Crazy couple of weeks

Little did I know what was going to happen just 36 hours after my last post. Got up and went to work as I usually do. After taking a few calls and just going about my day, I check my email and notice I have a meeting notice from a manager that I spoke to back in December. Let's go back in time, shall we. We shall

Picture it; October 2010. I have applied for yet another position. This one would have been a pretty big stretch to go into but I would have loved the work as a business analyst. I had a meeting with the hiring manager (Director of IT for Transportation; deals with the cargo ships  and other areas for the company). By the end of that call (he is in Houston; I'm not) he tells me to expect a meeting notice from one of his employees here where I live. I met with him just 2 days later and he was only meeting 2 people from here (so me and one other). It came down to me and one other person; I didn't get the job. The guy I was against was already doing about 40% of the job already and is there in Houston (this would have relocated us). But I impressed the manager and his employee (who are both tough customers) such that the manager has now become my career mentor.


Shortly after this interaction, he had me get in touch with a manger where I live, which turns out to be his brother-in-law. I met with him in November and he suggested that I meet with 2 of his supervisors below him because they will need people "next year". Now I have heard that before and that usually means mid to late year. So I didn't act on those secondary meetings immediately. About a month later I get an email from the senior manager here stating that a position was just posted and that he was not aware that I had met with his supervisors yet and that they are filling 8 position from that one posting. I read between those lines and quickly made the meetings. About a month after those meetings, I received a call from one of the supervisors stating that they cannot get my employee profile to come down and if I could send it to them. I did so and didn't think about it again.


So I opened the meeting notice and all it said was "Corp Staffs job" for the subject and nothing else. So I just assumed that it was an interview meeting. I was wrong.

The supervisor comes in and we chit chat a few minutes and then she says "I am offering you the position" and mentally I thought, "Huh?" Seriously. The fact that she was offering the position was not even on my radar. So after I agreed to say yes (LOL!) I was informed that starting the next day (Feb 8) I was going to start working 1/2 day in my current position and then the other 1/2 of the day in her group until the new pay period started (Feb 16th) and then would be full-time in her area. And the reason for this is that the person I am taking over for is retiring at the end of the month.

I also learn that one of the applications I will be now supporting is currently in a major upgrade project. Needless to say that the last 2 weeks have been fast, furious, and mentally challenging/exhausting because I have had to pick up on applications I have never seen and the upgrade project is not going so well. And I am thankful for the opportunities that come from it and from whom they are coming from.

So I have moved into my new office. Who knew an office had color from wood grains and wasn't just slightly lighter/darker than the same shade of gray? I have the option to NOT pick up my phone if I am in the middle of something. I have a company card now for travel (and having to submit expense reports)as well as a company provided phone (OK, OK it is a Blackberry. And I like this one far better than I did Heather's when she got it). Now to some these things are not that big of a deal. But when you were not sure if an opportunity to move out of entry-level jobs and into one that has all of this, it is.

I think this is a funny situation:

5 phones; 4 members of the house; 3 old enough to have a phone; 2 each of a Blackberry and iPhone for the adults = 1 confused 6 year old on why one of these isn't hers

It's about to get interesting in here

We have recently started watching a show in Hallmark Channel called Mad Hungry with Lucinda Scala Quinn (www.madhungry.com).

Lucinda is not just someone who loves to cook and got a show. Not by any stretch. She is the Executive Editorial Director of Food and Entertaining for Martha Stewart's empire.

We have really gotten into how and what she cooks. Everything in moderation and nothing is off limits. Yet her food is easy, approachable, and can uses ingredients that be found in most (if not all) grocery stores. Seriously. For example. Her Basic Tomato Sauce is:

2 T olive oli

2 cloves garlic, minced

A pinch of red pepper flakes (or more if you like some spice)

1 28-ounce can of low-sodium (or organic) whole plum tomatoes

In a blender (or using a hand blender), puree the tomatoes to the level of chunky or smooth you like. Get the oil hot in a pan and then throw in the garlic and pepper flakes and cook just until you can smell the garlic (about 30 seconds). Pour in the tomatoes and bring up to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Now I add 1 teaspoon sweet basil in the last 5 minutes of cooking and that is it. Now a tip I learned from her is when to add the herb. If you put the herbs in right at the beginning, you will cook out all of the flavor. Instead, add it at the end and then the flavor will perfume throughout the sauce. Huge thing to learn and makes a difference.

