DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SIX

Got up early and got children through the shower cycle to get ready for church. I baked off the strata for church breakfast and we were off. Sunday school was good and we had some great learning going on in there. Good stuff.
Service was good and tommorrow we are having our New Year's Eve celebration. It could be fun. It could be bad. We will have to wait and see.
Then it was home to eat, relaax and watch movies. Dandelion, Dan and I watched Friday The 13th Part 6 and then Ice Age. Delia and Martha watched HULK. Lots of laid back, doing more nothing. I'm trying to pack in as much of that as possible before it's back to the grind for the New Year.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE

So, Dennis wanted to go to the mall with his buddy, Torren. Of course, we had to pick up Torren and then haul them to the mall. The littles wanted to spend their Christmas money, but two of them didn't bring their cash with them!?! They all wanted airsoft guns, but Young's army surplus is closed until the fifth of January so, they will have to wait.
We did go to Fanfare and look at stuff and I got two comics. The second volume of Werewolf By Night is out so I will have to go back to that soon. I saw all these Marvel Zombie books and toys and think they have taken a one shot joke waaaay too far. I have leafed through one issue a while ago and didn't like it. Thought it was kind of dumb.
Went home and we hung out and did very little. Another laid back day like vacations should be.
Then we went out to get the stuff to make banana french toast strata for church tomorrow and picked up Dennis. The it was back to the house and more of the laid back holiday thing. I did prep the strata for baking tomorrow.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FOUR

Well, it's payday and that's supposed to be hit the micro breweries for yummy beer day, but then weather came along and reared its ugly head. nasty, slushy, snowy crap and lots of it. Work was laid back. I printed one thing, of course I did it ten thousand times and then had to cut them to size. I told Martha not to come and get me and I would catch the bus.
The bus is still weird and I hate riding it. A couple of younger guys asked me about nmy beard and they seemed truly impressed with it. That was cool. On the part of the way home that involved walking I took a few pictures with my digital camera. Nothing much, just some snowy nature kind of things.
Got home and stayed in for the night. Too crappy to go outside. We'll do that tomorrow when things clear up.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THREE

The second day of my three day work week, followed by four days off and another three day work week. I kinda like this. But, there is no overtime when it comes with short weeks so I'm looking forward to the normal weeks so I can get some overtime and get the holdiay deficit caught up again. Went home and made some yummy foods with the family and then took it nice and easy. Nice and easy is my motto for now and I like it.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-TWO

Okay, Christmas is in the bag and I'm at work. Alone. Nobody is here except for me and I'm taking advantage of the situation. Sure, I did some work, but I also did the finishing work on my new chapbook, THE PENULTIMATE MACHINATIONS OF FU MANCHU. I can hardly wait to see what Linc does with the cover. I know it will be cool.
Home was laid back and took it easy. Nothing much went on.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-ONE

CHRISTMAS!!! What a glorious day! The kids woke us up at six in the AM and proceeded to demolish the stack of presents. The new PS2 was a big hit. Martha got a karaoke game called Sing Star that everyone liked. Dennis got Guitar Hero 3 and I don't think he realized that it isn't really all that easy. He'll get better at it. The littles all loved their presents and had a wonderful morning. I made us all some breakfast and then Seann came over. He seemed a little grumpy and Martha thinks he has started smoking. Hope not because then I will have to pummel the boy. We will have to wait and see.
Later in the day we went to the movies. The girls saw I Am Legend and the boys went to Aliens VS. Predator:Requiem. Danny slept through the entire thing. It was a good flick. They left it wide open for a third film. My only question is; If you know that you have shitty or questionable special effects then whey do you always hide them with rain and dark? They always do that and this time was no exception. And we really needed some boobies in this thing. That wuld have made it a lot better, but then boobies always make a movie better.
Went back home and watched some television while the kids played more PS2. All in all a very tiring day and it went by so fast! Merry Christmas everyone!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY

Christmas Eve. A time to reflect on the year behind you and look forward to the year ahead. Wait, that's New Year's Eve, isn't it? On Christmas Eve we celebrate the upcoming birth of Jesus. Sure, there are people who like to point out that he probably wasn't born in the winter, but where he came from it was probably still all hot and sand regardless. I like Christmas. Ever since I was a little kid. The anticipation of gifts and seeing relatives and remembering what Jesus did for us to give us eternal life at his side. It can't help but make yu warm and fuzzy.
And what is the best way to celebrate warm and fuzzy? That's right, we went lout for ZChinese food and watched Sweeny Todd. It was a fantastic flick and I couldn't believe the amoutn of blood! I had a little smile when Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman were singing 'Pretty Women' together. Does a heart good to watch Captain JAck Sparrow and Snape of Hogwart's croonign a lovely little tune together. The film is a typical moody, broody Tim Burton flick, but in this case, it fits perfectly. I did see little nods to Ed Wood with a certain city shot and there was one shot that looked like it was lifted directly from Sleepy Hollow. All in all a great flick and one that I could watch over and over again.
After movie and food we managed to get to Meijer for drive way salt and get thrown out of Meijer.
Let me explain.
We thought the store was open until nine PM. Yeah, it was seven PM and we got there at six fifty-five. I grabbed the driveway salt and we headed to the back to get a coffee pot. Did I mention that I had broken the coffee pot? No matter. So, we are heading back there and this suit comes along and asks what we are looking for. I tell him coffee...
and never get to finish the word pot before he barks 'No!' at me and that they are closing. If the little weasel had let me finish he would have realized that I was two rows away from the damned pots and we waited ten minutes in line to check out anyway, but nooooooooo! He had to be an ass. IF you have a store that is open twenty four seven then leave it open. If you're gonna close it then lock the doors an hour beforehand and get people out of the store. It was sloppy and I will have to call the general manager to get satisfaction. I'm thinking a written apology should suffice.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-NINE

Up and at 'em for church! We missed church last week because of snow so it was good to make it there to see everyone just before Christmas. It was especially good because my oldest son, Seann made it to the service. Now, my plan is to get him there more often. well, unless he gets a job that conflicts with it and then we will have to wait and see.
After church we took old videogames back to trade in and the kids got some new ones to go with their Playstation 2. We also hit Target and shopped a little there.
It was actually, quite a laid back kind of day and we took it easy. I'm looking forward to Christmas Eve because I will actually get to sleep in and really sleep in for the first time in forever. I like to sleep in once in a while.

CATCH UP (DAYS ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN AND ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT)

Man, has it really been since Tuesday that I have been here? Time flies when you are really, really busy. Everyday, at work I am doing this project that sucks up all my time. I get home and Martha and I run out to shop for the littles and then it's home for sleep.

Some of the highlights of these four days would have to be;

Friday, after work, Martha and the kids came and got me and we went to look at the Christmas lights and Nativity scene in Bronson Park. Then we rode the Holly, Jolly Trolley and they had carolers on the trolley. We waved at people and shouted Merry Christmas and listened to the carolers. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday was my mother's Christmas party. We had it at the church in the basement. It's always good to see my brother, Boone and my sister, Denise. My mom was glad we bought her her favorite perfume, Tabu. The big surprise of the event was that my Uncle Bert, my mom's younger brother, showed up. I always love seeing my uncle. Definitely one of the cool guys on the planet and it always does my heart good to see him. We all ate and talked and then made our way home.

I'd liek to say that I will be better at posting, but with the holidays I can't make any sort of promises. After the holidays will be different.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR

Another day of fun at Ye Olde Print Shoppe and still working on the same project. I'm doing some overtime because, well Martha and Dan are going caroling right after school and I wanna miss that. Singing is more of Martha's thing. She tells me I have a novelty voice. I guess I should come up with that novelty song that will make me famous for fifteen minutes. Yeah, I'll get right on that.
Anyway, the kids beeped me around five and I went out to discover that Delia and Dandelion had gone along for the ride. Earlier I had called Dennis and got him to put these two thawed chickens in the oven to bake. when we got home the entire place smelled of yummy, baked chicken. He accidentally put them breast down in the pan, but the juices of the cooking chicken actually made the breast quite juicy which was a good thing. Made some side dishes to go along with it and we had a chicken dinner feast at The Waltz Compound. Yummy!
Then Martha and I went for the last run of shopping for the kiddies. Yeesh! I am glad that's over. For no other reason than the mobs of people at the friggin' store! It's a madhouse! I could say that we will plan ahead next year, but why lie to myself about something like that? I can say it until I'm blue in the face, but I know that I won't do it. Oh well, maybe next year we can....oops, almost said it anyway. The good news was more porn in the mail. After the disappointing BLACK WORM, the new batch looks like a little more fun. Have to wait and see, however.
Three more days to a four day weekend coming up. Yippee!!!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-THREE

Monday morning and back to work. Thankfully, there was no more snow so the trip in was mild. I brought cookies for everyone and they all seemed to like them. A lot of them sure got eaten that's for sure. Still on the same project I've been on for a week. I also got informed that my favorite Yahoo group, Eurotrash Paradise is no longer accessible from work. Great! The one bright spot in my time and work and they take that away from me. Corporate Bastards! I guess those nudie pictures of Mathilda May were, in hindsight, probably a bad idea. Oh well. Martha called me to let me know that my Secret Santo presents made it to the house. After hearing that all I could think about was getting presents.
After work I rushed home to open them and found a new book and a magazine and a couple of movies and a Quentin Tarantino action figure and, man it was pretty cool swag I tell you what.
Made spaghetti for dinner and then we were off to Judo. That was fun and I got a good workout which is always a bonus. We went home and there was no television to watch so I checked my eurotrash group and posted a couple of things. Then it was time for bed and Martha and I watched this new porn I got called Black Worm. Yeah, see there's this delicate balance between story porn and gonzo porn. Gonzo porn is nothing but the act and is repitious and boring. Story porn usually gives you ample sex along with a bare bones entertaining storyline. Black Worm gave us too much story and not enough sex. Kind of dull if you're expecting porn and kind of stupid if you're looking for a real movie. Oh well, they can't all be winners.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO

Sunday and the world is white. We got about ten inches of snow overnight and te city is pretty shut down. Church was cancelled as now fewer than four church members called to tell me about it. It's good to be popular. The kids loved the snow playing in it until they were frozen. I spent a good hour shoveling the crap off of our driveway of doom. Then I salted it with so much salt that nothing will ever grow on either side of that slippery slope for generations. Later Martha and I decided to go out and get some Christmas shopping done. Her logic was if it was so crappy outside then fewer people would be out. Yeah, you'd like to think that, but it didn't happen. Still, we got quite a bit done.
Then it was home for dinner and I made more cookies. I am officially sick of making cookies of any form. Blech!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-ONE

Got to sleep in, but forgot my chiropractor appointment. Darn! Started making huge quantities of cookies for presents. We got five different Hershey's Kisses to put
in the middle of the cookies. I made 165 cookies and will be making more tomorrow.
Later Martha and I went to the store to get stuff.
Pretty laid back day for us here at The Waltz Compound. Watched a couple of movies and that was about it. Nice and easy.

