10/30/07

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.

10/29/07

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.

10/27/07

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.

10/26/07

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.

10/24/07

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.

10/23/07

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.

10/22/07

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!

10/21/07

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.

10/19/07

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.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN

Had to go to the doctor today. Talked about some alternative methods to beating this problem of mine. She was all for it and my wife, Martha is behind me so, let's get it on! Was in kind of a funk because I thought I had a bladder infection, but the testing said no. She was happy with the test though because there was nothing abnormal about it, even sugar which is cool. So, I'm stuck on antibiotics for seven days. Bleah!

10/17/07

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN

Work was a little hectic with lots and lots of printing with a defective machine. There was a tear on the fuser roll so we had to keep checking the quality of the prints on a periodic basis. What a pain! Got everything done that I wanted to get done however. Bought the boss a few things with Tinkerbell on them for Boss' Day. she liked them a lot and was very happy to get them. She is a great boss so why not show her my appreciation. Especially when so many bosses in the world can be such massive assholes. It's good to find a keeper.
Got to leave a little early for Daniel's first scout meeting. It was misty rain outside which messes with my glasses, but I made it in plenty of time. The den is huge. Seventeen boys. I can remember when I was a den leader for Dennis' den and we have maybe six kids at the most. I am very glad that I am not den leader for this pack of crazy kids.
Now here's the odd thing; It was at a Catholic School in downtown Kalamazoo. Before the meeting they said The Lord's Prayer. Good deal, right? Then at the end of the meeting they were praying to Mary, mother of Jesus. Um, yeah, I'm not going to be able to join in on that little prayer. Martha told me to just say my own prayer and not be a trouble maker. I went with that. Dan had a lot of fun with a bunch of new kids his own age. He was a little confused when they start the prayer with crossing themselves. I caught a glimpse of him giving them the, what are you crazy?, look. It was pretty funny. I'll have to be sure to go over the whole prayer issue with him when we get home.
Afterwards we went to Target because that is the only place to get the new release of Transformers The Movie in the Optimus Prime DVD transforming case. That's right, you heard me. The DVD case transforms into Optimus Prime! How cool is that?
After that we went home, made some dinner, Martha and Delia went to choir practice and I watched The Chicken Chronicles. It was Steven Guttenberg's first movie and I saw it originally in the theaters in 1977. It still holds up really well.
Not a hugely busy day, but active. I was beat by the time it was time to go to bed and sleep.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE

Another week at the grind. At least I'm not working the massive amounts of overtime anymore. That's a good thing for my sanity and a bad thing for my wallet. Oh well, I guess I'll opt for sanity for the moment. Besides, we have a project coming down the pipes that is going to be as much overtime as I want in the very near (next month) future. Yippee!
Got home and did stuff. Made meatloaf sandwiches for dinner with lots of mashed potatoes and gravy. Good stuff. I still have leftover meatloaf, though. It will probably go to the dogs if I don't use it tomorrow.
All hyped to see Prison Break and guess what? That's right, baseball. I love to watch a baseball game...at the stadium. I can't stand televised sports. It's all about being at the game and feeding off the energy of the crowd. watching it at home is lame, especially when they cancel an episode of one of the three shows I watch on a regular basis. Sheesh!
Heroes was good. The story is becoming a little too complicated and I wonder if they might be alienating the casual viewer like LOST did. One of those, if you miss a minute of the show, you've lost the plot line completely. Have to wait and see. Thankfully, I haven't missed an episode so it's cool on my end of the planet.