Anyway. I was watching her show on DVR, as my wife and I do every day, my 11-year old son came in and sat down about 3/4 of the way through. He was quite intrigued by what was being made. He grabbed the remote to see what the theme was. You can only imagine what his reaction was when he saw that it was an episode on bacon. 

Shortly there after, he restarted the episode and watched it completely. Once the show was done, he went into the kitchen and grabbed my copy of her book (http://amzn.to/hTbkVg).

Studying Lucinda's book quite intently

So when making the grocery list this week, he informed us that he wanted to make everything in that episode. So for breakfast - Bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich (http://bit.ly/gdAaZq). And we are teaching how to properly clean the cast iron - now that we own some.

Making the eggs for the sandwich

The completed product

 Dinner was Pantry Bistro Salad (http://bit.ly/fqGgiJ) and the Spaghetti Carbonara (with whole wheat spaghetti - http://bit.ly/e9dWFA). I believe I could eat this salad with her tomato soup (http://bit.ly/eLdMkV) every day for lunch. Without question! This was a really good dinner. The recipe says that the salad is 4 servings and the pasta is 4-6. For us, the pasta is probably about 8 servings. But I ate quite a bit of the salad (which has a poached egg on it - part of the recipe).

The end results for tonights dinner

Even my 6-year old asked to try the salad and she does not do salads. I now need to get her other two books!

Sorry, long time no post

OK. So I'm not good at doing this regularly. January has not been good and we are not out of the woods yet. Let's just say that homeowners insurance has been used, someone else's auto insurance is getting charged (all in 1 weeks time) and we are thankful for health insurance. I was off 2 days this week for part of the health issues and was able to get Reid's and Jackson's valentines made for school.

Reid's are flowers.

I figured out how to use Heather's Cricut to cut out the flowers. The pattern from the design has a hole in the center so we put a Dum Dum through the center. Pretty cute and goes pretty quick.

Jackson's were a little more intensive.

Heather has this pattern that will cut out a little popcorn box. So I cut out 26 of these. Heather felt good enough to glue them together. So this is what he is giving out. Thought it all worked out.

More later. Promise

Busy couple of months

So I have talked about the dining room and the rest of the paint projects and meeting The Pioneer Woman. Once that all died down, it was time to decorate for Heather's party. Let the chaos ensue: a total of 7 trees.

First up: the living room

This tree the photo tree. It has wallet-sized picture frames hung with red ribbon on the branches along with 4x6 and 5x7 framed photos stuck into the branches. The small frames a silver and the larger frames are black along with red ornament balls.

Next is the dining room.

This tree has all of the ornaments that we have either been given, kept from childhood, or things the kids made that they want to hang. Heather calls is the Heritage tree. I call it the tree with all of the old stuff. Then in the middle of the dining room table is the wreath. We just pulled the table slightly apart and dropped the electric cord through. The cord is run under table and the across a small part of the rug with piece of plastic that is the color of the rug to hide it and for safety.

The other three trees are a set of a 5, 4, and 3 foot trees that we call our forest. Then each of the kids have one. Don't be that impressed.

So the day of the party this is how the room looked.

The jars on the table look like this:

You can thank Bakerella. It's all her fault.Heather made 30 of these. They weren't too expensive but you spend about $65 to make 30.

So after that not much happened. Heather went to OKC this last weekend to see Beth Moore along with Precila Shirer and Kay Arthur with several friends and had a great time. Sunday morning all of the kids in the children's choir had their performance and they did well.

Yesterday was Heather's birthday. So instead of trying to go out to dinner last night, we went down to Tulsa and went to Ted's Cafe Escondito. The place was very good. Until....

The waiter asked if we had been there before while Heather and Reid went off to the restroom. I answered "No, we are here for my wife's birthday". Heather and Reid get back and just shortly after getting our food, they came over and ...

began to sing. The sombrero was an unexpected, but welcomed side benefit. Shortly after I took this with my iPhone, Heather yanked it out of my hand and took this:

This way there was evidence that I was at least having a good time before the bodily harm started. They needed a way to ID the body. But no, Heather decided that I should pay in other ways.