And now to the Brian Keene portion of our blog. Still no apology for Brian's bold faced lies concerning what actually happened and, you know what? Who cares? In the grand scheme of things if that's what Brian Keene needs to get through his day then I feel sorry for him. Still not fond of someone lying about what was actually said and done, but who cares? Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek and heap kindness on our enemies as it will be as burning coals. Brian is far from being an enemy but in all good conscience I really can't read his stuff anymore. Won't affect his living I'm sure, but my daddy always said he couldn't abide a liar. I'm sure Brian will understand.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-ONE

Got to sleep in, but forgot my chiropractor appointment. Darn! Started making huge quantities
of cookies for presents. We got five different Hershey's Kisses to put
in the middle of the cookies. I made 165 cookies and will be making
more tomorrow.
Later Martha and I went to the store to get stuff.
Pretty laid back day for us here at The Waltz Compound. Watched a couple of movies and that was about it. Nice and easy.

And now to the Brian Keene portion of our blog. Still no apology for Brian's bold faced lies concerning
what actually happened and, you know what? Who cares? In the grand
scheme of things if that's what Brian Keene needs to get through his
day then I feel sorry for him. Still not fond of someone lying about
what was actually said and done, but who cares? Jesus tells us to turn
the other cheek and heap kindness on our enemies as it will be as
burning coals. Brian is far from being an enemy but in all good
conscience I really can't read his stuff anymore. Won't affect his
living I'm sure, but my daddy always said he couldn't abide a liar. I'm
sure Brian will understand.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY

Friday and payday. What a wonderful thing! The littles all had their Christmas concert at school today. It was fun to see Dandelion play her violin. She looked so very little on stage. Delia looked like she was having a blast playing theese drums that they had. It was a little long and a lot of crowded, but it looked like all the kids had a blast.
After that there was a book fair at the school and all the kids got some books. I had to go back to work and get some more stuff done on this big project. I was going to stay until nine, but it got to be eight and Josh and I decided to skip out early for beers. First we tried Bell's, but they had a band and there was a cover charge so we skipped that. We hit the Green Top where I had a shot of bourbon and a Old Style. Josh had a Killian's. Then we made out way down to Olde Peninsula Brewpub wher I convinced Josh that he couldn't have a Bud Light and made him drink a Haymarket Ale. Lightest beer that they make on the premises. Yeah, that messed him up pretty good. I had a pint of Midnight Stout while we waited for a table. Josh's girfriend, Ellie showed up and we ordered some vittles. We got a calzone which was good, but really small. There were cheese fries with bacon and Ellie got some deep fried ravioli. They were all pretty good. I ordered a giant Midnight Stout with dinner and Josh finally got his Bud Light. Yeah, he didn't finish it.
Ellie gave me a ride home where I watched some television with Martha before hitting the hay.

WOW! LOOK! ANOTHER SPECIAL POST!

Okay, so you've been keeping up with my trials and tribulations with Mr. Brian Keene, author. As if it wasn't bad enough with all the previous things I mentioned now, I go to read his blog, because I still like his blog, and this is the paragraph that really got my goat;

"well, except for Dezm, who's had his hands full with a particularly obnoxious message board member who we had to ban yesterday because, in his short time on the board, he's managed to annoy most everyone by doing things like bitching about the contest and saying that I'm a sell-out for the new direction of this Blog, and asking way-too-personal questions like how much money do I make, and basically embodying everything I was talking about a few weeks ago in 'The End'"

Okay, DEZM really had one message to tell me that he was forwarding my concerns to Brian. I really don't call that hands full, but that's not the worst part. The worst part is that Mr. Brian Keene is a liar. Don't believe me? Let's study the paragraph above, shall we?

He states that I had to be banned from the message boards because I was bitching about his contest. I never 'bitched' about his contests on the boards. I did that here in the privacy of my own blog. Hey, Brian? take some of your own advice. You don't want to read my blog, then don't. It's still a free country. Also, never said he was a sell out for the new direction of his blog. I stated my own opinion on his blog, but never used the words sell out. And once again, I did this on my blog, never on the boards.
And the last bit? The money part? I could care less what you make. If people are willing to pay you for what you do then God Bless you in all your endeavors and I wish you nothing but success.
So, in the end, Mr. DEZM if you felt that I was indeed, a handful then I apologize for making your life like that for a brief period of time. Mr. Keene is another matter altogether. As far as I am concerned he has lied about me. Yes, he had the decency to keep my name out of it, which is a good thing, but he still told lies about me. This is something I can not sit by and let go.
Here is my proposal to rectify the entire situation.
Brian Keene, if you would be so kind as to formally retract your statement and apologize on your blog then I will be more than satisfied. That's it, real simple. Until such time my only recourse is to post a blog counting the number of days that Brian Keene, in my opinion, is a bald faced liar.
We now return you to your regulary scheduled blog.
Have a great day!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE

Wooooooo! Sixty-nine dudes! Sorry, couldn't help myself there. Anyway, Thursday and work was work. Spent the whole day working on the same project. Yippee! I'll be on that project until Christmas. It's draining the life from me. I was going to work overtime, but Martha was really tired and I came home and let her sleep. I brought her yummy foodies things and found that VHS copy of A MIRCALE ON 34TH DTREET for her. She slept until about eight in the evening. She fed her cornsnake, Rufus and he's getting better at figuring that stuff out. Good for him.
I watched the first half of BRAIN OF BLOOD and played a little Kingdom Of Loathing online at the same time. I'm just farming Crimbo Town so it gets dull unless you're doing something else. I also watched the Dr. Dreck Christmas Special. It was fun and full of short films. I especially liked the part where Moaner the zombie cheerleader was dancing because we could see the kids' pictures they drew for Dr. Dreck. Glad to see they have a place of honor.
After that it was sleepy time.

AN EXTRA SPECIAL POST

So, I related what had occured to me while trying to innocently, with no malice, play Brian Keene's holiday contest he had going on at his message boards. I was told to stop doing something and I did it. I thought that perhaps I had been misled. Now, I have been banned from the boards altogether.
I place the blame at my previous posts' feet. Perhaps I shouldn't have wrote what I felt in my blog? Maybe then Brian or one of his associates would have not seen it and felt that I was overstepping my boundaries by telling what I felt was going on. To make sure that I have been suitably punished they have banned me from a place where it was kind of fun to hang out.
When Brian recently changed his blog, hailsaten.blogspot.com for a number of reasons, I was worried. Worried that a blog that I really liked reading would change and be watered down. I can sense the change in tone of the blog, but it's still Brian so, that's cool. But, these tactics are reprehensible. I said what I was told and gave my own opinion on what was conveyed to me. Pretty much a God given right here in America.
For that I get banned from the message board?
I commented on his blog about this occurences, but I doubt that I will get a response and my comment will not be posted.
So, to Brian Keene I have one thing to say and then I will be finished;


Coward.

And now back to your regulary scheduled blog.
Have a great day!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT

Middle of the week and I'm stuck on one big job at work. Makes the day sort of drag. I called Martha around noon to see what was up and she and Dan, yes, Dan was staying home from school. It seems that there was caroling with Cub Scouts, but Martha got the days wrong so he just stayed home anyway, that's cool. Martha, Dan and I went to King Wok Buffet for a late lunch and that was fun. We swung by to pick Dennis up from school and he was already walking to wards home. Seems that some kid assaulted him and he was getting suspended, Dennis I mean. The other kid was suspended, to, but Dennis actually behaved and didn't hit anyone. We went back to talk to Mrs. Snow the vice principal and it was like talking to a wall. So, we went over her head the the principal who is a lovely woman and understood where we were coming from. It was a hectic day and the last thing I wanted to do was go to Judo so, we missed out on that.
After all that excitement we needed to calm things down at The Waltz Compound. I did watch SHE WOLVES OF THE WASTELAND. Great, post apocalyptic flick with Kathleen Kinmont. True cheese fest and lots of jiggle. My kind of mindless entertainment.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN

Another day at the salt mines. We were threatened with an ice storm, but it went above us and all we got was lots and lots of rain. Beats the heck out of ice any day of the week. There's this contest on author Brian Keene's message board where if you post at the correct time you can win a prize. It was dull yesterday morning so I decided to have fun and posted on every section of the board. Nothing serious just some happy little icons.
Yeah, I got an email from Brian telling me to knock it off and that if I wanted to do that to head over to this particular thread. Well, I thought this was great! All this time I thought that I had to post randomly all over the board just to win. Now, here is the author himself telling me where to go. This is awesome. So, yesterday, I kept myself on this one thread and posted throughout the day. Once in a while I checked the winners list to see how I was doing. Yeah, then I noticed something.
People were winning from other threads.
Maybe I was confused. Didn't Mr. Keene tell me to go to this particular post and post there? I double checked the messages he sent. Yup! There it was, plain as day. Hmmmmm, this was confusing to an old fart like myself. So I emailed him back with that very same question. Here's what I got;

"People are free to post wherever they want. However, if you're going to post an icon every single minute (as you were doing yesterday) we prefer you to keep that contained to the Thread of Doom (as others are doing). Otherwise, myself and the mods have a hard time keeping track of legitimate conversations in those other threads."

