out. Kim and Jackson had already vomited on Christmas Eve, so it was my turn. Carson's bout with the illness was earlier in the week when he vomited an entire and intact McDonald's french fry on the living room floor. I could not for the life of me figure out how a 2 year old can swallow a 5 inch french fry without damaging the structure of it // Time out - I just had to take a few minute break from writing this because Jackson came out of his room with a worried look on his face and told me that he just had a bad dream. I picked him up and held him on the couch for a few minutes and then I asked him if he got scared about something and he said: "Well, Goldie and Marvin got shot. Some hunters broke into our house and shot them". (Goldie and Marvin are our goldfish). I look at him and was somehow able to keep from laughing and said to him:"Well, it was just a dream....Daddy's here and everything is alright, buddy."// Okay back to the story. So Carse was just recovering from his stomach flu and Jackson puked first thing Christmas Eve morning. Then Kim puked during the Day on Christmas Eve and then I hurled first thing Christmas morning. I'll tell you, for the first twelve hours of Christmas Day I felt like total crap...Nauseous, Headaches, no energy, no appetite, and of course not FESTIVE! That was awful for both Kim and I to feel terrible on Christmas and Jackson was better but not 100%. By the time we went over to mom and dad's in the evening, we both really started to feel better. It was also weird because for the first time in the 16 (total) years that Kim and I have been together we were not at Kim's mother's on Christmas eve, as she was in West Virginia.

So between the whole family being sick, not being with Kim's family at all, and me worrying the entire time about work issues, it really was a strange Christmas. Despite me feeling like dog-crap, I did get a couple of decent pictures from Christmas morning at our house, after the discovery that Santa had been there. Here they are:


Here is Carse running around after the great discovery. I love the expression. Notice how Santa knocked out one of the logs from the fireplace!

Carson enjoying the moment as we opened presents after S.C. had already come.


Here is Jackson checking out the stuff from Santa...I think he is looking at a treasure map from his "Pyrates" legos.


Here is Mr. Jackson sporting the new Spiderman robe we got him.

We took the boys to see Santa at Metropolis in Plainfield last night.

Happy Thanksgiving from Jackson and Carson Whited

I have had a “crick” in my neck for six days. Usually when you sleep on your neck wrong, it lasts for what, a day or two? So I don’t know if my neck is broken or what…

“I feel that your management skills need some adjustment”. This is what a (now) former employee stated to me in an email today. She had just blown off a shift on Sunday and had not make any contact with anyone whatsoever until today when I got the email. This is someone who had done this once before a few weeks ago and everyone was calling for me to fire her, and I chose not to. Instead I gave her a second chance and put her on probation. So when this young 21-year-old indicated this today, I felt the need to reply with the following: “I agree that my management skills need some adjustment. I certainly make mistakes. For example, I absolutely should have fired you the first time your lack of responsibility put our team in this kind of crisis situation. You may have heard the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me".

Remember when George W. Bush made this reference? Hopefully I did not flub it up as bad as he did (check out the very last scene of Fahrenheit 911).

Anyone want to work at a Youth Shelter? Give me a holler if you would and I’ll try to hook you up.

Apparently, my father fell of the roof of the house while hanging up Christmas lights? Mom said that he hurt his arm/shoulder pretty bad, but he refuses to go get checked out by a doctor, even though he has been having to walk around with his hand in his pocket to hold his arm up. Anyone ever wondered where I get some of my profound stubborness?

STAR STUDENT

The Whiteds have a new celebrity in the family. Mr. Jackson Whited was selected as a star student of the week at Cloverdale Elementary school for October 30-November 3. He brought home a "Star Student" license plate holder, and a coupon for a free Frosty from Wendy's. Of couse Jackson has handled all of the publicity in a humble manner, announcing "I'm really not that famous" after dinner last night.

I love it when people submit stuff. Here is a photo of Alex, all set for Halloween. Thanks Tom!

Also, I wanted to mention that I found out yesterday that Lisa and Dan have discovered the sex of the baby................it's a BOY! (although my mother could not immediately recall the name....a little help here, anyone?)

Can someone remind me again why we got a dog?

I have been the commisioner of a fantasy football league for 10 years now. I started out in the early days back when I had to gather everyone's stats on Sportcenter and from the newspaper and calculate everything myself. Anyhow, I posted the following message on our league website this evening:


Well, I made a decision today. And I'm OK with it. This is going to be the last year for the Gosport Enigmas. I can't do this anymore. Obviously this means that I will no be the commisioner after 2006, so if you all want to continue with the league I'm sure you will do just fine without me.


I can't simply enjoy football for what it is anymore. It's too complex. As much as I love NFL football, fantasy football is draining all the joy out of it. Anyone that knows me knows that I am a big time competitor. And I'm a sore loser. It's a fact and I admit it. And I just cannot continue to go through this.


Just consider this and maybe you will begin to understand: After losing my 3rd straight yesterday, it brought back serious Deja Vu. I started out 6-0 this year, now three straight losses. So I went back and checked every game of the last four seasons. Here is what I found: my cumulative record starting out these four seasons is 29-5. My record to close out these four seasons, including playoffs, is 4-17. Now how does that happen? Every season? I don't know and it doesn't matter anymore. What I do know is that I cannot invest myself in this anymore.....Combine that with all the headches of being a commisioner and it's just something I would be better off not having to endure. My family deserves to have a husband and a father on Sunday and Monday nights, not a sressed-out lunatic who looks at the computer every minute-and-a-half.


So......I'll finish out the season as the Enigmas and the commish, of course. I'll do my best to collect the remaining prize money and hand it over to Smashmouth after week 16. At this point, though.....I am in the red so there may be no prize money.....Hope Smashie can accept that. Thanks everyone for all the memories, good and bad. Let me know if there might be anyway for me to help with transitioning to a new commish for 2007.

I'm getting worse and worse about posting on here. Time is just flying by. It seems like I just have less and less time for The Whited News. By the time we get the boys to bed every night, Kim and I are both just completely exhausted and all we want to do it just grab our blankies and fall alseep on the couch with Dancing With The Stars or The SuperNanny on the TV.