My penance - purchasing her a

iPhone 3GS. 32 Gigabytes. Black. So her device has 4 times the storage and has some features that mine doesn't have. I'm thinking that her tactical maneuver was more psychological than financial. So much so that I actually had a slip of the tongue when were talking about her phone: I said "my phone" instead of "your phone". She immediately said "Excuse me?" Oops. Bad Damon.

The funny thing was as Heather was getting instruction on how to use the device, the kids were over at the iPhone display playing games that were on their demo devices. When we went to leave, Reid asks "Where's my iPhone? I want one!" I couldn't contain my laughter. Sorry dear Reid. Not any time in a future that you can comprehend at the age of 4 3/4!

I had another doctor appointment this week for some follow ups. I think I have just one more but we'll see. Heather gets an MRI Thursday for her knee. Looks like she may be having some repair done on her menisci on her left one. We'll just see.

More later.

Done painting...for now

So my project as of late was to paint the dining room while of course led to the entry and hall. Then of course led to trim and doors.

This this the dining room before:

It took me about a week to get it completely done. During that week this is what we tried to ignore (though it made the house feel trashed)

This is the final result:

I also painted the doors and trim in the entry and hall. They were just an old, stained wood door. They now match the trim in the bright white. My final project was the front door.

Nothing special. Just a green door. After sanding and painting, this is how it looks now.

One would think this is just a black front door. One would be wrong.

A little closer.

It is covered in chalkboard paint! We made the word stencil using Heather's Cricut and some stencil material you can get for it as well as a leaf stencil. We love the way the door looks. There is a downside; on the wood, even primed and sanded, it can scrape off if you press too hard and if the chalk has a point like a pencil. It really doesn't take much pressure to get the chalk on the door. For the words, I just rubbed a little chalk in the stencil and then used my finger to spread it around within the template. This was so worth the effort!

More later.

UPDATE: Heather got out one of her Stampin' Up! stamp sets and rubbed the white chalk on a stamp and filled it in with some orange chalk. Very cool!

The reality of the economy

I know that what is going on in the economy is nothing new for anyone but the reality of staffing reductions (AKA layoffs) is really killing me.

I work for a large global energy company that recently announced in the news that they are going to reduce staffing by 4% globally. So I thought, OK, globally that is not a large number out of 36,000 employees.

Suddenly, the game changed and now my company is laying off 4% in Bartlesville and one of my close friends was in that 4% and this will go on through March. That brought this layoff thing roaring back into our lives. We survived my wife's layoff in 2006 6 weeks after moving into a new home and came out of it fine, but the emotions of potentially losing a job are just alive and raw today for her. Just before her layoff, things in our lives were starting to really click along; new house, reducing debt, etc. And now here we are. After Heather's dad died, we have been able to pay off all of our debt other than my car and put a large amount of money towards the principal of the house. Again, things finally seemed to get into place for us again. Then yesterday happened. And here we are looking over our backs.

This is a new arena for me because I have never worked anywhere before where this was a ever a possibility. In my department, one employee asked to be laid off and she was granted her wish. There was another who I believe was blindsided.

So I has a sit down with my boss to just talk this out. She understands what has happened to us before and sees my perspective. What she could do was say was to think about 2008 and how my review went and go from there. I did have a very high score last year so that relieved me somewhat.

But, the potential is always there and the "what ifs" and "maybes" are just going to to make for the longest and possibly one of the most stressful of my life. Good thing I don't have high blood pressure issues cause this could kill me if I did.

1 year ago today...

1 year ago I had enough. Enough of being tired. Enough of hating how I looked. Enough of...enough. I was at my breaking point and was done.

I really think turning 35 in December of 2007 was a turning point. As I posted here, I have said for the last couple of years that I need to do something and was not going to be like this at 40. And I half-heartedly tried. At the time I meant it and started off well but in the end I just wasn't at my breaking point where I was totally committed to change. The "commitments" were temporary at best.

I found myself saying that I have 5 more years to get myself together. But then I realized that 5 years would essentially mean never going to happen. So I changed my statement to not be 36 and like this. I signed up on Jan 10, 2008. But this time was different and I knew it. My whole attitude about it was different and the reasons why were too. I was doing it for me. Not for my wife or for attention from other people, but for me. I was putting myself on the list of priorities. And it felt good. It still feels good to be on that list; everyday. And I have not regretted it.