Okay, this is a nice response using words like 'prefer' and 'free' to make sure I don't feel like I'm being told what to do. A majority of the icons I used, if viewed in the context of the thread, were actually clever responses to what was going on. Sure, some of them weren't, but a majority of them were. I'm trying to win a prize here. And that last sentence was bothering me.

"Otherwise, myself and the mods have a hard time keeping track of legitimate conversations in those other threads."

I know a few mods and the innocent, extra burden of a little run of icons being posted, probably fifty or so, is nothing compared to what a lot of mods have to deal with on any given message board. I had, in fact, already stopped doing it when I received the first message. So, here's the bottom line;

I quit. No not this blog, stupid, the game. I thought it would be fun to play. I read a lot of interesting things and responded intelligently to a number of them. The minute I try something for fun just to see my name on the entire message board I get called on it. Now, they will say things like:
"Well, we did tell him he was 'free' to post where ever and what ever he liked, we just 'prefer' that he didn't do exactly what it was that he was doing."
See how that works? They will use the words they provided to twist it in their favor and I'm fine with that. I know better.

After work, Martha picked me up and we went home to start dinner. While the chicken was baking we ran to the store to get gas and some essentials for the house. When we got home the lovely smell of baked chicken filled the air. I made some steamed broccoli and some oriental style rice to go with it. We watched NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD with Dandelion because we promised she could watch one of them for dinner. I hadn't seen that one in a while. Still pretty good stuff. Not as silly as some of the other entries. A little grim with some Argento styled twists in it. Not bad for the fifth in the series. Must have had something to do with that Skipp and Spector script.
After that Martha watched TEEN WOLF with Dan and I went up to review a flick, JUSTINE DE SADE. Alice Arno is quite lovely, but this flick was pretty dumb. Then it was nighty night time.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX

Back to the grind. The day flew by and I got a lot done. This one job gave me grief and I was going to reprint it, but it was late in the day so I figured I would do it in the morning. Then, I got a call at home from work and the woman who was supposed to get the job was having some sort of hissy fit that she would have to wait until morning. The job was loaded into the printers so all they had to do was press print and wait to assemble it and ship it out to here. I'm getting a little tired of these people who every year give us this swamp load of work to make sure that they spend their budgets. That's just bad planning. Oh well, I get a lot of overtime for it and it's better than trying to find a part time job to help pay for Christmas.
Went to Judo with the kids and Martha and it went by pretty fast. I read a little more of my Bava Book while the kids were on the mat and then when it came to our turn, it went pretty quick. Got a good workout and worked on a throw. Fun stuff.
went home and watched the RAW 15th Anniversary special, well, most of it. They had people like Ted DiBiase and Sgt. Slaughter on there. I watched Rick Flair get thrown through the air and decided that I want to be like Rick wehn I'm old. At fifty-eight he...well, now that I think about it, he looks pretty damned rough, but wrestling is a rough business regardless of what people say. Sure, the outcomes are scripted, but the stuff those guys do in the ring is still pretty damned brutal on the human form.
I fell asleep watching it. HAd abotu a half hour left to go. Hulk Hogan even showed up. Cool!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE

Got up and made our way to church. Sunday school was good because we had quite a turn out. Seems that the guy, Dean, who teaches the Senior class was out preaching somewhere so, I got the run off. That's cool. No age discrimination in my class! Ted and Thelma brought breakfast and Ted made this great casserole with eggs, onions, sausage and other stuff. I ate three pieces of it and regretted it. I was stuffed and sleepy for service.
After service Martha snd the kids and I went to Portage NOrthern High School to go sledding! It was a blast. I love to sled and little Danny gets the most distance. Probably because he was on one of those little saucers and he doesn't weigh anything. It was only about 20 degrees out so we only lasted an hour. I remembered to pack extra gloves, hats and we have this double pump carafe that I filled half with hot cocoa and half with green tea. Dennis and I were the only ones drinking the tea and it did a good job of making the weather a little more bearable.
Afte that we went home and got into dry, warm clothes. The kids did stuff while Martha and I watched a MONK marathon. It's a pretty funny show. There was an episod with a monkey that was killing me. I drank a big bottle of Guiness and made a huge batch of chicken and rice for everyone. Later, while Martha was napping, I watched DEVIL TIMES FIVE. It was a weird 70's exploitation flick. Had the typical downer ending that a lot of low budget flicks in the seventies had, but it was interesting.
The morning was a little hectic, but the afternoon and evening were nice and laid back. Getting geared up for a new week to start.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR

So, I decided not to go to work and sleep in. With those fifteen hour days it seemed like a good idea. Plus, we had to read at the Indian Temple at 12:30 in the afternoon. Then Missy called and told us they were running about an hour ahead of schedule. Great! So, we had to run out of the house instead of leisurely waking up and doing things beforehand. We get to the temple waaaaaaay before 11:30 and guess what? Yeah, we read about a half hour later than our original schedule. Nice. It was still good to be there Aneal, who arranges this every year, was there and seemed happy to see us. The only thing that gets to me is the incense. I like a little incense, but we're talking about a room that has it burning all the time. Takes a couple of days to get the smell out of my beard. But, it was for a good cause. Just like last year, it didn't take long before I had to use the facilities in the main temple so, off I went. The place was deserted this time and a little creepy. Except for teh downstairs which looks like every other small church basement I have ever been in. The kitchen is so big you might think that it had previously been a Baptist church. Anyway, I always peek into the main sancutary and this time there was no one around so I got a little longer look than usual. There were seven or so statues in the front and a lot of large rugs on the floors. No seats. The statues were quite beautiful to look at.
After our reading we headed out back to The Waltz Compound. Before we got there we stopped for pizza and went home and watched THE CONDEMNED with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Predictable, but fun to watch. Then it was laze around the house day. Taking it easy. After our hectic morning, it was great.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-THREE

Friday and last day of the week. I was going to work Saturday, but we have an early reading at the Indian Temple. Every year a bunch of people donate their time to go to the temple and read the gospel aloud. I get to read Luke 17-19. Should be fun.
Stayed at work until nine PM and then went home. Tried to watch EPIC MOVIE with Martha and couldn't stay awake. Crispin Glover as Willy Wonka was pretty funny, though.
Lots of working and working and glad that tomorrow I can sleep in and stay away from the print shop.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO

What can I say? I worked from 6:30 in the Am to 9 in the PM. Nothing happened in my little corner of the world. Worked, ate some food, played some Peggle, watched old 80's videos on YouTube and then went home to go to bed. Tomorrow....more of the same! I am glad that Pitney Bowes is willing to pay me to fund my Christmas spending however. Good stuff, just so damned tired. I'll rest on Sunday. Yeah, right.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE

Cancelled my doctor's appointment. All it was was to go over my meds and make any changes we agreed on and since I'm doing labs in January I decided that it could wait. Nothing life threatening going on anyway so it saves me a twenty dollar co pay.
Left work at three and went home, did a huge amount of dishes and made some food. Then it was off to Judo!
I read my book while the kids did their session and then rubbed Martha's feet for a little while. Then it was time to get on the mat!
We worked on escapes from guard and foot sweeps. We did some line throws and things looked good until I got thrown. When someone throws you and you land always, always, always remember to keep your legs apart. It helps displace the force of impact and it prevents you from playing a vicious round of The Nutcracker on your...well, you know. Anyway, I have been thrown for years and always land pretty good. Yeah, some reason my legs stayed together and, needless to say, I was incapacitated for the rest of the session. man, that hurt!
Went home, made some tea and got the children ready for bed. None of them ate dinner so they all wanted food. We cobbled together some of this and that and let them go at it. Then it was time for sleeping.
Tomorrow is a lots of overtime day. Yippee!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY

Tuesday and I decided to work some massive overtime. I will also be working overtime on Thursday and Friday of this week so, my activities will be nil.
I stayed at the shop until nine in the evening. Afterwards, Martha picked me up and informed me that we had to go to the store. Yippee! Fifteen hours at work and then a trip to Walmart. Oh well, at least we picked up the new PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN DVD so that made it better. Got some breakfasty things for the children as well so they will be surprised come morning.
That's about it. Worked, shopped, slept. Boring.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE

Well, it finally happened. I couldn't ride my bike to work this morning. And with the car acting up with power issues it was not a fun ride to get me there. I did discover that I can work a ton of overtime though and that will help with what happened later that day. Martha and I took the car in to get fixed. They replaced all the belts and checked everything out and she runs like a dream. HAd to shell out two hundred and twenty bucks, but it runs and in this weather, that is all that is important. Sure, the check is gfonna bounce, but our bank has that three hundred dollar cushion so it's not so bad. Now, I will have to work that ton of overtime to pay for everything. And it's December so Christmas is also on it's merry little way. Weeeeeeeee! I love Christmas in the religious context with the birth of our savior. I also like that they still play the Christmas specials of my youth like THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS. Dick Shawn as Snow Miser is awesome. Plus we get RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER and A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS. But, this whole commercialism aspect never sat well with me. Presents are good, but they started shoving this stuff down our throats before Halloween.
I think businesses have it wrong. They think that every year they need to make more money than the year before. Wrong! If you are in business, you need to make money. Period. There is no good reason for you to top yourself each and every year. It's insane to think like that. Do you think you're pleasing the stockholders? Screw the stockholders! That kind of thinking is going to devour you whole in the end. Especially when you realize that you can't do it each and every year. Greed kind of sucks, doesn't it?
Martha and I had calzones while we waited for the car and that was nice. We played rummy and just hung out while the car was being fixed. I love our mechanic shop but they really need a coffee shop closer to the place.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT

Sunday and as I expected, no church. The roads were icy, it's cold and the car has been acting up. We stayed home and slept in.
Later in the afternoon the temperature went up and things started to melt. Martha, the kids and I went to The M-89 in Plainwell and watched ENCHANTED. This was a great flick and I really enjoyed it. I would have enjoyed it more except that Dandelion tells me half way through the pic that she has to go to the bathroom. I get her there and back and we're back in our seats two seconds when Dan tells me the same thing! He couldn't see me leave? I know he's only seven, but give me a break.
After the movie we went to Walmart to get a snow shovel and some ice melt for the treacherous drive way. We also stopped at this low rent dollar store so the kids could each blow a buck on something.
After that it was time to go back home and curl in for the night. We ate lots of leftover Mexican food and watched LARA CROFT:THE CRADLE OF LIFE. It was alright. Martha fell asleep during it and the littles all wandered off. I even went and got caught up on some writing so, not a great flick. I think those would play better if she got naked once in a while. Oh well.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT

Saturday and we started off early. Martha and I got up early to fool around and then nodded back off for a minute. Then my chiropractor, Ray called and wanted to know if we could meet early. It gave us a reason to get off our asses and get things done so, we went for it. Ray popped my spine and neck for me and then we got some breakfast. I wanted something easy and horrid for me, but Burger King stops serving breakfast around 10:30 so that was out. We hit the nearby Speedway and got some lovely Kona coffee and those godawful breakfast sandwiches. It was what I wanted only a shittier version of it.
Then we headed to SavALot to get started on the shopping. Heather and Chris and Dawn from Judo were coming over for a Mexican feast so I had lots of stuff to get. I wanted to make hard and soft shell tacos, beef and chicken, seven layer dip, chips and salsa, nachos and a big bowl of home made Spanish rice. About half the stuff I needed was at SavALot and then we had to head for Meijer to finish off the list.
We bagged all the groceries and headed back to The Waltz Compound to get stuff started.
While I was dicing and slicing and cooking up a storm, Martha whipped the kids into a house cleaning frenzy. They weren't keen on it, but they did it. I managed to get everything cooked and set out before five when Dawn arrived. She made an awesome batch of home made salsa and it tasted great! Chris and Heather showed up shortly after because the weather was getting nasty. Our drive way is steep and gets slippery quick so while Dawn could make it up the hill in her van, Chris and Heather tried and then parked across the street.
Everyone ate and we talked and had a blast. heather had to leave first and her van was covered in ice. I started it for her and let it thaw a little before I agreed to get it down the driveway for her. The slippery gave me a little shit, but I just6 gunned it and it slid right into place, then it was just a case of getting it down to the street for her.
Chris and Heather stayed for a little while longer. Heather has a big school project and it involves a survey concerning endangered species in Michigan so we all helped her with the questions she would be asking.
The kids were getting pretty wired and it was getting worse outside so, Chris and Heather decided to make the trek back home before it got real bad.
After that we fed the dogs and got ready for bed. I already decided that we weren't going to church in the morning. Too far and slippery in the old war wagon. Wasn't going to risk the Waltz clan in it.
Sleeping in on a Sunday should be a blast.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN

Payday! And to make it better, Martha came and got me for lunch. we ran off and paid bills, ate chinese food, which was great as always and I mailed out some more of the big chunk of Amazon sales I have been having lately. Hopefully, the trend will continue to help finance Christmas. We will have to wait and see.
After work, came home and it was another of those laid back didn't need to do a lot. I like those a lot. Need that once in a while.
The weather is getting worse so I'm waiting for the end of my bike riding days and something else will have to fill the void. Can't see two days of Judo replacing five round trip bike rides a week. Have to think of something quick.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX

Second day of monitoring everything I eat. It sucks. seems to make me more honest about what I eat so maybe that's a good thing. Dunno. Work was work, nothing special. Home was laid back. Ate dinner with the wife and kiddies, watched some television. That about covered it. After the last few days of busy it was kind of nice.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE

So, lately I have been having my sugar crash on me. I've been on Glucophage for years and they have already reduced the dose by half once. Maybe it's time for that to happen again. I have an appointment next week with the doctor so I came up with this fabulous idea; keep track of my blood sugar in the morning and before and after every meal to see what it's doing. Also, write down everything I eat. Yippee! Now my fingers hurt.
Work was work and then it was time to go home. When I got there I checked my blood sugar and it was real low,79. Then I ate something and I think I overdid it. Went to Judo and learned some arm bars and pins that are pretty cool.
After work we stopped at the store for dog food and bread and I got a Diet Coke Plus. Martha got a Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. We went home and I made a late supper for whoever was hungry.
Went to bed and wrote a ;porn review, a review for my blog and worked on the next chapbook. It's coming along real well now that I know where it's headed. It started as a really cool title and that was all I had. Now it's getting better. Should be done this week.
I have found the perfect time to read my Bava Book. The kids' Judo class is before ours and that gives me an hour so I lug the twelve and a half pound beast to the dojo and read before I get on the mat. I get about two chapters a week this way. I actually am at around page one hundred and something. Great book.
It has inspired me to write my own tome about Boston film maker, Michael Legge. His body of work might not be as well known or as extensive as Bava's, but it's still great stuff and worth a book of it's own.
Jean Claude Damme was in his only good movie, BLOODSPORT so I stayed awake and watched the rest of that before nodding off.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY -FOUR

Tuesday and back to work. I need to remember that if I ever take five days off of work again that I still need to ride my bike at least a couple of times in that time. MAn, my legs were mad at me! My knees got sore, but I think that was more from the 20 degree weather than the strain.
Work was the same as it always is. I got a few projects started to get finished by the end of the week. Fun, fun, fun.
After work Dan and Martha and I went to Scouts for the pack meeting. They had a guy who knew a bunch of Indian stuff there. I signed us up for Christmas Caroling and a tour of the Pfizer air hanger. Both sounded like fun. I passed on the hockey game because it was nine bucks a ticket and Dan doesn't like to sit still that long. Seemed like a waste.
After Scouts we went to get coffee. Martha got hot chocolate and Dan got a White Chocolate Mocha Peppermint with a penguin cookie. He thought he was the big man for that little adventure.
After that it was home and bed.
Busy day for my first day back to work. Got to remember to keep riding the bike on vacations. My legs were none too happy with me.

LOST IN THE SHUFFLE (DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-ONE, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO and ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE)

After the car repair woes of Friday, my vacation got the better of me. Because of that I will be lumping Saturday, Sunday and Monday into one lump.
Saturday we really did nothing. Lounged around, ate food, watched television. Not a lot went on on Saturday.
Sunday we went to church and then we went to help Chris and Heather clean and paint the dojo. The kids had a blast and it was fun plus good to help out wit Chris' new business venture. After that we went home and, although it was early everyone crashed out pretty early.
Monday, Martha and I got some alone time when the kids went to school. I woke up early and made pancakes and sausages for the kids and sent them on their way. Dandelion asked if I would be doing this every day and I had to tell her it was because of vacation time. She looked hurt.
Had my blood sugar crash on me twice today and it sucked. Checked it with the meter ansd it was at 86. This was without taking my glucophage for two days because it made me crash out two days ago. I have an appointment with the doctor to see what we can do about that. Maybe I can stop taking it. Maybe my blood sugar was up because I weighed over three hundred pounds and got little, if any exercise. Now at two hundred and forty with excercise on my bike at least ten times a week that might be making a difference. That and not eating like a twelve year old. We'll have to wait and see.
The next to last episode of Heroes was busy and you can tell that they are being forced to end the season early because of the writer's strike.
Busy day with Judo and house cleaning and just plain stuff, but it was a good day.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY

Day after Thanksgiving and I set out on getting that thermostat in. Then I tried to put the thermostat in. I've done lots of them, but never one on a 1981 Cutlass Custom Cruiser Station Wagon. It has this diaphragm that is bolted on top of the left bolt for the thermostat housing. That means that there is this screw attached to the bolt that you need to take off to remove the thermostat casing. I didn't have a deep enough socket to get it off. So, one hundred and two dollars later with a new thermostat and a new radiator cap (ours was busted and I didn't even know it) and tightening of our alternator belt and we were done being at Muffler Man.
While we waited we managed to shop around at Walgreens and then went to Kazoo Books. There were too many books that I wanted, but restrained myself this close to Christmas. Martha and I walked over to Dairy Mart for some coffee for me and hot cocoa for her.
Then we went home and watched lots of television and some movies and the rest of the day was just a laid back nothing kind of thing.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE

Woke up without an alarm around seven. Got the bird in the oven, made stuffing and got the other things ready to pop in the oven when the bird came out. At twenty five pounds it was taking up quite a lot of space.
The damned thing seemed to take forever! I was upstairs when the kids started yelling about smoke. I ran downstairs and the turkey timer had popped and it was spilling a little grease on the bottom of the oven. I got the bird out with a minimal of fuss and took the bottom of the oven outside and sprayed it down before putting it back in the oven.
Got the rest of the food going and we watched the parade. The parade blended into the dog show. Seann made a mountain of mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner. we all ate too much and then laid around the house in food comas. So tired from turkey.
watched a lot of mindless television and ate some more food. The pies turned out real well and I was happy with those.
It was a good day. I am thankful for my lovely family and our current state of existence. Life is pretty good in The Waltz Compound.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHT

Last day of work this week. Pulled a muscle last night watching porn (don't ask) and didn't feel like Judo. Got the job done that I needed to have done by today so that's a relief. Get to leave work and not go near the place until Tuesday. Yeah!
Got home and started in on my home made pie crust for the pumpkin pies and chocolate cream pie. I like baking, it's relaxing to just pound dough and take it easy.
Watched some television and Boogie Nights was on IFC. I hadn't seen it in a while and stayed up to catch the whole thing. Great flick even if the director is over fond of tracking shots. It's a good flick. Tried to sleep and what was on after Boogie Nights? Fire Walk With Me. Bastards at IFC don't want me to sleep! I'll be glad whne I pick up the Twin Peaks box set.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN

All I did was print stuff for one job today. It seemed to stretch on forever. Yeesh! Oh well, no overtime for me because they won't pay me time and a half for anything over forty this week because of the vacation days. It's weird, complicated and sucks. So, I left at three.
Martha and I ran down to the bread store to get bread for my homemade stuffing. Then we hit AutoZone for a new thermostat that I need to install on Friday. After that we went to Family Dollar and I bought some stuff for the kids and it was fun.
Went home and forced them to look for the damned remote that was missing yet again. Bleah!
Good news; more porn in the mail today. Hurray! It's just like Christmas at Larry Flynt's house.
Watched the last two episodes of Prison Break that I taped a while back. It was still good. They are leaving us hanging until January, but that's so they don't compete with holiday programming which is fine with me. I can wait for a little while.
Watched one of the adult films called THE SKIN TRADE. It was trying to be an actual movie and it was a little trippy. I actually liked it. The first two girls were scary to look at, but then the star girl came on and she was pretty good looking and that helped a lot.
After that IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD MADE WORLD was on Turner Classic Movies and it sucked me in. I didn't get to sleep until after midnight-thirty and know for a fact that I will be paying for that come tomorrow.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX

Another fun filled week at work. Actually, I only work three days this week and then get five days off paid. Sounds like fun? Well, except for the replacing of the thermostat this weekend, it will be kind of fun. Lots of turkey and no where to go. Got home and got ready for Judo. Judo was fun except I jammed my thumb on my right hand and smashed my left hand with my right knee. Don't ask, it wasn't pretty. I also found the perfect tme and place to read my Bava Book. At the dojo during the kids class. I got through a chapter and it gets better the farther I go. It's a shame that so much of Bava's earlier work is lost becase it all sounds so fascinating.
After Judo we went to Harding's because they had the best price on turkey. We got a 25 pounder so that should be awesome when it's finished. We picked up everything except for the bread and I need to get that tomorrow from the bread store.
Then it was home in time for HEroes. Probably one of the better episodes I have seen this season. Very busy and a lot of stuff going on. Of course with the writer's strike we only get two more episodes this season which is a bummer, but maybe the third season will be better because of it. Have to wait and see.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE

Sunday and it's potluck for Thanksgiving. Dennis made his world famous plum glazed ham for the proceedings. I left him to it and he did an awesome job. I told him that if he learns to cook he will never starve and might back a really hot girl in the process. Hot girls love having men cook for them. Don't believe me? Ask my wife. Anyway, I went and got my back adjusted by Ray and it felt a hundred times better. OF course, I will go to Judo on Monday and screw it up again, but what are ya gonna do. He mentioned that I might want to move my mouse down a little to help with the tension in my back. I'll have to give that a try.
After church we headed home, did stuff and went back out to help wrap Christmas Presents for little kids overseas that wouldn't get any presents. Its for something called Samaritan's Purse. Very cool! Plus, there was pizza! It was at Alpha and Omega Ministries and they are all very nice people. The kids had a lot of fun.
Then it was time for home and sleep. Doesn't sound like a busy day, but believe me, it was.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR

Martha and I had planned all week to take the kids to the Reptile Show at the Kalamazoo Fairgrounds. we thought it would be big fun. Well, MArtha did and I agreed. It was a lot of fun. We got to see snakes and lizards and icky bugs and spiders and these adorable things from Austrailia called Sugar Babies. I got to play with the Sugar Baby and that was fun. Then I got blindsided and before I knew it we were leaving with a mouse for Delia and a snake for Dan, well for Dan and Martha. It's a cornsnake named Rufus and he's pretty tiny. He eats little, baby mice and we got him a live one of those at the show. he didn't eat it until we got home. It was disgusting, but Dan and the rest of the kids and Martha thought it was cool. Good for them. Blech!
Martha and I went out for dinner and a movie. We also stopped and bought stuff for the mouse and the snake. Spoiled rotten my kids are I tell you what.
We saw THE GAME PLAN with The Rock and it was pretty good. Definitely funny and it tugged at your heartstrings a little. Sure, a lot of it was telegraphed by a mile, but sometimes good old fashioned fun and mindless cinema is a good thing.
After that we went to Chili's for dinner.
My buddy, Robert was working and Martha ordered the steak and loaded mashed potatoes. I got this thing called The Mushroom Jacik. It was green peppers, onions, grilled chicken, cheese, sauteed mushrooms and bacon on a sizzling plate. Then I had the flour tortillas, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and cheese to make some yummy fajitas. Good stuff and I ate too much.
Our last stope for the evening was Meijer so we could get the stuff so Dennis could make plum glazed ham for the potluck and church tomorrow for our Thanksgiving celebration.
What a busy day! And now we have a mouse named SAndy and a snake named Rufus to add to the three dogs and a cat. I told Martha that if everyone was getting these exotic pets that I wanted a bird. We'll see after the holidays.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE

went to work and first thing went to Nagle's TOP DOG to get the Monster Breakwich. After weeks of oatmeal and flaxseed I felt that I deserved this monster of a sandwich with three eggs, cheese, bacon, ham and sausage. Good stuff, but I couldn't eat it everyday.
I put a bunch of stuff on sale at Amazon to help out with the holidays.
I was on the way home on my bike when something hit me in the head. I was a little disoriented as I tried to figure out what it was and where it came from. Then I did and was instantly angry. Someone threw an apple at me from their car! Sometimes people can really get on my nerves. I was super pissed and pretty much anyone who dared make eye contact with me for the rest of my ride home knew it. I made more than one person look down after seeing how angry I was.
Dennis was off visiting his friend so the rest of us went to Meijer to get roasted chicken and other goodies for dinner. It was yummy. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream and coffee set off the rest of the day.
Still pretty damned mad about the apple to the head though. Good thing I was blessed with a thick skull.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO

Another day of working open to close. Kind of laid back. Printing a bunch of stuff so not so bad. Just waiting on the damned printer.
After work biked it home. It got cold and dark quick at five o'clock. Sheesh! Snowed a little, but didn't stick. I was a popsicle by the time I got home.
Did some dishes while I made food. We had four cheese lasagna, Hamburger Helper style and since I was feeling ambitious I whipped up some fried rice with some crab in it. That was pretty yummy stuff. Mmmmmmm!
Delia had a sixties party so I was inducted into the making cookies club. I made two batches of peanut butter cookies which converted into about 75 cookies. Plenty for a group of sixth graders. Dandelion was a big help.
After that Martha and I headed off to bed and watched the first three episodes of Logopolis. I had seen this back in the eighties at Kalamazoo College in one of the dorms. We used to gather there every Sunday and WGVU would show an entire storyline worth of shows. The only time that was a real pain was when it was money drive time and they kept interrupting and begging for money. With three hours of show plus begging it took a long time to watch one of these things. I can't remember if Logopolis was one of those marathon's, but it seems like it was.
We saved the last episode for tomorrow because we were both so tired.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE

No way I was going to get any overtime today. Dan has scouts and we all have Judo. Busy, busy, busy. Scouts was fine. Martha and I stick around, but we don't do much. Dan really likes it and so do I with the exception of this one kid who might possible be the poster boy for children who need to be medicated. Doesn't listen, runs around like a maniac. I did like when they made the boys pray twice because they weren't being respectful. That was cool.
At Judo we learned more of how to apply what we learned last week. I like this more because it is more of drilling something until we get it right. Cool stuff if you ask me.
At lunch today I found out I bounced a check so I was in the negative numbers. That sucked, but then my silver lining was Dan had a bad morning so, Martha let him stay home. They came and got me for lunch and we did a little grocery shopping first. After that we hit McDonald's, Dan's choice. I hadn't been in a while and was amazed that they put the nutrition information on the wrappers now. Man, that had to hurt! So, after lunch and my week's supply of sodium, I went back to work.
Another busy day. Sheesh! I'm having a lot of those lately.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY

Worked until five today, yeah overtime! Yeah, I hate working overtime, but love the money, go figure. I stopped at Felpausch and got some nice steaks. Got home and Martha had taken Delia to a music thing over at Galilee Baptist Church. I grilled steaks for the three other kids and made some rice and green beans. Simple stuff, nothing fancy. I did use this Canadian Steak Seasoning I got from my mom on the steaks and that was good.
Got some writing done while Martha was done. Caught up on some reviews and such. When Martha and Delia got home I reheated the side dishes and made them steaks. I had one then myself. Martha thought it was funny because Delia had eaten at the music thing and she was eating again because it was steak.
After that watched some television and hit the hay. Overtime makes me tired.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE

Monday, Monday, what a gloomy day. Cold on the bike ride into work. Thought I was working overtime, but the printer I needed broke so I went home at three. Gave me a chance to make dinner for everyone before we were off to Judo.
Judo was fun. The kids learned some things, Martha and I learned some things. Good things all around. I finished reading my Al Adamson book, SHLOCK O RAMA during the kids session. Good book, but too short. I think the Bava Book may be spoiling me.
Remembered to tape the season finale of Prison Break and will have to watch it soon.
Heroes was good. It was such an obvious, oh crap let's bring everyone up to speed and add lots of cool stuff in an hour because we have been boring the pants off of these people, kind of thing. Oh well, it was still good. A real shame if they have to wrap up the season early because of the writer's strike, but what are ya gonna do? The money men don't like spreading the wealth to the people who actually do the work in that business. Typical.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-EIGHT

Sunday and off to church. A very nice morning and I knew that it was not my turn for breakfast at church. So, when we got there, yeah it turned out to be my turn. Oh well, Martha and I swung down to Meijer and I picked up the stuff to make a huge horde of pancakes. Short order style! It was fun. Missy brought some farm fresh eggs in and told me to fry those up for anyone who wanted them. It turned out really well. Dandelion was baptized today and I will remember to post a picture of that when I get near The Waltz Compound and the camera again.
She was the last one in the family and we are very proud of her.
After church we went to meet up with friends of ours we haven't seen in years. Mike and Judy and Robert. Well, Mike was working, but it was nice to see them again and plan on staying in contact with them more now that we know where they are. Good stuff. Haven't seen them for well over ten years.
Went home to eat before we had to drive the kids back to church for youth group. I spent the time yakking with Matt and Missy about vinyl. That was fun. Then the kids started whining that they were ready to go home so I had to leave. Bummer.
Back home after a busy day and relaxing getting ready to gear up for a week of overtime. Yipee!