We have been more involved with stuff though. We have been doing "small groups" through church with the Hubers and the Teipens and have enjoyed that very much. I have been going to Praise and Worhip band rehearsals on Thursday nights at the church and Jackson has been going with me lately. It looks like I will be alternating on the drums every other week with DeeDee. This past Sunday was the second time I have played for the service. It was great. I'm getting alot of comments about it and it has been something I have really enjoyed. For years I have wanted to play drums again, but it is completely different this time around. In high school, I just thought I was the bomb - to be honest. As conceited as that is, it's the truth. It was all about me and I just tried to overpower the band with my drumming. The Cloverdale High School band was not very good, we had poor direction , and I was just looking after me, basically. I will admit it. Now, it's a totally different story. This is for God. I'm playing with some extremely talented musicians. Brice told me that I would probably never play with a better band and I think he is right. I am basically trying not to screw things up. I want feedback. I want direction. It's a total 180.

Halloween was a fun night. Jackson was a Star Wars Stormtrooper and Carson was a little doggie. We went to the church for games and treats and then to Sheila Brinkman's, then to the American Legion to see Ma'am and Pap, then to Marie's, and finally to Kogers. I snapped some pictures. Here they are.

Many of you know the about the great things that have been happening to Kim and I and the boys through the glory of God. In the past month, we have rededicated our lives to Christ, gotten baptized, and joined the church. A number of things that we have been searching for and hoping for over the course of the last few years have happened very quickly for us, and it has been wonderful. Overall, I think I can speak for Kim when I say that we feel rejuvenated, more focused, less stressed, and it’s just as though we have a comforting assurance from the Lord. I may have mentioned in a previous post that we were baptized on October 1, and the service was just a wonderful experience from beginning to end. We had family members there to support us, the church was embracing us with love and excitement…..it was great.

Then the wheels came off at church 3 days later. Real bad.

Without going into much detail, I guess I’ll just say that there was a huge division in the church that was proposed by the senior pastor, in which 2 wonderful Christian people who both have a huge (and I mean gigantic here) role in the church, would be dismissed for reasons, as described to us directly by these two people, were unwarranted reasons. Niether of these two people had done anything morally wrong or unbiblical to warrant their dismissal. It was all about, it seems, personality differences with the senior pastor. I have since done a significant amount of research on church conflict and divisions, and numerous accounts support the following concept:

The true shepherd of the church will be the one who seeks to keep the church together. He will not initiate a split as a solution. He will seek to settle the legitimate issues, while maintaining his focus on the higher issue of Christ-centered unity.

So this helps clear up what is really a complex situation – for me. We attended an emergency church informational meeting on 10/10, in which one person after another stood up and voiced their emotional displeasure with the senior pastor in regards to direct encounters that they had had with him. The deacons of the church each spoke about a meeting that recently took place in which the senior pastor and elders asked the deacons to sign a form authorizing the termination of these two employees. It was clear that most of the deacons were very opposed to signing such a form and did not agree with it or how this was being handled. I could go one and on, but the bottom line is that right now, nobody knows what is going to happen. The senior pastor has cleared out his office and as a result the church thought that he had resigned, but apparently that is not the case.

This has just been tough on us for several reasons. For this to happen immediately after we made this strong commitment to the church is rough. And we have very strong opinions about one of the staff members who was to be fired. This guy is a great Christian. He leads the Praise and Worship music team, and invited me to come in and play some drums for the group. I have wanted to play the drums again for the longest time, and to have a chance to do it for the glory of God was just an opportunity that I felt very blessed to have. He is very inspiring just by being himself, and we find it outrageous to think of terminating him. His wife also is a teacher at the church, and was actually Jackson’s preschool teacher last year. She really did a good job with Jackson and the rest of the class. The kids love her. Jackson would come home and talk about what she taught him about Jesus that day was very influential on us going to the church in the first place.

Anyhow, it is a long story. And it is a real mess right now. But we are just praying for God’s will to happen, and we have faith in that.

What a great weekend...Really does it get much better than this last weekend? Friday night: new members banquet for the church. It was really neat to get together for this and meet with the oter members of the church and the new members. Then Saturday was we had Mom and Dad and Tom and Alex down to our place to celebrate Tom and Mom's birthday. It was great weather, a nice Fall day, and we just had a nice day. Then Sunday, Mom & Dad, The Hubers, Sheri, Larry Suz and Payne came to second church service to see Kim and I get baptized (or as Jackson says "babatized"). What an experience. What a service or worship/prayer and Pastor Steve delivery a wonderful message from God. I just cannot say enough about this weekend. We are so blessed.

The following are pictures taken in our backyard on Saturday afternoon September 30, 2006.

Man, two weeks since a post...

I have really been busy at work. This week things have slowed down a little. But I went through a 2-week stretch there where it was pretty rough. Pretty much every minute of every day was spent trying to get something done. I interviewed several, hired 2 new people, then did their orientation and initial training, as well as taught a CPR class, and First Aid class, you get the picture....so not much time for TWN.

So it's not that nothing is happening. Actually, there are some big things happening with our family. No - we are not having baby #3. Kim and I have been doing some spiritual searching for quite some time now. We have said for a long time that we would like to find a good church for our family to attend regularly and perhaps join. One that is kid friendly and vibrant. We think we have found what we have been looking for since back when we lived in Ellettsville. New Providence Baptist Church. There is quite a bit to the story of how we got to this point, but we have finished three weeks of membership classes, met with the Pastor and some Elders and Deacons, and we have recommitted our lives to Jesus Christ. We will be going to a New Members banquet tomorrow evening. Kim and I are going to baptised on Sunday. Hey, this past Sunday I sat down at a drum set for the first time in probably 14-15 years on the stage of the church and started jamming. It was like riding a bike. Man, it felt good. I am going to the Praise and Worship rehearsal tonight at 7pm. Now, I think they have at least 2 other drummers, so there really may not be much of a need for me, but I want to be involved and I believe this is one of the ways that God is working to get me to engage and meet other church members and be involved in what is going on there. So God is doing some cool things. We are praying everyday, we are reading our bibles. Heck, I downloaded some Contemporary Christian music off Wal-Mart.com yesterday! We just feel that God has been speaking to us for some time now, and He is doing so in a way that is compassionate and patient. If we are not responding to Him then He may find it necessary to capture our attention in a more drastic manner. We are not interested in waiting for that to happen. We have tried to do things "our way" a long time now, and it has been a definite struggle with all of the demands of our lives and giving ourselves more credit than we should about who is in control. The time is now to begin our spiritual walk with Jesus. So far it has been great.