So where am I at on this mile-marker of the road of life? Am I different now that I am 36 (commentary: how strange is to say I am 36; Shouldn't I be more "grown up" and responsible and in a higher level job making more and whatever else than I am?) Yes I am.

At this time last year:

• I weighed in at 263 pounds
• Wore XXL shirts and 44 waist pants
• If there was any exercise, running lasted for 1 minute at 4.5 mph at a time (pathetic!)
• Resting blood pressures were 120/80 and resting heart rate was in the 70 - 80 range
• Meals consisted of my plate plus whatever my family didn't
• Vegetable and fruit were hardly in the picture; unless it was lettuce and tomato on a burger.

There is a lot to say about the above picture, yet at the same time there is nothing that can be said. There is no way that I was that big, but there it is. What is the phrase, the camera doesn't lie? I didn't think that is how I looked. This is what 263 looked like and it wasn't pretty and wasn't happy. And I just didn't even know it.

And now:

• I weighed in today at 206
• Wear large shirts and 36/38 pants (mostly 36)
• Exercise is at least 4 days a week and running lasts to where I can complete a 5K in just under 30 minutes and can last a boot camp style workouts.
• Resting blood pressures are 80/40 - 90/50 and resting heart rate is in the 45-55 range (only 60 sitting here at my desk). I actually can get a little light-headed sometimes (not often) when I stand up.
  
• I eat my vegetable and fruits first before the main course, but I still like my burgers.
• My plate is my own; leave the others alone (98% of the time anyway)
  

My original intention was to be at my goal weight of 180 (now rethinking that for maybe 190) by this time. But as life has a way, it got in the way for several months. I got to 200 at the end of August, but family issues had me traveling every weekend and I put back on about 10 over 3 months (not too bad)and was able to maintain and am in progress of getting back to business. So even though I did not make my goal, I am still in a far better place than I was. I am happier and most importantly, healthier. My son asked me the other day when I was going to go run and I asked why. He wants to go with me. How cool is that? Who says I am the only one benefiting?

I watched The Biggest Loser the other night. While they were showing these guys their MRI compared to a normal MRI, all I could wonder is what had I done to myself all of these years. I am thankful God designed me so that my body tolerated as much as it did for so many years. I cannot ask to have been more blessed when I think about it and how he used those weaknesses about myself as a needle to supr my changes. I realize that even though I am a parent to 2 great kids (who are both under 10) and a husband to a very understanding but wonderful wife and have those responsibilities, I have to put time in the day for me. And it has to be more than just the TV. To think what I could possibly have missed or had to deal with had I not made changes just absolutely sickens me.

These are just ramblings and may not mean anything to anyone else who may read this. They are for...me to look back and see just how far I have come.

Moving on

We are not coming back to church and we believe that we have been given the OK by God to go. Last night was Jackson and Reid's last night at Awana.

There is just not that sense of caring about others, overall, that there was 18-months ago. Because Steve is so self-centered and the cause of situations of conflict himself (as well as his wife), the flock overall has a tendency to follow the leader. That Wednesday night after the Heather's dad's service, very few said anything to Heather as to how she was doing, what is left to do, etc. when she was there for Prayer Meeting. Not even Steve. All he said was "Glad you're back." Only one person during that week sent her an email asking how she was. That whole week between getting home from the service and then turning around again that next weekend to go back was chaos. We needed to get to the store but had household things to take care of, work, kid activities, etc. That really was the week we needed supported but no one was around and that hurt. (EDITORIAL: that statement is not directed at anyone but just as a example of the bigger issue) To see what Steve has done to this church in just 18-months is incredible. Plus Steve has had another run-in with someone chewing them up and down over the phone and Donya talking down to Heather while yet saying she was sorry about the whole Angelia issue last summer when she should have been speaking in humility. It is not there. And when someone who has no ties to the church says "Oh, is that the one that is going Calvinistic like Highland?", that is not good either. The word is out.