10/15/07

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN

Sunday became the most laid back day ever. Martha was feeling bad so we didn't go to church. I watched a flick called The Sexploiters which was a slice of classic exploitation. Pretty bizarre stuff. Martha was in the mood for never leaving the bedroom so I made food throughout the day for everyone and watched movies on television with Martha and hung out with the kids. I think it did all of us some good to take a day and do absolutely nothing. Felt good. I think Martha started feeling a little better later in the day as well.
I was making meatloaf when Dan asked me for some dipping eggs. I told him were having meatloaf and his face fell. He said that he had opened a can of sliced potatoes and everything. Poor little guy! So,there I was in the kitchen, making dipping eggs and my world famous potatoes for Dan. That ended up being everyone while the meatloaf baked away in the oven. It was still pretty early so later we did have meatloaf and mac and cheese and carrots so it was good. Plenty of meatloaf for leftover meatloaf sandwiches as well.
I made a run down to the local gas station for sodas and candy bars for Martha and the kids. I got a package of this raisin, cashew and almond mix that is unsalted. Some company named Kar's makes them and they're good and manage to satisfy my sweet and crunch at the same time.
I also organized my movie cabinet in the bedroom, found a few thing I was missing and located movies that have to go back out to people. A lazy, yet productive kind of day.
More movies and more laid back until it was time to fall asleep for the night.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TEN

Saturday was a lazy day, we eventually got up and around becuase the kids wanted to go the the Fun Day at The Boys and Girls Club downtown. They had fun. Well, except for Delia because there were too many people about, but the rest of them had fun playing games, winning prizes and jumping around in one of those moon walk thingies. Dennis went and got us some pumpkins and a bunch of dried corn stalks and some gourds and some indian corn to decorate the front porch for Halloween. I hope it isn't crappy weather for Halloween this year. Of course, I can remmeber walking through snow to get my candy at least a couple of times. Usually it rains more than anything else, but that doesn't seem to stop kids from hitting the houses. Delia asked if we were putting a bowl of candy out for the kids this year and I said, why not?
After Fun Day we came home for food and then Delia and Martha got ready for church. I stayed home with the littles and Dennis to prevent chaos during the gospel music that was going on. When Martha got home she said that more than one person was mad that they stopped the music for the message. I would have to say that if you're listening to gospel music that that is the message. A lot of people can relate more to the music than the spoken word. If it wasn't true then commercial jingles wouldn't be so popular.
A pretty laid back day for me. I watched a couple of flicks and did some reviews and other little things. It felt good to not be busy and take it easy for a change.

10/13/07

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND NINE

Friday! No working for the weekend. After work came home and got ready for church. It was spaghetti dinner night and I was ready for some heaping plates of pasta. And I wasn't disappointed. Nice salads to go with the dinner and some wonderful, crunchy garlic bread. Good stuff. We had a choir for service and that was nice as well.
The message, delivered once more by The Master, (He, He). Good message and afterwards there were fun activities for the kids. We got home uber late and I watched a little television before nodding off. Tomorrow is the gospel music and the ice cream social. Definitely a busy week, but it's starting to wind down a little.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT

Thursday, PAck The Pew night at church. UNitl Martha called me at work. Seems that the minivan took a dump and it was the transmission. The van was free so I'm not willing to spend too much cash for it, but we will have to see. Anyway, we didn't make it to church. We still have the station wagon, but it was choir practice for Martha and Delia so, they went and did that instead.
I watched a flick to review for Cult Cuts called Dracula's Dirty Daughter. Garbage, but I expect that a lot.
Took it easy for the rest of the night.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN

Today was the first night of revival at chruch. I took the massive amout of peanut butter cookies I made and we went super eraly to help out with the recovery dinner. There was chikcen to carve and cornbread and cheesy rice to make. I had fun in the kitchen while MArtha did the bulletin and the bulletin board in the foyer. Lots of yummy food and then service was our guest speaker, Rich Ratts. It's funny because he's a good speaker and all, but he looks a lot like the recent incarnation of The Master in Doctor Who so there's that visual baggage going along with it. He also does that talk and then pause thing that kind of makes me crazy after a while. Lots of speakers use that method so it must be effective, but it has always grated my nerves a little. Great guy thouhg. we had a chnace to talk before and after service so it was a good time. Ate too much.
I got my reversing diabetets book in the mail as well and it primarily deals with a drastic change in diet. I'm slowly working my way into the mindset, but I don't see it being a quick turnaround. The book is filled with hundreds of recipes though so I will defintiely have all the support I need for that. Soon, no more medication. Yippee!