There really have not been many significant events to share with people, thus the lack of recent postings…..I guess I’ll do the next best thing then….Random thoughts on a Wednesday morning – Straight from the mind of the Publisher:

Why did our President have to talk so much about Iraq when he addressed the nation on the 5th year anniversary of 9/11? Why couldn’t he just honor the victims and celebrate the courage and pride our country showed after the terrible tragedy? Nope – he had to sit there and tell us AGAIN why we invaded Iraq.

That hit that Trent Green took on Sunday was one of the worst I have ever seen in a football game. It made me sick to see hit head snap directly into the ground with that kind of force.

Jackson is obsessed with the new Star Wars Lego 2 video game.

Why is it that every single time that we have a non-routine doctor event/procedure, that we have to go through all sorts of problems with the doctor’s office and the insurance company? They always just point the finger at each other and hope that you run out of energy to either investigate or raise hell about something. I’m not kidding, every single time I have to call and be a jerk to 3 or 4 people just to get the stuff taken care of.

What new items has Roscoe destroyed this week? Another window screen, more glider damage, two small limbs off of our silver maple tree, and he has dug a moat around the boys’ turtle sandbox.

Will the Colts be able to run the ball this year without Edge?

Why do people sit in a job interview with me and say that that want a part-time job where they can work 30 hours a week, and then when they start working it’s like pulling teeth to get them to work 10?

Google Earth is pretty cool.

Positive reinforcement is supposed to be positive. Read this rediculous story.

After a flurry of postings in early to mid-August, I took a little unplanned hiatus from the Blogging world. No particular reason beyong just beyng bust (like every one else, I guess). I remember reading on someone else's blog one time that it is funny how when nothing is going on in your life, you have all this time to blog, but nothing interesting to say, but then you are busy, there is alot to say but no time to actually post it. This past couple of weeks have been that way.

So here are my ramdom thoughts on a Saturday afternoon as Kim, Carson, Cosmo and Rosco nap - while Jackson plays Ultimate Spiderman video game and I blog:

I'm pissed at one of my two credit card companies: Citi. They suddenly reduced my cash bask rewards for gas, grocery, and drug stores from a nice 5% for a lousy 2%. Almost no point in keeping the card now. I noticed that Citi actually doesn't even offer the divended card anymore - bastards!

For what reason would Cosmo chew all the bark off of our beautiful Bradford Pear tree in the backyard? Whatever that reason is, it is probably the same reason why he has destroyed the screen door from the sliding-glass door and chewed up out brand new beatiful cedar glider on the patio.

How the hell am I going to cover the schedule for three consecutive weeks of overnights in the shelter? Have they approved cloning, yet? If anyone knows, please let me know.

Am I ever going to beat the computer on "All-Madden" level in Madden 2007?

I wonder what Dean Biasucci is doing? Maybe he can come back and kick for the Colts since Adam Vinatieri mangaed to beak his foot in training camp doing conditioning drills.

I can remember a time when I needed the weekend for rest, relaxation and entertainment to get rejuvenated for the work week. It used to be that way. Now it seems like the only way to get my blood pressure down is to go back to work.

We have about five 4-leaf-clovers taped to the inside of one of Jackson's hardcover bible books. It seems like he finds one every 2 or 3 weeks. I don't think I have every found one in my whole life.

Penneys in July

I have been meaning to get these posted on here. We got these taken at JC Penneys in July. They turned out GREAT. The only thing is, we did not order enough pictures. You see, for those who have not experienced this sort of thing, they make you select your pictures right after they are taken. That means, they put you on the spot while your five-year-old and toddler is in the process of destroying the studio. Here's Kim chasing our kids all over the place, and the staff member is showing me55 great photographs, asking me to select what we want in about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. People are waiting for their pictures to be taken (of course they have kids too, who are about to lose their patience with us) and the staff member is getting sick of showing me pictures over and over and waiting for me to decide what we (I-again, Kim is chasing Carson all over the place). Why is the world they do not allow you to go home and select your pictures in the privacy of your home while your children are napping or watching Jimmy Nuetron, I'll never understand that.

But, as you can see, the pictures themselves turned out great.

JACKSON'S FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

It's official. Jackson is a big boy now. I can't believe it. Yesterday was his first day of Kindergarten. It went very well and he was super excited about it. You should have seen him standing by the front door several minutes before it was time to leave, backpack fastened tightly to his back. Our whole family was there to walk him into his new school. Carson was waving at people he had never met, As we approached the building Jackson blurts out, unprovoked: "I'm not even nervous at all!".

But once we got in the classroom, you could tell that statement was not really the case...check him out here...I snapped this from across the classroom as the kids and there parents were filing in and addressing Mrs. Baugh. Looking a little nervous here, if you ask me! Check out the look on his face!

So as me, Kim and Carson are saying our goodbyes in the classroom, he covers his face with his pencilbox. We left, realizing the we had one little boy left and we were carrying him. The other son was now a big boy. As I buckled Carson in the van before Kim headed for daycare to drop him off, I mentioned, "Hey Carson, this will be you in only four years". Kim about started crying and told me not to say that - as though I had just said something terrible. But it's true and that might be even more amazing.

It has been brought to my attention that the last few posts have been lacking good youngster photos. These two pictures will stop that trend!

Here's Carse eating some yummy corn on the cob yesterday, 8/12. Notice it's just his size!


This one was taken this afternoon in the backyard. We think Roscoe will be the size of a horse before too long.