I and others have tried to handle our conflicts as biblically as we could and came no where. The cold-treatment that we have been receiving by people because we have stood up combined with everything else just pushed the limit of tolerance. There are people who will not talk to us anymore! What is wrong with this picture? If it were just Heather and I, we would try to stick this out but we have to look at what is best for Jackson and Reid. Jackson is the only boy in his class and Reid is the only 3-year old. The last two Sunday's we have visited First Baptist and was just amazed at how distracted we had become and how nice it was to listen to a sermon that was teaching; not condemning. To have that weight lifted was huge.

This is not to say that there are not people that we still love and care about there and that we don't want to come back, but we just can't. It is bad when going through preparing for and dealing with a death is less stress than the situations we were in.

We are not moving our memberships for now. But it will take years to undo the damage Steve has done. And we don’t have the luxury of time to wait for the sake of Jackson and Reid.

More recent updates

The last couple of months have been rough.

Heather's dad was diagnosed last year with lung cancer and there were some medical issues that came up as a result. We moved him to an apartment at a retirment village that could help him as he needed. There were issues along the way and the chemo (maintainence dosages) was conrolling the cancer but things really took a turn almost 3 months ago. We moved him from the apartment to the Assisted Living part of the facility because the facility stated that his capabilities had deteriorated to where he did not meet the criteria to stay in the apartment. About 2 weeks later, Heather received a similar call that his capabilities had deteriorated to where he needed to be moved to the nursing home care wing; could not walk on his own, they were having to feed or help feed him, etc, etc.etc. 1 week and 4 days later he was gone. It really seems that it was natural causes, not the cancer, that took him. Over that 3 month period we had been in Winfied, KS (where he lived) on weekends and home during the week. I may sound callous but it was a relief when he passed. His life over this last 6 months was not how he (or really any one) would have continued to live. And we could then quit wondering what the next phone call was going to bring. We miss him but he was not the same person for the last 6 months that he had been the last 78 1/2 years.
So it is weird being 35 (and 39 for Heather) and my dad being gone as well as both Heather's parents. Something is not right. I feel like Jackson and Reid are the ones getting short changed. Time will move on and there is nothing I can do for Heather about it but it still sucks.

So on to other things. Heather A. wanted a pic of the "new" car. And here it is. 2007 Honda Pilot EX-L.

I don't buy brand new cars; I cannot justify it. Yet. Once my kids are older, then we will talk. But this we could not pass up. The lady who owned it bought it brand new. She lives here in Bartlesville but teaches at OU. So she would drive to her apartment in Norman on Monday then back on Thursday afternoon and to get groceries. That was it. 32,000 miles of highway driving. She traded it in for a new 2009 Pilot Touring just because she could. Her loss, my gain. Price was $3000 better than I was finding in Tulsa for a similar Pilot LX (base model).

So today I took Jackson to get a haircut at a place called Kiddoos. This place is crazy. There are TV's with PlaysStations for when the kids have to wait and a TV playing a movie. Plus at each station, there is a TV and a PlayStation with a small selection of movies or games the kids can play while they are getting their haircut. And for the littler kids, there are 2 Powerwheels cars attached to the chair lifts that they kiddos can drive and stomp the pedal (the batteries are charged and wheels will spin). There is a Hummer and a Mini Cooper. Too darn funny. There is a Glamour Gals area where Reid (who is almost 4) can get a little manicure. For Reid a haircut and a manicure would be $25 or so.

Other than that, I cannot think of much else. Oh, yeah. We lost our minds today. We adopted a 8-10 month old chocolate AND yellow Labs. What were we thinking? Beethoven, our 11-year old daschund/basset hound mix, will just go toes up when Maggie and Lucy get here Tuesday. Maggie is the chocolate.

I'll post more pics when we have them both. It will be fine. We went to look at Maggie and saw Lucy and just could not make up our mind. Jackson was really wanting to name one Sparky but we kind of vetoed that. Just cannot do that. So now, I'll have a dog, or dogs, I can take running with me. Beethoven is thankful since he moves so little around the house that I am certain that his heart only beats a couple times a week just out of necessity. He is that pathetic.

Sidelined again...

So the ankle is acting up again. Guess the running will have to cease for a bit. Back to the bike. YUCK! Oh well.