A special Halloween Post

Yeah, yeah, I know. It ain't Halloween, but my blog, my rules. I took pics of the kids doing the trick or treat thing. Enjoy the show!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN

Saturday. Meant to get up early and get off to work. Slept until seven something instead. Nice to ride the bike to work in the light instead of the early morning darkness. Foggy as all get out so I took it easy and kept a careful eye out for idiot traffickers. Got to work and lo and behold! I was able to get into the parking area and the turnstile without having to go through the front door and deal with the ill informed rent a cops. Yeah for me.
I basically pushed the print button for five hours and then took off. I had to get to my chiropractor appointment and then I needed to drop off copies of the new chapbook to Linc, all he asks for in payment is some copies of the book. Seems fair to me. He also gave me the coolest present. Look down to the bottom of this blog and you will see it. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's made of vinyl and has those brass hole thingies so it doesn't tear when you hang it. It is so cool and he said he might get one of the first chapbook with Bruce Lee and Ilsa on it. So very, very cool.
Came home and the new Al Adamson book I ordered arrived in the mail. With that and the Bava Book it will be director land in the Waltz abode for a while.
New episodes of Ninja Warrior were on tonight and they have designed a whole new course because in the last season someone beat it. Very coool and it was fun to see the new guys and the old seasoned fellas go at the new course. It's pretty damned tough.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX

So, Friday. Not a pay day so, bleah. Work has become overly hectic and we are swamped. Overtime was supposed to start on Monday, but I need to stay over to get the barest minimum of stuff done that needs to be done. Sheesh! Plus, I need to work Saturday! At least the overtime pay is going to be good. Gotta appreciate that.
Got out of work around four, dashed home with Martha and ran home to make dinner. Martha and Delia were in choir and they were going to open for the group, Take 6. They were both very excited. Dandelion and I went along because they had extra free tickets which was cool. The choir did a magnificent job and Martha and Delia had a blast. Take 6 was good. They were very accomplished vocalists with no instruments with the exception of a little piano in a couple of the songs. They even did and encore which was nice.
getting out of the parking lot was a nightmare. Eventually we made it and the fuel light buzzed on so it was time to go to Meijer and get raped at the pump. Sixty-seven bucks later with a dangerously rubber check and we were off to the homestead. Martha told me all about the drama behind the stage and how a large majority of her fellow choir members were being idiots and not listening to the simplest of instructions. She still had fun, though, and that's all that mattered.
Green Hornet was on as I fell asleep. I actually watched the whole thing. The bad guy was the lead actor from THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. I kept waiting for him to go off and pick up hookers at nightclubs and everytime they showed him driving it made me reallllll nervous.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE

Couldn't miss two days of work so I had Martha take me to work and I took my codeine with me. Seems that the one that I took had all the codeine in it. I was whooped at work today. Managed to get a lot done on this one project-, but that was all I did at work. It was free coffee and pastry day at work so I got me a lemon poppyseed muffin. Yummy and very lemony.
After work I asked Martha to stop at Felpausch so I could get some onions and carrots. I needed them for this recipe I found for smoked sausage and lentils. I thought it turned out very well. Next time I will adjust the liquid and time so the lentils get a little more cooking time in, but other than that, I thought it tasted pretty good. Dandelion helped me with making it so she ate it even though I don't think she was a big fan of it. I might try it one more time in the future and tweak it slightly to see if that will make a difference.
After dinner Martha and Delia and Dandelion and I went to the store. Martha and Delia are singing in a gospel choir tomorrow and they needed new outfits to go with the occasion. We started at Meijer and worked our way to Walmart. Yipee! Actually, it wasn't that bad and we did pick up other stuff we needed at the store anyway so it was cool. It will be fun to see Martha and Delia perform tomorrow. I hope they're not too nervous.
For bed we watched some new porn I got called MATA HARI 2; SEX IS NOT ENOUGH. It was pretty good and actually had some action sequences between the smut. It's dubbed foreign porn and I think they actually put a little more work into their adult films than a large portion of the crap that comes out of America. Good stuff. Back feels a little better today. I really can't wait until the weekend to take it easy.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR

Back was killing me. Didn't go to work today. Laid in bed or on the couch and ate codeine and relaxed and took a really hot bath. That should do it for me. Hopefully.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE

Ugh, I feel like crap. I made the bike ride into work and froze my ass off. Plus my back is killing me. Guess being away from Judo for so long made a difference. Plus, the new mats don't have a lot of cushion on them like the old place and I can feel it in these dusty old bones. Work was laid back and just doing this big job.
Went home and did nothing. Dinner was leftover red beans and rice. Watched an Emmanuelle movie and that was cool. Just did very little. Refurbished the blogs I write for and added some new content. Mostly capsule reviews for the moment. New pic at the Divine Exploitation blog for the header. I like it a lot.
Other than that took it easy. Man, I hope I feel better tomorrow.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-TWO

Monday and man it wasn't too bad riding into work. I expected snow, but it was pretty nice. Yeah, that's not gonna last too damned long. Work was work, nothing spectacular, just a place to go and get paid. The ride home was much windier than the ride in. There's definitely a cold front coming in. Brrrrrrrr!
It was the first day of Judo classes so I rushed through making red beans and rice for dinner. It turned out quite yummy. Tomorrow I'm going to try something with lentils. We had to rush from home to the Dojo, drop off the kids and then zoom back to the littles' school for conferences. Dan's teacher, Mr. Brown loves Dan. He knows how he works and is able to bring out the best in him. We love Mr. Brown. Dandelion's teacher MS. Stiver has this punk rock look with two toned hair and a silver nose ring. A cool lady who loves having Dandelion in her class. Delia's teacher, who's name escapes me for some reason, was cool. She said Delia is quite self sufficient which we already knew.
After conferences we zoomed back to the Dojo for adult class. We learned some arm bars. I am used to more cushion under mats for Judo and this was a little harder, but I'm sure I will get used to it after a while. Sensei Chris looked like he was having fun. I will ache tomorrow because my wife is a wicked person who likes to heap abuse on my poor body.
After Dojo we went home and made snacks and watched Heroes. Prison Break was a two hour special that I taped and will have to watch tomorrow. I hate wating for Prison Break, but this was a special exception. Martha let us turn the heat on in the house finally and we even used the radiator in our room. Good thing, I was freezing.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-ONE

It is opening day of Snyder Dojo and the Waltz family could not be happier. We stopped going to Southside Dojo when Chris quit teaching there. So, it's good to have a place to go and learn Judo again and get back into shape. Sure, riding my bike keeps me going, but there are muscles that you use in Judo that you never use in bike riding.
The new dojo is smaller, but still quite functional. A lot of people showed up for the grand opening. My four kids were happy to get back into their gis and back on the mat. I'll be aching for a couple of days after this particular workout. I think Dan and Martha had the most fun.
We took off for a little while because the kids were getting tired. Went home and grabbed some food and then went back for the rest of the day to the dojo. The kids opted to stay home.
The only thing we forgot that Dandelion was supposed to get baptized today so we will have to reschedule that for next Sunday. Ooops! After dojoland Martha and I went home and got the kids ready for bed. Watched the new SImpsons Treehouse OF Terror. It was alright, nothing to fantastic, but alright. The kids seemed to enjoy it more than I did.
The time change messed with me as awlays so I crashed pretty early. Tomorrow we start Judo classes again. I can hardly wait.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY

Saturday! We had the holiday parade downtown that Dan was marching in for scouts. Dandelion and I went to The Copy Cup for coffee and hot cocoa. It was nice and relaxing. I think I might patronize the place a little more in the future. Really laid back nice little coffee shop. They have open mic on Wednesday nights that I might start going to. Maybe I'll even read something. Don;t know yet.
At the parade I got to smile and wave at babies, pet lots of dogs and generally have a real good time. Dan got into the whole uniform thing according to Martha and saluted every American flag that he passed. He's a good kid.
After the parade we went to the Water Street Coffee Shop on Oakland and Martha and the kids got yummy hot chocolate while I had a nice cup of white tea. They give you this cool little pot and they use fresh tea leaves which made for some awesome white tea.
After that we went to see Ray, my chiropractor, and he assaulted my spine for a while. Felt really good. He told me that he might not be doing chiropracting after the beginning of the year which would suck so bad for me. I don't want to go to another chiropractor. Hopefully, things will look up.
Then we headed home and Martha and I got the luxury of a huge nap. After that we got up and around and went and got Delia from her friend Elida's house. Stopped at Walmart to price mp3 players and decided I would make out better online than retail. I don't think that Walmart will lose sleep over one missed sale.
Came home and made hot tea and sliced apples with caramel for the wife and kiddies. Martha also got her favorite thing, Coco Wheats. She's feeling a little blah so, I was glad that I could do that for her.
Yesterday, the kind folks at Severin sent me two new Lucio Fulci flicks as well as Black Emmanuelle's Box Vol. 2. Something to watch for the weekend and get reviews up for the Penguin Comics site.
Getting late and still tired. Man it felt good to get my back cracked again. I'll be going back every week for this. Good stuff.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE

FRiday and payday. Wheeeeee! Actually, lots of bills due so it's like not having any money. Although paying bills is good. I still managed to spend seven bucks on an Al Adamson book at Amazon. It balances out with the cash I have made with movies recently.
Took it realllll easy at work today after yesterdays busy. We got free lunch at work. Yummy pizza and salad and cookies and soda. That was cool. After work headed home and started the evening.
Dan had to do color guard at a banquet/auction for the blind. Three scouts showed up and their den leader, Tony was there. Tony is a cool guy and he really likes Dan. Afterwards we went home and I watched some Jess Franco and called it a night.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT

Man I was busy at work! From the minute I got there to the end of the day I was running and worn out. Hopefully, things will slow down, but I know that ain't gonna happen.
I would now like to interrupt our regularly scheduled blog to complain about something. First, read this 'news' article:

Dog" Chapman Apologizes for Racial Slur
American TV star Duane "Dog" Chapman has apologized for repeatedly using a racial epithet in a private phone call to his son. The star of TV series Dog The Bounty Hunter allegedly told his son to break-up with his black girlfriend during a taped conversation which was leaked online. Chapman was forced to issue an apology after bosses at A&E television suspended production on his reality series. He says, "My sincerest, heartfelt apologies go out to every person I have offended for my regrettable use of very inappropriate language. I am deeply disappointed in myself for speaking out of anger to my son and using such a hateful term in a private phone conversation." A spokesman for A&E says, "We take this matter very seriously. Pending an investigation, we have suspended production on the series. When the inquiry is concluded we will take appropriate action."