After months of repeated ear infections, Carson got his ear tubes on Thursday. We drove down to Bedford so that he could get it done sooner. This was an actual surgical procedure, so of course he had to be put under and everything. And, he had to fast since basically dinnertime Wednesday night. This part was tough, because Carse ussually wants his breakfast and his "Uh-Oh" (his drink) as soon as he wakes up in the morning. Since we couldn't explain to him why he could not eat of drink, he we upset and understandabley confused why would would not get him something to eat or drink. Then, the doctor was once agin late and his 11am procedure did not happen until 12:30pm. Everything went fine, though, but the doctor said that there was alot of pus in his ears and that it sure was a good thing that we did it. The toughest part of the whole thing was right after they did it...Carse spent about 20 minutes in recovery and then they brought him to us after he started waking up. They told us that he would likely be upset and they were right on with that. He had a hard cry for well over an hour and there was nothing that we could do about it. They said that he was basically like being drunk and the disorientation and dissiness really tends to upset them when they are that young. Plus, all the crying filled him up with air and he kept arching his back, belching and farting - so that might have been a big part of his discomfort. finally he calmed down, thanks to the light switches in the hospital room. He rather enjoyed turning the lights off and on and that calmed him down finally. Then he ate some mashed potatos and chicken strips, drank some more uh-oh and he was in good shape after that. The transistion from pissed to feeling pretty good was a quick one! A a couple of hours later he was home and acting mostly normal. We just hope that the tubes do not fall out early or the tube could get clogged with junk and be basically usless. The doctor was a little concerned about that happening - maybe clogging is more likely than falling out. But right now it looks like a good thing we did it. Hopefully he will hear better and have much healthier ears!

I’m starting to get pissed…

I’m not a business guru and I am certainly not an expert on marketing. But I did minor in Marketing back at Ball State University and I would like to think that I did learn at least a little from the many Marketing/Advertising classes that I completed. It helped me to become aware of the tactics that advertisers will use to target people for promoting their products. It helped me to understanding that there are several important issues to carefully consider when marketing your product….because the last thing you want to do is piss off your target audience. Well, I’m getting pissed.

Maybe I should have pursued a career in marketing, because even I know not to do some of the things that these nimrods like Speedway and Rhapsody are doing.

There are two examples that are just flat-out misleading. I think the average person would agree with me on these things.

Let’s start with Speedway….you know, the gas stations. Look, people are already pissed off about the gas situation. It’s getting freaking ridiculous, folks! So what does Speedway do? Well, they have a rewards program, the Speedy Rewards Card. Yeah go ahead and click the link and check it out. Now, up until recently I have been pleased with the rewards program. It’s been a good thing for me. But last week, I’m driving past a Speedway, and notice the large sign on the marquee stating that August was “Double Points month!”….Note that this was on a marquee, and you ain’t gonna find no damn small print on a marquee, right? Right! I did not buy gas that day….but I noticed it, and I decided that I would make even more effort to purchase gas at Speedway for the entire month of August….even if it meant going out of my way a little.

So the next opportunity, I did…..as I was pumping the gas, I noticed several other signs declaring “DOUBLE POINTS on your Speedway card in August!” I finish pumping and as I am pulling away I take a look at the receipt to see just how many points I had earned since I just spent over 40 bucks on their gas. The points earned was NOT DOUBLED! I grumbled something about it to my wife, who gets tired of me being a cheap ass, and I just tried to leave it at that and forget about it. But then yesterday, I get more gas at a different Speedway location – Same damn thing – NO DOUBLE POINTS…..And then it hit me…..I got suckered…..Double points are only for certain items like dried up hot dogs and gross breakfast sandwiches…I don’t know about you, but I am not eager to eat an egg product prepared at a gas station. So SPEEDWAY is on my defecation list.

Then there is Rhapsody….. you know, the music download service. After I got my Sandisk Sansa mp3 player last month (which I enjoy) I accepted the invitation that came with it….a one month free subscription to Rhapsody To Go. This was, after all, a $15 value….The card that promoted the service states (and this is verbatim, folks) “Rhapsody To Go gives you unlimited access to our entire catalogue of over a million songs and lets you take it with you on your Sandisk Sansa for no extra charge”. Let me repeat for those that did not see those last three words: “NO EXTRA CHARGE”. I’m thinking, geez, I’ll load up on songs for the month and then cancel before it has been a full month. Hell, all I have to do is dial 1-866-420-5833 to cancel anytime. This is a no brainer…duh….free month of Rhapsody service….NO EXTRA CHARGE…unlimited downloads…these are the actual words used…..I should have known it was a crock of feces. Turns out there are Additional charges for each and every song downloaded – to the tune of 88 cents each. Now I figured this out just in time before loading my mps player up with a hundred songs – but I could have easily downloaded them with no worry because, as advertised it was a free month of service with unlimited downloads with no extra charge. By the way, I checked out the fine print on the card and it only refer to details about the one-month trial period – nothing about the fact that you still have to pay for downloads…..It’s just stupid….I mean what is the point of having Rhapsody and paying the 15 bucks a month for it? Geez, you can go the Wal-Mart.com and get whatever you want without having to have a subscription!

Nuff said……okay, tell me what you think? Am I being a little unreasonable here?

I had so much fun posting the Bob Knight golf video, I thought I would also post about one of my other favorite clips. Anyone, like myself, who grew up in the 80's remembers "Always Something There To Remind me" by Naked Eyes. Well, it is my pleasure to present to you, some dumbass named Tony singing...

"Always Sentimental Remind Me"

We made what has become our annual trip to Ruse-Hulman for Colts camp this past Wednesday. It was 97 degress with a heat index of 105, but we still had a great time. It was me, Jackson, and our great visitor from the North - Todd. This was his first time to Colts camp, and he loves football more than anyone else I know, so he thoroughly enjoyed it. He took his football that Marvin Harrison threw to him after pregame warmups this past season. He was able to get Peyton, Mike Doss, Jeff Saturday, Tarik Glenn, and Dallas Clark to sign it. Obviously 5 quality starters. It was awesome. I was able to get Peyton Manning to sign my Tennessee Vols hat....I bought that Vols hat last year in hopes I could get him to sign it, but no luck last year...So I now have a Colts hat and a Vols hat each signed by Manning - Sweet! See picture below!!!