10/10/07

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIX

On the way to work the chain slipped off my bike. Made me more than a little nervous, but I walked it into a lit parking lot and was able to get it on with minimal difficulty and be on my way. I wasn't even late for work. All around a good thing. Work was work. Went to Subway for lunch and got the veggie sub. Since I will eat any vegetable my sub is always huge. I definitely get my money's worth compared to the picky eaters in the world. Plus, that fat free sweet onion sauce is great! After work I pedaled home and took all the taco fixings from the night before and made a huge platter of yummy nachos. The two littles didn't want any, but the rest of us sucked them down like we were starving. Good stuff!
Then I was whisked away to the store by Martha to get all the things I needed to make peanut butter cookies for the church revival this week. I made a little over a hundred cookies. Martha and Delia and Dandelion all helped so it went pretty smooth.
Martha went to Walmart while we were all away at work and school and got some things for the kitchen. Paring knives, coffee mugs, a couple of really nice, huge tea cups for her and I to sip evening tea out of. Plus some flexible cutting boards and a bunch of other things that were really needed in the kitchen. She also made some delicious banana bread that we had with coffee.
My buddy, Michael Legge sent along some new Dr. Dreck episodes for us to enjoy. I watched CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD with Christopher Lee and DOnald Sutherland and had forgotten what a grainy, low budget affair it was. It kind of reminded me of an Andy Milligan flick and it was wild seeing Lee and Sutherland so young.
My medications finally showed up today and I was torn as to whether or not to take them. I realize that my doctor has my best interests in mind, but I know there are options I would rather explore. Unfortunately, my book I really need to guide me on this hasn't shown up yet so I have to wait for that before I get the cure in motion for this whole thing. In the meantime, I'm being a good little droogie and taking my meds as prescribed. Yippee for me!
Tomorrow starts church revival. Gonna have big, busy stuff going on until Sunday. I really hate being busy. At least there will be lots of yummy food and good company for the entire thing. Friday night is movie night and I thought I would get some Marx Brothers to show the kids. Or Three Stooges.

10/9/07

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE

The first Monday in a long time that I won't have to work all damned day! Yippee! So,work meant nothing to me today. I did my stuff and got it done and left at three, washing m,y hands of the place. It felt great! I got home before the littles got off the bus. I had already told Martha that I would help Dandelion with her homework now that I wasn't working overtime. So, Dandelion had no homework! Seems they are having MEAP testing this week and no homework for the kids. Dan is too young for the MEAP tests so he still has homework. After homework I read Dan a Solomon Kane story entitled The Skull In The Stars. He thought it was great. The other kids drifted in and out, but I heard them listening too. I have the entire Solomon Kane collection and will read him the whole thing. Well, there are a couple of story fragments that I won't bother with. It will just confuse him.
After story time Martha and I went to the store and picked up breakfasty stuff and the things I needed to make tacos at The Waltz Hacienda. The tacos were yummy.
Then it was time for the double threat of Prison Break and Heroes. Prison Break held my attention more than Heroes did. For a third season of a show with a pretty thin premise, they are doing a great job keeping the viewer engaged.
It felt good to get home at a normal time and do things with the family that weren't all rush, rush, rush. I had been feeling pretty depressed lately, well for me anyway. I don't depress easily. And I think this normal shift is going to feel much better.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR






Sunday morning and we left for church a little early. Martha had picked up a brick of those little, golf pencils for the pews so people can fill out the visitor cards during the revival. Missy brought breakfast sandwiches for breakfast and we were out of creamer so I had to run out and get some. I was going to go to H&B Market, but they were closed. I ended up over at Lakeshore Market and I love going to that little market. When I was a kid it was IGA Skedgell's MArket. That's the place where I got most of my comic books when I was young before there were stores that just sold comics. They even carried Vampirella Magazine back then. It has changed a little over the years, but not much. I got the creamer and made a beeline back to church.
Sam was teaching the youngsters about something when I got there and I just abandoned my lesson plan and went with the flow. I was able to interject a few things from the lesson, but it was a big group and there were lots of questions and really good discussion so I would label that a success.
Church service went well. One of our older members is going again to Ann Arbor for some eye surgery so we all laid hands on him and said a special prayer for the success of that.
After church we went to B&G warehouse because I needed a new deck brush for the driveway at home. Trees lose their leaves and other stuff on the cement driveway and after a while you get a film of this plant slime that makes it harder to get up the driveway in the winter. I usually scrub it once or twice a year. Dennis and Daniel helped me with that.
Before we got home we were all part of a protest called Life Chain. It took place this Sunday for one hour in The United States and Canada and it protests abortion. I took some pictures of the wife and kiddies in the protest and put them up here to enjoy. We only had one person yell obscenities and one woman flipped us off. All we were doing was holding signs so it was a passive protest.
After that busy of a morning we all went home and relaxed. It was pretty hot outside all weekend so being in the inside with the air conditioning was a good thing.
It's funny, I haven't been able to take my blood sugar meds or my cholesterol meds for over a week. The prescription drug place I'm forced to use if I don't want to pay and arm and a leg is Caremark and they have managed to screw my stuff up six ways from...well, Sunday. Today Martha told me to dig out the glucose meter and check it. Now this was at the end of the day and I had had pizza and breakfast sandwiches today. It read 117. Well under the 120 mark. It makes me wonder if I should even be taking this stuff to begin with. I'm going to call my doctor and make an appointment. Who knows? Maybe all the clean living and extra exercise riding my bike has caused a positive change in my system. We will have to see.

10/8/07

ONE HUNDRED AND THREE

SAturday and sleeping in. Well, sort of. We got a late start, but went to help clean the church in preparation for our revival next week. We spent an hour and a half cleaning. After church we went for food. Instead of one of the big conglomerates we went to a little place called Franco's Sub Station and Pizzeria. Tiny place that I have been going to since high school. Franco makes the best pasta and meat sauce and he brings you a bowl bigger than your head. Martha and the kids got subs and the small ones are huge! It costs a little more, but you know you ate when you get out of there.
After that we went to the mall for a while. I had to have an eye exam and everything looks good. The insurance I have for opitcal sucks so I was out forty bucks, but I wanted to make sure all was well with my eyeballs.
Aftre that we headed home because it was a scorcher and the dogs had been put up in the hosue all day.
After a little fun with the doggies we headed back out because Martha wanted to go to the dollar store. Of course, they didn't have everything she wanted so we also went to Target to find measuring cups. After that we went to MCDonalds for ice cream, well I got coffee. Ice cream plays hob nob with my stomach so I don't indulge very often.
A busy, busy day and tomorrow is church so, the morning will be busy at the least.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND TWO

The week is over! Friday and the end of my overtime. It will be good to get out at a reasonable hour. Get home and do stuff instead of coming home, make dinner and watch a little television before bed. I am so looking forward to next Monday.
Work was a blur, just get through it so it can be done. The only true bright spot in my week this past week has been going out to lunch with Martha everyday. We had errands to run and refrigerators to buy and it was a busy week and she wanted me along for it. So, we had lunch everyday this week. It was very nice and I wish it was more affordable so we could do it every day. Oh well, it was a lot of fun and very nice.
ON lunch today we went to STIR MAX, a Chinese buffet restaurant that we love. I ate too much, but it sure was good. Next to the restaurant was a comic shop called Fanfare that I have been going to for decades. I thought it would be fun to look around and what should I see? New issues of a Howard the Duck miniseries and a Super Villain Team Up miniseries! It was like Marvel made comics for me again! They were both pretty good. The only problem I had was they don't let Howard smoke. The comic is rated adult and Howard isn't from around here. I think the pussies at Marvel could let him smoke.
So, after work I got home and we headed off to The Art Hop in downtown Kalamazoo. Actually, we just went to The First Baptist Church because they were having two performances by an improv group that we really like called Crawlspace Eviction. It was fun and when they asked for a volunteer from the audience I was surprised to see Dennis' hand shoot up. They got him on stage and asked him about his day. OF course he went over his entire day class by class because he had school today. They did this cool, nightmare thing about how rushed and crazy his day was. It was very funny and it was cool seeing Dennis up there having fun.
After that we went home and ordered pizza from Pizza Masters and watched the season finale of Doctor Who. It was a good wrap up of the entire season and left a pretty funny cliffhanger for the Christmas episode.
After that was Flash Gordon and I had missed the last couple of episodes because, well I was sick of them being on Earth all the time. This episode took place primarily on Mongo and the guest star was Sam Jones, who played Flash in the 80's movie. Cool stuff.