So an update, I am 57 pounds down. I waiver between 206 and 207 and really have not budged much. In time it will change, but still sucks. I can just taste 199 and it kills me. That means that when I hit 200, I will still have like 20 more pounds to go; totally awesome on one hand because I am that much closer to goal but also it is like "I still have 20 more!!!?!?!?" Oh well.

Things with church have continuted to dicentigrate and I really think we are going to leave. Really do not want to but not sure there is any choice. "Tune in tomorrow for another episode of Days of our Church."

Jacks started 4th grade today. How is that possible? That means that DD will be starting Pre-K next year. That is more than wrong. How again did I get to be 35 and with a kid who is over half-way through elementary school?

It's an anniversary.

Today marks 6 months since I made the commitment to change. Today is 6 months since I stepped on the scale for my first weigh-in. That is how long I have been getting my person in order. There have been successes, observances, and revelations.

There have been visible successes: 53.4 pounds gone, 6 - 8 inches off of my waist (from wearing 44s to 38s), large shirts instead of XXL, the ability to run 3 miles in 30 minutes over my lunch hour, resting blood pressure and pulse 90/50 & 45-50 beats/min instead of 120/80 & 70-80 beats/min (I am curious about my blood chemistry) and other things that come along with the physical changes.

There have been unexpected observances: being able to tie my shoes while sitting on the bed and not ready to pass out from being bent over afterwards, noticing that I cannot lie on my side with my knees together because it hurts (there is actually bone in there, who knew?) I practically bound out of bed in the mornings (once I do get up), how more space there is between me and my steering wheel (seriously) and that the body will do what it wants day to day. And there is the big one; keep reading because it falls as a observance and revelation.

And then there are the lessons learned (aka the revelations) along the way. Oh my, the lessons; where to start. Should I even start? Yes, I guess I shall because that ball is already rolling.

Cathy Zielske was making a comment about how she needs to be thinner. I understand the whole "I need to be thinner thought". I'd swear I had invented the concept. I have said for the last couple of years that I need to do something and was not going to be like this at 40. And I half-hearted tried. I meant it and started off well but in the end I just wasn't at my breaking point where I was totally committed to change. The "commitments" were temporary at best.

But this last December I turned 35. And I found myself saying that I have 5 more years to get myself together. But then over the next week or so I had a real conversation with myself realized that 5 years would essentially mean never going to happen. So I changed my statement to not be 36 and like this. I signed up on Jan 10, 2008. But this time was different and I knew it. My whole attitude about it was different and the reasons why were too. I was doing it for me. Not for my wife or for attention from other people, but for me. I was putting myself on the list of priorities. And it felt good. It still feels good to be on that list; everyday.

Also, I cannot believe how much I was eating before at a meal. While on vacation, each day I would start off with the right intentions but was off by dinner. One night I felt so bad because I ate so much at dinner that the only way I felt better was to go run a quick 9-minute mile at 10:30 PM in the hotel gym. By the time we left to come home I felt so bad physically from all of the eating out that I was ready to get back to the routine of home and my WW web tools. The experience has taught me that I have more than adapted to the plan and how much better I feel from the better food choices.

Lastly, I was looking through pictures on the computer the other night and found this:

There is a lot to say about this picture, yet at the same time there is nothing that can be said. There is no way that I was that big, but there it is. What is the phrase, the camera doesn't lie? I didn't think that is how I looked. This is what 263 looks like and it ain't pretty and wasn't happy. And I just didn't even know it. I though I was but was basing all my happiness off of others; if they were happy I was happy and if they weren't what was I not doing. I often wondered how someone can get up 300, 400, even 500 pounds and they not realize how big they are? Wouldn't they realize that they are wearing pants the size of a person (50- inch, etc). Oh, sweet irony we meet yet again. Here I was rendering a judgement yet I was 4-inches from 4 FEET AROUND and not too far from 300 myself. I have no explanations or justifications for my judgements because there simply are none. None. And nothing would be acceptable. If you are or were one of those persons, I am really sorry. You don't know me and may have never met me, but I'm sure you run into me everyday.

With that, this is a new chapter in my life.

(I know, bad picture.)

The previous chapters have been printed and are not available for editing. Not even if I wanted to. All that I can do is learn from the last 6 months and the years preceding, offer apologies to friends, my wife, and my kids and keep moving forward (onward and downward as the WW GoaDies would say). They are better than I have deserved.