When I was in high school, during what I consider the glory days of Indiana University basketball, I was with some friends over at my buddy Mitch Raney's house. He popped in a black market videotape of Bob Knight playing golf and the outakes of a golf show that Knight hosted. When I first saw it I thought it was easily one of the funniest things I have ever seen. This was extremely rare footage and not until recently did I get a chance to see it again, thanks to the wonders of the internet. So without further ado.....I present Bob Knight raw on the golf course.

click here to laugh your ass off

Check out this little Jackson story...So Saturday night we are having family game night after getting Carson down for the count. We were playing Monopoly Junior for the first time with Jackson (our 5 yr. old). I had developed this routine of telling someone when they would land on my property (and thus be required to buy lemonade) "Thank you for buying lemonade from me today. I sure hope it tastes good on a hot day like today" or something similar. Well, Kim lands on my property and I say: "That'll be two bucks, I sure hope you enjoy it" and Jackson chimes in:

"Yeah, especially since Daddy farted in it before he gave it to you!"

I want to post about my week off last week – I think I’ll go in reverse order. So let’s start with 4 Sport weekend. Fun as always. We didn’t have Ton-Loc this year, but the replacement was a suitable one. Uncle Billy’s son Roger made his first Four-Sport Weekend appearance and certainly added some fun and entertainment to the festivities in much the same way Tony always does.

He got so drunk Saturday night that when he woke up to play golf at 7am Sunday morning, he was still drunk. This year the event comprised of bowling, the Reds game, golf, and there was swimming for the boys, as well as a little bit of corn-hole competition. What made the weekend a little more interesting and enjoyable was the personal conversations that took place. It was nice to see our family open up a little bit. It was a little more real…I mean, we always have fun, but this year was a reflection that life is not all fun and games. So The Whited News would like to applaud the family for being more open to personal discussions and conversations of real substance.

We also found out, as alluded to in the previous posting of TWN, that Lisa and Dan are expecting their first child in March 2007. How cool is that! We are very eager to meet little Easton Whited when he/she enters the world. This was apparently not the only surprise of the weekend...Alex Whited was "frankly" surprised to discover that Nan was still alive, and had no reservations in disclosing this to her.

The Reds game on Saturday was great despite being a little warm. It was a very close nail-biter that came down to the very last play of the game – a two-out, two-run infield single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Reds a 3-2 win over the Colorado Rockies

.

I'll have to make a post later when I have more time about my time off last week, and 4-Sport Weekend, but for now I just had to post about this...

One thing that was really cool about this past weekend is that we found out from Lisa and Dan that they are having their first baby in March. The family is really excited and it was a big topic of discussion over 4-Sport Weekend. So I come to work yesterday morning after being off for a week and I open the following email from one of my co-workers: (By the way, this woman accurately predicted the sex of both of our children and the pregnancy of Carson and has "forcasted" many events for other co-workers....but I had never received an email similar to this from her)

marcus,
for a week and a half i have been seeing "pregnant" around you. did one of your relatives, a sister in law, just find out that they are pregnant? or possibly your wife?

just wondering........
cinda

This was pretty freaky and I about fell out of my chair at work when I read it. I'll post about last week/weekend very soon.

I have to tell you about a strange encounter last evening. I was out mowing and I look up and Kim is waving for me and pointing at something. I turn off the mower and hop off and she hollers "is that a fox?" I look up and here is this animal wandering around just off the edge of our yard, smelling around in the field. I start walking towards it and it does not seem the slightest bit phased by my approach. I kinda saunters off, heading towards the pond, mostly sniffing around in the field. I continue to get closer and closer until I'm about 15 feet away. I run into the house and grab the camera to get a picture of this creature. I'm thinking it is a fox. It acts disoriented and looked a little skinny to me, at one point just waking around in a short circle over and over. It wanders over to the pond...hops in....swims for 2-3 minutes and them climbs out...shakes off...lays down in the woods and starts grooming itself....Iwalk right over...take a couple of step in the woods...hold out the camera and take this picture.

Can anyone tell me what this creature is? A fox, right?

I’ve been slipping, huh? It’s just been hard finding time to sit down and write a new post. Here I go…

I’m in a good mood. My vacation starts today. I had taken all the stuff down from my office walls because they are going to paint my office while I am on vacation. It’s going to be a pale green color. That will be better than this boring light gray that I’ve been looking at for the last 8 years. I have spent my morning getting things ready to be off for a week so that I will not have to think about or deal with the Youth Services Bureau until July 17. Updating the work schedule, making appointments for the week that I return, etc. It’s a good feeling.

This will be the first time in awhile that we are really not going anywhere during my week off. We are getting a fence put in the backyard next week, so that Roscoe can be safely secured whenever we need to leave the house for awhile. Roscoe has been a pretty good dog so far. Of course he has chewed stuff up, trampled the gardens, pooped all over the place, dug up 50% of our flowerboxes, you know, dog stuff. We were trying to enjoy dinner on our patio last night and he would not stop jumping up on the table trying to eat our hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, so I put him in the garage so that we could eat in peace. Apparently he was not happy about this and demonstrated his displeasure by taking THREE gigantic dumps in the garage during a span of 20 minutes. He is still only a puppy, but damn those looked like adult human shits. I’m trying not to be too upset about it, since these are things to expect from a puppy. But it does piss me off. He has grown like a sombitch in 6 weeks. See picture below.



It’s been a tough Summer, to be honest with you. It’s tough on Kim. She don’t get too many breaks. Things you try to do for fun like go outside and play turn into stressful situations real quick….trying to manage the behavior of 2 small kids and a puppy outside is not easy – keeping Carse from playing in the dog crap, keeping Roscoe from constantly tackling Carse, keeping Carse from running out to the road, keeping Roscoe from doing somersaults in the flowerbeds, all while trying to play with Jackson to keep him engaged. I’ll tell you, it’s enough to drive you frickin nutso. A few minutes of it and I can’t wait to get the hell back inside.

So this is what I have to look forward to during my (relaxing, right?) vacation. I should be able to leave work by 3:30 or 4:00pm today so we can get this party started!

This has been one of the longest stretches without a posting on TWN since it’s blog format began nearly a year ago. Whupps! Guess we just been busy like everybody else. Hopefully I didn’t have any of you giving up on me.

We finished up Jackson’s tee-ball season yesterday. It really was a great experience for both Jackson and myself. I’m glad I decided to coach. If I wouldn’t have done it, I would have been wishing I would have every time he had a game and I was just sitting there on the sidelines. I wanted to post some pictures taken during the last game, including Jackson and me with his trophy after the game.