Okay, now did you read that carefully? This man who, by the way I do not watch this show. I may have caught a commercial for it and I did like it when South Park mocked him, but I have never watched an episode. This guy is pissed off at his son and they have a heated exchange over the phone. In the heat of the moment in this PRIVATE phone conversation he uses a racial slur. Man, it must be tough to be the only person in the world to do that. I mean none of the rest of us ever get mad or use a racial slur ever in our entire lives. And we sure as Hell don't do it in PRIVATE. To add insult to injury the only reason this came to light is that Dog's son taped the conversation and sold it to the tabloids. Very nice. Good kid ya got there, Dog. And how bright is a kid who shoots his own parents gravy train ride of a television show? You know the kid must be benefiting from this as well and what kind of mind works like that? What good came of the entire thing? The show gets good ratings ad A&E will pretends that they are offended beyond words and then when the next racial slur occurs somewhere else, Dog will be back on the air with a bigger following than before and the ratings will soar and Dog and A&E will make a boatload of money. In the old days when there were a gang of men called The Forty Thieves they would take prints of movies to towns and play them. They promised the sizzle that Hollywood films were lacking. If hey could cause a little trouble with the police and get people in an uproar it helped fill the seats and make more money for they Thieves. David Friedman, legendary film producer and member of The Forty Thieves admitted on more than one occasion that he would call the cops himself and act like an indignant member of the community to get a little flare up over at the theater that was showing his films. Made for better business.
For the majority of people in the world they are suckers. They believe what they are told and act accordingly. Playing to the Lowest Common Denominator always works. Mob rule is something that has been around since God decided that there should be more than two of us tromping the Earth. It's just something we're born with.
So, the new flavor of the week is Dog and his use of the N word in a PRIVATE conversation with his son. I'm starting to think that George Orwell had something when he wrote 1984. I think he just got the date wrong.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog;

So, Martha came and got me for lunch and we sold the van with the blown transmission. We got a hundred bucks for it and that was cool. After work Martha came and got me and we went to the store to get stuff for dinner. Barb was coming over to drop off clothes for the boys. I made Parmesan crusted chicken with fettuccine alfredo and some sauteed vegetables. Carrots, zucchini and summer squash with a little Mrs. Dash and some crushed garlic. Yummy stuff. After dinner, Martha and Delia went to choir practice and the rest of the gang went about their merry business.
I did get a care package from my good buddy David Zuzelo full of books and comics and music and Bruno MAttei's THE OTHER HELL. The icing on the cake would have been the Jess Franco lobby cards. I have to get them measured and framed. I have just the spot for them to hang when that's done.
I was tired from actually putting in a hectic eight hours at work. At least tomorrow is Friday and payday.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN

Halloween! They had a little set up here at work where we could get candy and other goodies. It was fun. I got some candy and some tasty treats. Ate too much and feel nauseous, but it's once a year, blood sugar be damned!
Got home and on the way my bike chain slipped off twice. I really don't want to take it in for the short time I have left in the season riding it, but I might have to because it is annoying as Hell.
Got home and made some food for everyone before starting the make up. The kids makeup all turned out really well. Dandelion was the hardest to recognize as a werewolf.
We went to Stew's grandma's neighborhood and did the trick or treat thing. The kids got a lot of candy. We took Cassidy along, but she wanted nothing to do with the costume thing. Oh well, what are ya gonna do?
Dandelion, Delia and Dan copped out before Dennis and Martha and Brooke and Mike were ready to go so, I walked the littles back to the car.
Brooke and Mike went with us because they were told they were too young to trick or treat so our kids acted as a distraction. Good times.
It misty rained for a while and cleared up for a while. Then, after the littles and I made it back to the car it started to pour. Good for us, bad for the people who decided they needed more candy.
The kids all got a big haul and everyone who's house we visited were nice. Since Dan already had the skull make up on I made him yell, "Kobra Kai, Live Or Die!" A few times and it cracked up a few people.
My feet are gonna be pretty sore tomorrow, I can feel it already.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX

Day before Halloween. Went and got stuff for costumes for the kiddies. Dandelion is going to be a werewolf, Dan is a skeleton, Dennis is going to be messed up looking guy and Delia is going to be a vampire warrior. I think the medication is starting to work a little better. Feeling a little better in the gut area which is good. Almost done with the meds and hopefully that will fix things. The kids are really looking forward to Halloween. Now, if it doesn't rain all will be cool.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX

All I could think about this morning was that damned ultrasound. The girl giving it to me was pretty cute and that helped a lot. She also heated the gel for it and that was very nice as well. She showed me my gallbladder and said it looked good, but she had to send it for interpretation to these people who do that sort of thing for a living. She also checked my pancreas, liver and right kidney. Kind of a laundry list of stuff. The goo came right off which was nice. I thought for sure my hairy belly was going to grab on to that stuff like there was no tomorrow.
It didn't.
Went back to work, got some stuff done.
Went home and made some stir fry for the wife and kiddies. My stomach was acting up so I didn't eat when they did. Later I had some Health Nut bread and mackerel. Yummy. No really, it wasn't all that bad. Plus the Omega-3s are really good for you.
Didn't watch all of Heroes. Read more Bava Book. Fell asleep before Heroes was over. The second season just seems dull in comparison to last season. Oh well.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE

Ealry morning Sunday and Martha had already woke up and gotten in the shower. I sent the parade of children through the cleaning process before I hopped in for a quick shower myself. Then it was off to church. Jeff Sackett made yummy croissant sandwiches for breakfast and the kids had Sunday School. The grownups just hung around and talked. Sometimes that can be better than the actual sitting down and learning process so I encourage it from time to time. Cara, our piano player was in Arizona so Martha filled in with her guitar. She always acts so nervous doing that, but you can see that she was digging the whole thing.
We stayed for the business meeting because I had questions about the new computer we were buying for the church. Questions answered and off we went to the homestead. Dandelion and I got down on our hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen floor. Mopping is okay, but sometimes you gotta get down there and scrub that thing to get it super clean. Needless to say, it is now super clean. That should last for a minute and a half.
Martha took the older kids to youth group while I stayed home with the littles. We ate stuff and watched television and goofed off.
I did manage to catch a flick called DIE YOU ZOMBIE BASTARDS! Some of it was funny and it was cool seeing porn star Jamie Gillis doing something besides porn. Martha got home and I fed her and we got the kids ready for bed.
Delia was grumpy because she had a project that she put off until the last minute and had to finish before school started. She was pretty grumpy, but she had been told about it weeks before so I had very little pity for her.
For not doing a lot, we got a lot done this weekend.
I had to watch what I ate tonight because I have that ultrasound tomorrow.
Yippee!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOUR

Saturday and we thought we would take the kids to the free movie at the Kalamazoo 10. Yeah, so did everyone else in the free world. Both shows were sold out so it was a no go for that. We went home and all did some pesky chores and then Martha came up with the idea of a movie marathon. Here's the lineup and who picked what;
Daniel picked 300
Dennis picked the original DAWN OF THE DEAD, Director's cut.
Dandelion picked A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4:THE DREAM MASTER
Delia picked FREDDY VS. JASON
I picked a new installment of The Dungeon Of Dr. Dreck with CARNIVAL OF SOULS. I always thought I had seen this one all the way through, but there were scenes I don't remember. Excellent creepy flick.
Martha didn't pick a flick. She was tired and cranky.
We ate lots of popcorn and had fun watching movies. I managed to sneak away a couple of times and get some writing done which was good.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE

Work was a madhouse from the minute I got there until I left. I think that with a couple of new projects looming on the horizon that the no overtime joy I have been experiencing will soon be lost. Oh well, I can use the money for the holidays. Kids to buy presents for and all that.
Came home and made homemade potato soup and apple crisp. I thought it was pretty good, but the kids weren't going for it. Except Dennis, he'll eat anything that doesn't eat him first.
Turner Classic Movies was showing zombie movies all afternoon. There was KING OF THE ZOMBIES, REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES, THE ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU, WHITE ZOMBIE and then they were followed up with BUCKET OF BLOOD, CREATURE OF THE HAUNTED SEA and PIT AND THE PENDULUM. For bed Martha and I watched CARRIE. Unfortunately, it was on a commercial channel so the final fifteen minutes were broken into like five times which took any of the drama and horror that DePalma was generating and threw it right in the toilet. Man, there were a lot of commercials!
After that Martha watched the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE which I was not in the mood for while I read the newest issue of Filmfax.
Then sleepy time.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO

Delia had a choir performance tonight and it was perfect. The kids got up there and sang and it was maybe forty five minutes and we were out of there. Her friend, Elida, was supposed to ride along with us but chickened out at the last minute. Poor thing she would have had fun I think, but what are you going to do?
After the concert, Delia was wound up. You could tell she had a good time so I'm glad she found something that she likes to do. I already knew that she loves to sing. She gets up with the choir at church every weekend so, it was inevitable that she would want to join choir in school as well.
After that we went home and started winding down for bed. Watched some more Doctor Who, Hartnell Mode and crashed out. I don't think there's anything chronically wrong with me I think it's the change in diet and the weather. Had a sore throat all day long which sucked.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE

So, my antibiotics are gone and still the problem persists. I manage to get into the doctor's office and she tells me it might be irritable bowel syndrome because of my drastic change of diet. Who knows? She has me on another medication that I have to give two weeks to work. So, yippee! More pills. These say might cause drowsiness so that's a plus for me.
I mentioned a pain in my side and she wants to have an ultrasound done on my gall bladder. I so do not want to go through that, but she said it was important to make sure. So, Monday I'll get to do that. I already have my funny line for the ultrasound person. I'll say, "So, can you tell if it's a boy or a girl?" Funny stuff. The idea of surgical things made my head swim and all the blood rush from my head. Hadn't had that happen in a while and it's never fun when it does.
I decided to go home for the day after we picked up my new meds. We stopped at Burger King for Whopper Jr.s first. I'm good a lot of the time and I needed a little comfort food. Felt a little better, but still needed a nap.
The trip to the doctor's was no fun. Martha said I need to stress less about everything in general and I will start to work on that. I need to get back on my Qigong habit again. That will be a step in the right direction. Need to get another form of exercise in place before bike riding goes away for the winter. If the roads are clear I can ride. but I don't see snow and bike mixing all that well. Hopefully, Chris will have his dojo open by then.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY

I was so nervous riding my bike on it's new wheel to work. It felt funny, but it got me there. I'll probably forget about it in a short time. Of course, in a short time I will be off the bike due to weather. A mild winter would hit the spot right about now, but we have had too many of them in a row so I plan on us getting hit pretty hard this year. Thankfully, work is within walking distance.
Work was fine, nothing new.
Went home and waited for the littles to get off the bus. Dan was excited because it was his pack meeting and he had a free meal coupon at Qdoba so we went to Qdoba before the meeting.
The pack meeting had the popcorn kickoff. Yeah, I do not see how we are going to be able to sell any popcorn. The work staff is so small and church has already been hit with kids selling the stuff. Sure, we'll buy some, but it ain't gonna be enough. I'll have to talk to his den leader about it because the end of the sales are in the beginning of November. Martha seemed upset and mentioned that he won't be able to go to summer camp. Yeah, we can stretch things and just pay for camp no sweat.
The Catholic thing still bothers me. That Hail Mary prayer just seems to be idolatry at it's finest and the whole Father, Son and Holy Ghost crossing oneself, yeah just doesn't work for me. Martha said to be ecumenical about the whole thing so I am trying that.
In the end Dan had a lot of fun at the meeting and was around a lot of boys his own age and that is what truly matters in the grand scheme of things.
Went home, ate a banana and hit the sack after burning some DVDs.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN

So, I'm on my way to work. Nice enough morning. I get about a block from my house and I notice that some thoughtful citizen of Kalamazoo has seen fit to small a Olde English forty ounce glass bottle on the sidewalk. I quickly and effortlessly navigate the carnage, pedal five more feet and then I hear the gunshot.
Only it wasn't a gunshot, it was my rear tire. Nice. Immediatley upset I walk back to the house, crippled bike in tow. Martha is unhappy, but takes me to work anyway. The work week is off to a fantastic start, ain't it?
Oh well.
After work she picks me up and we head to Walmart for a tire tube. Not too pricey, six bucks. I get home and start taking off the rear tire. Both of the bolts are coming off no problem, but the tire is not coming off the rear spokes. I wriggle and hammer and yank on the thing and it won't budge. Finally, I notice a thrid bolt that attaches this little arm thingie to the frame of the bike. Yes, I am a moron, thanks for asking.
get the third bolt off, take off the tire, seperate tire from rim and set about putting the puzzle back together. It all goes together rather easily which surprises me more than a little bit. Then I inflate the tire...
Did I mention that the previous tire tube had exploded? The rubber of the tube was ripped like a blast went off inside the tire. Well, it seems that when that happened it blew through the actual tire and now the new tube was peeking through the blown tire.
Back to Walmart. Martha wanted to look for kites for Dan while we were out and Walmart had none. We decided to check Meijer so I didn't spend the fourteen bones for a new tire at Walmart. Meijer also had no kites, but they did have a tire for my bike for eight bucks. Good for me! It's not a whitewall and the tire doesn't match exactly, but for now, it will be fine.
Reheated 15 bean soup and italian bread for dinner. None of the kids would touch the soup. Tomorrow I will drain the excess liquid and mash and refry the beans to serve in corn tortillas. Gonna need some salsa for that yummy dish. They will all eat bean burritos so this should be a no brainer for them.
The new episode of Prison Break was great and left me hanging. This is the first time in a long time that I have stuck with a show this long. They keep making it interesting and I don't feel like they have jumped the shark yet. I liked how they were all over the map last season and now this season, they are firmly rooted at Sona Prison. Of course, because of the world series, I get no Prison Break next week. Yea for me. But they have promised a two hour event for the following week which leads to the question;
Do I tape Prison Break or Heroes?
Prison Break will run at the same time as Heroes and I watch both shows. Heroes hasn't been all that great lately, but I've read comic books that meandered more than this show and stuck with it so, I'll do the same with Heroes.
Couldn't sleep afterward. Stayed up to late and will probably pay for it in the morning. One more day of antibiotics for my nonexistent bladder infection and I'm still have problems. Guess I'll be going back to the doctor again. While she is quite nice I hate going to the damned doctor.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN

Sunday and all the family needs to hit the showers. I had soaked the shower head in CLR yesterday so now it acts like a jet propulsion unit. It will blast the dirt from your very skin. Everyone got clean and headed for church. Sunday school was fun. We have some of the older kids in there and the lesson dealt with respecting your elders and how religion adds a bunch of rules that don't really exist in the word of God. Jesus was pointing that out to the Pharisees and scribes and they didn't like being told that their laws meant nothing. Good stuff.
Went home and started the fifteen bean and ham soup. I had the beans soaking overnight and the soup takes four hours to make. It always tastes better the second day, but we ate some anyway.
Puttered around the house and got some writing done for the first time in a long time. Felt good and I will definitely jump back on that particular horse.
went back to the church for youth group. Yeah, that was a fiasco. One of the children there is an out of control brat that can't seem to shut her mouth. It's not good. Martha said that if the youth group leader wants to take Dennis and Delia with her to the meetings that would be fine, but not to expect us to go again anytime soon.
Got home and it had been quite a running around type of day. Watched some Doctor Who (The first doctor) and that was cool to see the show at it's beginnings. Then it was time for sleep. Ahhhh, sleep!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN

Tried to sleep in today but I was up pretty early anyway. I finished watching CREATURE FROM HILLBILLY LAGOON and you know what? It was not bad. It was a B movie pure and simple and you need to watch that stuff once in a while. The naked women looked like real women and the people acted wooden and it was a little cornball, but you know what? The creature was more than adequate, the shooting was done very well and it's like all those other B movies. Remember Roger Corman? H.G. Lewis? Charles Band? They made the low budget stuff with laughable effects, horrid acting and non existent plots and now people think they're classics.
After a while I went with Martha shopping. We picked up some diet friendly groceries and other things that we needed around the house. Got home and fed the kiddies lunch and then I set about concocting this spaghetti sauce that was in my Reversing Diabetes cookbook. I must say that it was very tomato-ey. All the flavors stood out and the only complaint I got was that it wasn't salty. Guess the family will have to salt it. Tried the whole wheat pasta and it has a bit of a different texture, but I liked it. The kids ate bowlfuls of it and they liked that I grated fresh Parmesan Cheese for it. I froze the rest of the sauce for later. I also made the cake in the book and some ids liked it and some didn't. They were surprised when I told them that it had zucchini and carrots in it but it didn't stop them from eating it.
We watched Monster Squad while we had dinner and the kids loved it up to the end where Frankenstein gets sucked into the vortex. Dan looked like someone shot his dog and all the kids agreed that it was the worst ending of a movie ever. Yup, that's my kids.
We also watched an episode of Dr. Dreck and he showed the kids' drawings on the air. They all thought that was pretty cool. The movie was Devil Bat and Dan managed to watch the most of it. he always ran back in the room when Dreck came back on. If Dan had his way there would just be a show with Dreck and Moaner and Stu and he would be happy with that.
I like the new direction the diet is going. Sticking to it means no more medications for me in the future. I pretty happy about that.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN

Friday and payday! Yeah, what a happy combination that is! Work flew by and Martha and Dan came and picked me up. We went to Okun Bros. where I picked up a sorely needed new pair of work shoes. My faithful Earth Shoes were giving out on me and with no support it made for some sore feet. Problem solved. The guy even shaved twenty bucks off for me. After that we went and got Cassidy's toenails clipped. We went to the dollar store. We went to Fanfare where I looked at a lot of comics, but only picked up the first issue of Omega The Unknown. Not sure why there's a resurgence in Steve Gerber stuff, but I am not complaining.
No Doctor Who which was a bummer, but it was a laid back evening at Hacienda Waltz. Ate some food, watched some television and hit the sack with no intention of getting up early on Saturday.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN

Thursday and the week is almost over! Hurray! Worked hard and got stuff done at work. I am sick of using the cutter, but it needed to be done.
It was raining today so I didn't want to ride my bike. Martha gave me a ride to work which was cool and she picked me up after work. I think my legs wondered what was going on since there was no bike riding they felt depressed. Hopefully, it will be better tomorrow.
Went to the store to get stuff for food. I made a chicken and stuffing bake that eventually turned out quite tasty. The chocolate cake and ice cream were a bigger hit with the kids. Martha said that Delia's sudden cravings for chocolate could be from her body getting ready to shift into the next gear. Yeah, I'll be shoving my fingers in my ear and screaming for the next...well, forever, I guess.
Watched some Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. It's very educational for learning how to avoid a lot of mistakes that people make with their restaurants.
Martha and I discussed the Video cafe again. She wants me to research a business class to take to get things off the ground. In think I really need to open my own place.