Taking stock

Church issues still are still going on that I won't get into but lets just say that several of us are not getting fed.

So I and two other men are working on setting up our own men's study. We are doing this for ourselves and not doing this as a church-sponsored Men's Ministry event, but we are telling people around church. If our pastor feel like he wants to be involved, then fine. If he wants to use Men's ministry money for this, then fine. But we are not asking for it. Then Men's ministry was kind of a mess and there are those who want to distance ourselves from it.

Yesterday during the morning message for Father's Day, I wasn't really following where the pastor was going, but one thing that he said was interesting. He asked can your childeren tell that God is a priority or important in your life? I thought about that.

So after church we went through BK and so I asked Jackson what he thought was important to me. We told him there is not a right or wrong answer and thta I just wanted his opinion. Honestly, I was a little nervous about his response because you don't know what will come out of a 9 year old. His answer was family and friends. That made me feel good.

Later Heather and I were talking and that I can see why he would not say God was important. For one, when I read, he doesn't see me do it. I do that after he and Reid go to bed. We are not good about praying before meals, etc. I can fully admit that am usually stagnate and not moving forward. My own issues and no one else to fault. But with this lesson, especially if I lead it, I have now where else to go but up.

Quick update

As of this morning, I am down 44 pounds since January 10th. So that is about 2 pounds a weeks over the last 22 weeks. Go me!.

Renovations, vacations and other such nonsense

So the other nonsense first.

I have taken 2 minutes off of my 5K run time and actually added distance. So instead of 34 minutes to do 3.1 miles, I can get up to 3.25 miles in 32 minutes and I can easily get that in over my lunch hour. So, I'm pretty stoked about that. I can also report that I am now down 43 pounds. So I'm on tract to be down about 80 pounds by my birthday in December. Awesome.

Now, renovations. So, 2 months ago we discovered water in our bedroom. Yes, water. Lovely when it is in the bathroom and more specifically, in the shower. But in the bedroom, not so much. Especially when it is running under a wall and soaking the carpet. Well, the shower pan cracked and that was the cause of the problems. So since then we have all been using the hall bath (aka the kids bathroom). Now here we are this week we are in the middle of the below scene:
Yes, that is tile you see on the ceiling. More to come after they finish that later tomorrow. So by next week after it is all grouted and sealed, we can have our bathroom back.

Now the cruel irony. We bought this house after it had been redone and all we had to do was move in. Yeah, now. Not so much. Tonight...we are standing in the master bathroom looking at the in-progress renovation/repair of our shower and decide with the new tile going in the wallpaper has to go, the floor in the bathroom really needs redone to match the new shower, and then, and then, and then. So we will see what we do next when we have the money to do so.
Oh my, this is the beginning of the end. Just shoot me now cause here we go.

So vacations. Vacations are nice. And so is this place: Great Wolf Lodge. Here is the outside:

This is is just the lobby: This place was just incredible, from the lobby to the water park to all of the details they take care of.

The room...

We had the Kid Kamp Suite and the kids had their own "camp" in the room. They slept in bunk beds in their "camp", had a little window, their own TV. one of the funnier things about the trip...throughout the day, at dinner, etc., you would hear the staff start a wolf howl, kind of like the wave in a crowd. One would start it and it would go all over the lobby, water park, etc. Our kids picked up on it and when they heard the wolf howl, they would howl. Reid's howl just too cute. In the end, the kids were beyond over the mood. More like over Saturn.

The Grapevine location had an 80,000 sq. foot water park (inside) and another water park area outside, something like nine water slides, a small kids area, a wave pool, a lazy river, hot tubs, a huge three-story water fort, and several other play pools. With our one night reservation, we were able to play in the water park for two days.They also had an arcade, restaurants (the spinach artichoke dip was to die for), an adult spa, a kids spa, and a thing called MagiQuest. You buy a wand for like 10 bucks and then go all over the hotel looking for clues to the Quest. There are pictures, treasures chests and crystals spread out throughout the hotel and when a kid would point their wand, the picture/chest/crystal would light up and give the next clue. We didn't have time to do it, but it was really, really cool.

That is about it for now.