Here is a big congratulations to the Hubers, longtime friends of the Whiteds, on the birth of their second child, Zane Riley Huber. Zane was born 5/25/06 at 5:48pm. He weighed 7 pounds, 10.3 ounces, and is 20 inches long!

Awesome!!! We cannot wait to see him.

We've really done it now...

What's the logical thing to do when you are already going nutso and living a life of chaos? Get a puppy, of course! We go into Wal-Mart for a quick visit for diapers and bread and we come home with a puppy. This family was at the entrance to Wal-Mart with a litter of the cutest puppies and we were just not able to resist. His mother is German Shepherd and they think the father is Golden Retriever. He has the calmest personality for a puppy that Kim and I have ever seen. The boys love him and he has been very good with them so far. He spent the first eight weeks of his life with kids and you can tell by his demeanor. Yes, we are crazy, but we think we made a good choice with this particular doggie.

Introducing Roscoe Anakin Whited:

Kim had me read this article that she got in her regular ArcaMax emailings. As I was reading it, I just kept thinking, "Wow". I was thinking this dude has been spying on me and my family and is writing an article about it! But after I read through the whole things and thought for a few moments about it, I quickly decided that it was one of the best writings I have ever read. Then when I opened up my email this morning at work, I see that Tom sent me a link to the very same article. I've never posted someone else's writing on TWN before, but this is good stuff...

When is Fathers Day?
Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC

I'd had about as much as I could handle for one day.

My computer was frozen, I was tired from a weekend with too little sleep, and I was working in a yard that would soon need a scythe to manage it. End-of-the-year school activities were crowding an already crowded schedule, and there seemed like no time to relax. When do other people find the time to do all these things?

As I entered my house, I marveled at how sore a human body could get from yard work. I was still annoyed that my kids had left stuff in the backyard after repeated requests to pick them up. And, I'd been noticing that the rest of my family had done their share of relaxing while I toiled in the yard. Where was Fathers Day when I needed it?

I was not ready for any more to be put on my plate. "Honey, will you make dinner?" my wife called from the family room.

A very angry voice appeared in my head, saying things to me which weren't supportive of maintaining a kind, loving family. I considered a few suggestions from this voice, before discussing the dinner plans with my wife. It became clear from this discussion that my wife had her own issues going on.

I swallowed hard, and went into the kitchen to start dinner. The angry voices went with me. "That's some gratitude for you!" I said to myself. "Does anyone notice how hard I'm working? I'm absolutely invisible!" Where was the adoration for a job well done in the yard? Where was the back massage and cold drink that I was so deserving of? (The fantasies of a victim have no boundaries!).

In the drama that played out in my head, I was a hard-working father who did all the right things, and a victim of an unappreciative family. I felt completely justified in blaming my family for not acknowledging me. And of course, by blaming them. I would spread the virus of blame around my family faster than a brush fire. I would feel "right," and I could feel justified in seeing them as "wrong," and as "blameworthy."

Fortunately for me, there was no back massage and no cold drink. There was not even any acknowledgement for a job well done. There was only the realization that I had failed to remember my purpose in my family and on this earth. I had failed to remember that I am not "owed" love by my family. Our job as parents is to discover love as the fundamental fact of life. It is to bring this expression of our love into the world.

Parents across the world have reason to be grateful, for we've all embarked on the world's most complete and intensive course on love. While we may resist it at times, we're called every day to express the deep reservoir of love within us. But sometimes, because we're busy blaming others, we miss the call completely.

Fathers go through periods when they feel "outside" of their family. They feel neglected, or they feel invisible. Or, they feel as though they're simply a "paycheck." But what's really happened is they've forgotten they're not on this planet to "get" love from their family members. They're here to discover the boundless love that's always been in them.

After catching myself in my "victim's dungeon," I began to climb my way out. "Hey, have I got a great dinner cooked up for all of you," I shouted.

And although the response wasn't overwhelming, I didn't even flinch.

I’m always encouraging people to report interesting news to TWN and I really don’t get many contributions, so when I do I get excited. The following news event is out of Texarkana, Texas. The source was my Aunt Mary Wilson.

AUNT MARY STALKED BY SNAKE

Mary Wilson has endured the last several days under the surveillance of a black racer snake and she has been living in fear of this vicious creature that has posed a legitimate threat to her life. There have been multiple sighting and interactions with this animal since an initial incident occurred several days ago on the property. According to Ms. Wilson, she was in the process of clearing leaves and debris from the edge of their property with her commercial heavy duty leaf blower. Apparently this device is very high power and is strapped to the operator’s back, similar to what the Ghostbusters use to zap ghosts with. As Mary was blowing the leaves off the property, she uncovered a Black Racer Snake described as being about 4 feet in length. Much to her surprise, the power of the leaf blower began lifting the snake of the ground and the animal actually levitated over the ground for a considerable amount of time. As the snake was hanging in the air, Mary was faced with a decision, either to take off the equipment on her back or to just start running. Either way, she knew she needed to get the hell away from the snake as quickly as possible. She elected to leave the equipment on her back and haul ass back to the house (can’t you just envision her sprinting towards the house as fast as she can with this enormous pack on her back?). She reported that she got back to the house, where the Wilster was relaxing with a nice cold beer. After she explained what had happened, the two of them headed back over to the site of the incident and the snake was still there, dazed and confused. The Wilster identified the snake as a Black Racer. A few days later, the same snake was waiting at the end of the driveway near the mailbox as Mary made her daily walk out to get the mail. The snake began chasing her back to the house, but halfway down the driveway took a 90 degree turn back into the yard where it has been stalking her ever since. Mary is considering getting a restraining order against the snake, but is uncertain if a judge would grant this wish regarding an animal. She has asked her Sunday school class to pray for the safety of her and her family as she deals with the crisis and recovers from such a traumatic set of circumstances.

When I think back to some of my fondest childhood traditions/memories, one of the things that is way up on the list is going to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with my Dad every year to hang out at the track, watch the cars, and have some quality father and son time. Getting to cut school and go to the track was my little treat for having a school year with good grades and good attendance.

