Oh, Sh...Shampoo

With Thanksgiving only days away, Kerry and I took her mother to Costco to do a little shopping. Found some goodies that we had been wanting to pick up. Anyhow, upon our return, we saw what you see in the above photo... all over the house. Now, Bella (our young little puggle) has had some previous potty training issues in the last year that we've had her but we thought things had massively improved. But, something about this looked strange. This was a big area with a lot of these spots.

So, as we wandered through the house to assess the extent of the damage, we breathed a sigh of relief. Then a little fear set in. Chocolate and dog stomachs don't exactly play well together. Bella had gotten into the pantry and broken into a box of Jello Chocolate Pudding mix. It does seem that the amount of chocolate is small (and most wound up on the carpet) so we may be in the clear. (For some reason Jell-O would not tell us how much cocoa is in a box as it is a proprietary measurement. Yeah, I laughed at that too.) Now, the fun part is trying to clean it up and getting the dog to vomit. I sound excited don't I?

Update: She heaved, she pooped, she barked... and repeated the process all night. Tomorrow will be better, I expect. That is if our nerves hold out.

12 Is A Magic Number

Today my son, David, turned 12. It was at the end of the day that I made one of those mental leaps that leaves me lost in thought for hours on end. I've often told people that my favorite year for music was 1983. I've looked at it over and over again but some of the music just connected for me. That was the year that I turned 12.

What makes it more interesting is that, just the other day, David did something he's never done before. He asked his mom if they could stay in the car to listen to the end of a Taylor Swift song. Usually, he just asks us to turn the music down or off. Now, he's enjoying Swift, Carrie Underwood, Rodney Atkins (especially "Watching You") and a few oldies that we've slipped in.

So, I'd like you to take a moment and do some math for me. When were you 12? How close was that to when you first really started to appreciate music? You see, some people believe 12 is a magic number. But, I wonder if our listening habits finally come into their own. Do we understand the lyrics more? Just thoughts to ponder for the next 12 years or so.

People Waiting For Us

Forever is a big word. I used it twice when I said my vows to my wife because I didn't feel it was big enough. When I married Kerry, I inherited an even larger family than my own. Kind of daunting when you gain 3 father-in-laws that each give you the long stare, considering if you are worthy of their little girl. One of those men was Fred Sicks.

There are always things you hear within a family about how 'so and so' aren't speaking to each other or how 'so and so' weren't the nicest of human beings in their past. Since I didn't have a past with this new family, I didn't have anything to compare the present with. But what I did know is that after a long absence in my wife's life, Fred and his wife Sandy moved to Las Vegas to be closer to his family. Fred had been dealing with type 2 diabetes and heart issues.

The Fred that I knew was jovial, smiled wide when he shook your hand and had a twinkle in his eyes during the holidays. He enjoyed politics and was active in his community. Of course, this is the side I will remember most of him. Fred lost his life yesterday. My promise to watch over his little girl is fresh on my mind. His family is hurting but one thing is assured... he will be one of the people waiting for us, greeting us with a warm smile as we enter heaven.

Walking The Family

Kerry and I have been working on getting more exercise in and have come up with a plan. We are 3 days into our program already. We are walking for 30 minutes around our complex every day. We plan to add 5 minutes every month to build up to 45 minutes a day. The 30 minutes that she walks the dogs in the mornings is too stop-start to get any cardio out of it but we're trying to include the dogs in the walk. Bella has made it through the last two and Tulip made it about 15 minutes before we had to drop her off at home (but did so without delay.)

I keep thinking back to Lora and her late night walks and how it has helped her. I don't have the nights free but currently Kerry and I have daytime together and are using it appropriately. So far so good. I want to stay around as long as I can. B)

Master And Servant

I enjoy watching NBC's The Biggest Loser. I'll admit it. I think there is no show like it that at the end of each episode you see someone that has fought to make changes in their health for the better. That being said, trainer Jillian Michaels kicks butt. I currently picked up my DVD of her 30 Day Shred workout and started sweating again. Yesterday, it was the whole family. So, after seeing Jillian talking about her new book about a month ago on a morning show... it wound up on my reading list.

What needs to be said is that Master Your Metabolism isn't a workout. She 2 has books on that already. This one talks about her battle with her weight and clarifies the misunderstanding of 'metabolism.' Think about it for a second. How many friends have you commented about having a 'high metabolism' and that they couldn't put on weight if they tried? We've come to believe that metabolisms are high, low or inbetween but don't talk about the hundreds of hormones in our bodies that affect our metabolisms making them effective, ineffective or stable. This book does just that and a lot of it is what we are feeding ourselves. It does read more like a science text book but well worth pushing through.

After reading the book (and reading certain sections with my wife), we decided to entirely remake our shopping list. We started by pulling foods out of the pantry. We started shopping for items that had fewer ingredients (meaning less preservatives and other byproducts.) We then broke the news to our son that certain ingredients would not be in the house and that if he found an alternative, we'd consider it. So far, we are doing great with the change and feel some of the benefits already. Every great journey begins with a step.

Your First Interview

I can still remember the first time that I filled out an application for a job. I can also remember sitting down with that store's manager for the interview. First impressions really are everything and learning to handle yourself in front of a possible employer is a skill that must be developed. I got that first job. I think Shakey's Pizza really needed me... but I know that I needed them more. I know now that I learned so much from my short time there... much more than how to decorate and bake a good pie.

So, it was time for my son to have that same experience yesterday. His grandmother Sandy (pictured with David above) works at the county wetlands park and they had a need for volunteers. My only words of advice for him were "Listen carefully, answer respectfully and save your questions until asked if you have any." It seems that things went pretty well as he will be starting after he returns from vacation in Washington. It should be interesting to ask him 20 years from now, "What did you learn from your first job?"

A Change Is Gonna Come

So, I am returning from a trip to Mesquite, NV, to celebrate Kerry and my first anniversary. Had a great time. Kerry tried golfing for the first time and may want to continue playing. We'll work on that in the future. Stayed the night at the Casablanca and caught a really bad lounge act called Vision. (Let's correct that... the band were amazing, the vocals weren't.)

During the trip home yesterday, I get a call from work. Kerry and David are in the car and we are going to pick up the girls (Bella and Tulip) from the Petsmart hotel. I am told that my shift at the hotel has been eliminated. Only one of the choices would give me the same day off as Kerry. I'm driving, she's really shaken but writes down all the shifts and we proceed to a parking lot to discuss it. David keeps voicing his concern that 'family dinners' will be affected (as we only get to do that on Sundays and rarely on Saturdays) with tears in his eyes. I turn to him and tell him, "David, a decision has to be made and we don't have time to worry about family dinners." The stress definitely brought the joy of our anniversary to a screeching halt.

The decision (our choice of 6 shifts) was to have Monday and Tuesdays off and move up an hour to a 4pm to midnight shift. The consequences of this are far-reaching and undetermined at this time. The show on Saturdays will probably have to be moved earlier to allow time to edit before work. This also ruins one of my favorite events which is going out to Teri and Lloyd's on Saturdays to see UFC fights. Our family gatherings for birthdays on Sunday nights... are in limbo but could be moved earlier. At least, I'll have Mondays off with the wife and can still pick up my son from school before work. Speaking of that... I gotta take care of that right now. Thanks for letting me vent.

Update: Got to work and found out that all the stress that we went through the day before didn't really matter and that I've been assigned a shift (4pm-midnight Fri-Sat off.) Expecting to hear something new tomorrow as they obviously don't know what they are doing now.