Ever since I was a kid, I always thought this would be something I would like to do when I had kids of my own. With Jackson turning 5 just this week, I was thinking that this year would be an appropriate time to start this tradition. I had mentioned it to him a few weeks ago, and he seemed really excited about it. The first day with all veteran drivers was set for Tuesday, May 9th. I talked to my bosses at work on Monday and made arrangements to be off on Tuesday, and checked the weather forecast, which called for sunny skies and 72 degrees. Jackson goes to preschool on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so he wouldn’t have to miss school on Tuesday. Everything was set…

I didn’t say anything to Jackson about it on Monday evening, just in case the weather forecast changed or something else came up. Plus I thought the element of surprise would add to the excitement and anticipation. We let Jackson and Carson sleep in longer than usual since it wasn’t necessary to get them up at the typical 6:20am time, so when Jackson got up and it was broad daylight and I was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, he knew something was up. When I told him what I had planned for us, he was very excited. Sometimes Jackson will claim that I do not spend enough time with him, and he is probably right, so he was happy that we would be spending the day together, just he and I.

We left for the track at about 9:45 am. We sang along to the radio and danced in our seats as we cruised along on I-70 east. I had a cooler packed with Kool-Aid pouches, Coke, and PB & J’s. We had a bag packed with snacks, sunscreen, and a digital camera. The weather was gorgeous. We were set.

We got up to the track a little before 11am and entered on the main straightaway off of Georgetown Road. I was a little surprised when the yellow shirts directed me to park in turn three. No big deal, but since I wanted to find a spot to sit in my favorite place near where they wheel the cars out to the pits from Gasoline Alley, that meant we would have to start our day by walking from turn 3 to Gasoline Alley. Anyone who has been to the track before will attest that this is quite a jaunt, especially when you have a little boy with you. So we walk all the way over there, walk by the new pagoda, stop for a picture at the yard of bricks and then made our way to the spot I was looking for. It was about 30 minutes before the green light would flash to start practice, so we got a great spot. Things were going great. We had noticed as we were making the walk to the main stretch that there were some cars on the track taking some laps. I was surprised about this because it wasn’t noon yet. It turns out that these were the 2-seater cars that the Speedway gives people a ride with after they empty their saving account for a ride in an Indy Car. Well, I should have known we were going to have a problem, because the noise of the 2 seaters at 170 MPH were clearly bothering Jackson already. Tack on another 55 MPH and the sound, while awesome to me, would almost certainly be frightening to him. And it was. As we sat there, waiting for practice to start, we quickly saw (up close) Mario Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Eddie Cheever, Danica Patrick, Rick Mears, just to name a few famous folks. So that was pretty cool. OK, so the cars start hauling ass at the start of practice. About 2 minutes into this Jackson has scooched up right beside me and wrapped my arms around him. About 4 minutes into this, he was on my lap. About 6 minutes into this, tears were running down his face and he was informing me that he was ready to go home. The sound of the cars were totally freaking him out. Some nice lady could see what was happening and walked over and was trying to tell me that she would save our seats if I wanted to walk him down to get some ear plugs – I think this is what she was trying to say because I could only here about every third word out of her mouth.


Well, we got out of the stands and went to a spot near Gasoline Alley with picnic tables. We sat there and ate out PB & J’s. Jackson improved greatly by getting out of the stands. It was still loud, but not as deafening. Then we checked out the gift shop right there by the picnic tables. I thought it would be cool to get Jackson a souvenir and he picked out a matchbox car Indy Car – Target Car, since he loves to shop at Target. They were selling ear plugs for $2 and I encouraged Jackson to get some. He told me that there was no way that he would be wearing those things. Despite my strong suggestions, he continued to refuse the ear plugs in the way that only Jackson can – emphatically and unwavering. I was not about to waste the 2 bucks, so we paid for the Target car and left. We strolled around the garage area, got Dan Wheldon’s autograph (last year’s champion!), and then I thought it might be a good idea to find a grassy area where we could hang out and Jackson could roam around a little if he needed to. But this meant walking all the way back to turn 3, near where we parked the Jeep. After the 20 minute walk, we find a real nice place in a small mound in turn 3 and stretch out in the grass. They were under yellow when we get there, so it was a few minutes before they had cars back on the track.

Sure enough, as soon as the cars started flying by at 225 MPH, Jackson says “Daddy, I want those ear plugs”. I about crapped my pants. I said “Jackson, I tried to get you the ear plugs, but you said that you would not wear them”. He says “No Daddy, get them for me”. My hopes that his insistence to get the ear plugs would diminish away were futile. He continues “Daddy, I need ear plugs right now!”…So of course, since I did not want to leave already, and I certainly did not want to hear him constantly whine about the ear plugs for a couple more hours, I took hold of his hand and here we were walking way the hell back up to the freaking gift shop at Gasoline Alley. We get there 20 minutes later. As we are approaching the door to the gift shop, Jackson has a small announcement to make……”Daddy, I wanna go home”. After a slight internal nervous breakdown on my behalf, we marched into the gift shop, gave the old woman the 2 freakin bucks for the ear plugs, and headed back to turn three. I had decided that we were not going home, and that we were going back to turn 3 and enjoying some fast cars. To wrap up this story, we ended up spending another 20 minutes walking back to turn three, 25 more minutes watching the fast (and loud…Jackson was by now informing me that the earplugs did not help) cars. I had had enough of his complaining and told Jackson that we were leaving. As we are getting into the Jeep and I am buckling him in Jackson says to me: “Daddy, can I keep these ear plugs for when we come back next year?”

OK, the last two posts were wordy and lacking pictures. This post will be the opposite. Things are good. We are getting into one of the busiest times of the year with our family. Kim finishing school, our anniversary (9 years....can you believe that), Alex's birthday, Jackson's birthday, Mother's Day, my birthday...alot of stuff.

I never posted any shots from Easter. Here are two of my favorite from Easter Sunday..these two were taken at Kim's Mom's during the Easter Egg Hunt there on April16, 2006.
















Here is a good one of Alex at his 7th Birthday party on April 30.

These last two were taken on May 2...I had the day off work for Election day and the boys and I were just hanging out in the backyard with the camera.

I think sometimes people start getting a little worried about me after I write the “downer” types of entries like the previous one….So for those of you who are wondering, I’m fine!! Don’t we all have difficult days? Don’t we all go through periods of time when you simply find yourself struggling to balance your life and juggle priorities? Kim went to hear some speaker recently and this woman was talking about how all of us have problems. All of us have our struggles and challenges and issues that wear on us. Yesterday the message in church was a good one, and Kim and I both said afterwards that it felt like the preacher was speaking directly to us. The primary message was that we all face “storms” in our lives. Obviously some more than others, but God provides these challenges for us and he allows us the grace to be able to withstand the challenges – as long as we face these challenges with Him and doing it HIS way. It struck a chord.

Things have been going better it seems. What’s the latest with our family? Well, Carson came down with yet another ear infection last week. He has basically had one ear infection after another since December. Kim and I are wondering weather it is time to go to an ear, nose, and throat doctor – but the pediatrician thinks there is no real concern or need to do that at this point. The threat of hearing loss scares us, and we don’t want to just sit and do nothing if Carse is in the process of suffering permanent hearing loss. Jackson has been registered for Kindergarten in the Fall. He is excited about it, but he is worried that he will be placed in a class that doesn’t have any of the friends that he has made in daycare/preschool. He passed the screenings with flying colors and the people at the school said that he is in great shape to be “a successful kindergartener”. By the way, it is very strange taking your child in to get registered for school in the very same elementary school in with you attended 26 years earlier. The other things going on for Jackson is that he has been signed up for tee-ball, but we have not heard back from the people organizing the league. I even signed up to be a coach and there has been no word whatsoever and here we are and it is almost May. Not sure what the deal is with that. Kim is winding down the school year and, of course, she is looking forward to the Summer. She recently suffered the loss of one of her aunts, which caused her to be away from our family for a couple of nights while she was in West Virginia. This was the first time for something like this so it was not easy for any of us. Since the last posting, I have had a chance to get a few things done that have been on my mind for awhile now. I got the garage cleaned up the best I could until we have a yard sale and get rid of some junk. I also have been able to get out and mow for the first time this Spring. Lastly, I have been able to get out to the front of our property and cut down all those briars and brush that had grown up over the drainage pipe that goes under the road in front of our house. That was a damn tough job and I felt like one of those little things that people store push pins in by the time I was done. But it looks a heck of a lot better. I got outside and worked on the gardens and planted some flowers. That always is good for the soul. Great therapy, it’s just finding the time to do it. The weather over the weekend was absolutely perfect, so that helps too.

Sorry no pictures in this post. That makes two in a row. I’ll have to make up for that next time.

I don’t know what my problem is the last couple of days. I feel just spent. I’m tired. I’m not feeling good. Low energy. I have not been motivated to do much. Why do I feel like the Kevin Spacey character on “American Beauty”? I mean, I doubt that I will be going into Taco Bell tomorrow morning and asking to have a position with the least amount of responsibility – but I can understand why he did it. The thing is, I cannot be this way. Maybe I can get by with being like this for one day, but more than that is not going to work out too well long term.

The constant demands of my time and energy have caught up to me. I’m probably being selfish, here, but I think it is fair to say that 80 percent of my time is devoted to helping other people and serving them. Carson is going through some very demanding times right now. Constant whining. This is normal for 15 month olds. Nothing pleases him for long. You know, when you have been at work all day taking care of other people and solving their problems, then you drive home 45 minutes, when you get home you are supposed to enjoy a pleasant evening with your family, right? Isn’t that the way it is supposed to work? Finally get home to relax, have fun, and enjoy your wife and family. Boy, I’d like to. I would like for things to be that way. When I get to within 5 minutes of the house on the way home, I start thinking, “OK, this is going to be a great evening”. And it is, for 3-4 minutes, after the hugs and kisses. Then it just gets numbing, because you are already exhausted and you have another 4 hours of nonstop tasks and busyness and redirecting. I do not want things to be that way. I do not want to have that attitude. But night after night, this is the scenario.

I just stood in the garage at 3:45 am this morning looking around. The furnace was having problems for the third night in a row and I was waiting for it to kick on. I was just standing there, disgusted at the condition of our garage. It is a freakin disaster. When will it ever get taken care of? Perhaps some weekend in a month or two it will get taken care of. Then, again, maybe not. Because we are approaching that time of they year when something’s going on every weekend. Jackson has been having problems, too. Last week, on consecutive days, he threw Grandma’s glasses across the room and he kicked Ma’am and told her she was a bad Ma’am. I think he has not responded well to the chaos that is his daycare situation right now. Our sitter dropped a bomb on us a couple of months ago that she was not going to be watching kids anymore. We had two weeks to figure out who is the hell would be taking care of our little boys. That’s a big decision, and one that I was not eager to make quickly. The result? Daycare facility on Monday, Thursday, Friday – my mom watches them Wednesdays, and Marie watches them Tuesdays. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate they help!!! Nonetheless, three different settings within a span of five days is not very stable for these young ones who need stabilization. That means three different sets of rules, three different schedules, etc. We just want to get through the school year and re-assess the situation. This is just a band-aid.

What I know is this: we have got to make some changes. More structure….more organization…more planning…more focus…more consistency. The problem is, in my eyes, that we need to get things in real good shape and get “caught up” before any change of lasting integrity will occur. The closets need cleaned out, the aforementioned garage needs cleaned out, dressers need cleaned out and old crap taken to Goodwill. Gravel needs to be ordered for the driveway and we need to purchase a shed to free up some space in the garage. The vehicles need to be cleaned up real good and the laundry room needs to be organized and used properly. Our house is in no way huge, but it is big enough, as long as we stay on top of the clutter. So – I know what to do. I know how to do it. But making time to accomplish these things right now is the real challenge. I need a week off work (which I just had a week off work to go to Gatlinburg!) when someone will watch the boys, and I just bust my ass getting these things taken care of. Otherwise this process will either not happen, or it will be strung out over the course of several months, and I not sure our family can wait that long before going flat-out nutso. But overall, things are good – really.

What a Birthday!

Rod & Reel: $20.00

Life Vest: $40.00

Padded Chair: $20.00

Large Mouth Bass: priceless

Happy Birthday, Nanny! We all love you!

Thanks to Aunt Connie for the contribution to TWN.