10/4/07

DAY ONE HUNDED AND ONE

Still no sign of my medications. Yippee! As I mentioned before I have had it with this way of treating my problem. I don't want a treatment, I want a cure. I got a nice email from Donna Lucas of Video Watchdog fame explaining how she and her husband, Tim, beat cholesterol with heavy doses of Niacin. She sent me links for the book they followed as well as where to get the Niacin. I'll be ordering the book very soon. I want to absorb the first book I ordered and it hasn't arrived yet.
Our temp got her pass at work so my overtime is nearing an end. After Friday I can go back to those lovely hours of 6:30 to 3:00. I'll remember what my wife and kids look like. Yaaaaa!
After work I got home and changed the tire on the minivan. The steel belts were showing so I put on the full size spare and now we need to make a trip out to Boven's. Best place in the tri county area for used rubber. Twenty seven bucks and the even balance the tire for you.
Dandelion decided she had to cook food so she decided what she was going to make. Scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes. We had to make a trip to the store to get a few things. I picked up this new gum by Icebreakers called Center. It's sugarless and has mega doses of ginseng and vitamin C in it. They also had a mint called Restore that has vitamins A,C,E and Zinc in it. Plus it's Lemon and Pomegranate flavored so it's yummy and also sugar free.
The big surprise arrived in the mail via Netflix. That's right it was the first disc of LANCELOT LINK! If you don't know who this is, I feel sorry for you and direct you to wikipedia.org where you can see what you have been missing.
The day felt short, but that was because I spend all that time at work. That will be over as of Monday and I am so happy you have no idea. Plus it's nice to know that I have internet friends like Donna Lucas. Her husband Tim wrote a book on the fantastic director Mario Bava. It's entitled, MARIO BAVA, ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK. It's an amazing book that I have myself and am slowly reading my way through. Donna did some fantatsic graphic work in the book and if you head on over to http://www.bavabook.blogspot.com/ you can see what I'm talking about and order one for yourself. Thanks for the advice, Donna. That meant a lot to me.

10/2/07

DAY ONE HUNDRED

One hundred days! Wooooo, that must be some kind of record! Sure, I've consolidated a couple of days into a single post or two, but that's one hundred days chronicled. Very cool.
Work was work. I have been fighting with my mail order pharmacy to get my medications and they are making me and my doctor crazy. I have gone without my Lopid and Glucophage for a couple of days now and while there are no adverse effects, I worry a little.
Today I have decided that this is God's way to try a different route to the whole blood sugar, cholesterol thing. I spent a lot of today at work researching what to do. I ordered a book off of Amazon and have made a decision to get together with my doctor and start restructuring my life to be free of medication. The pharmaceutical companies could care less if I ever cure myself. They want to push pills on everyone. I did some reading and have a basic plan to run through that will free me of my meds in around one years time. Hmmmm, might make for an interesting blog. No, no, that way lies madness.
Martha and I went and got a new refrigerator at Ted's Appliances. I told them it was bogus that the last one went so fast and he cut us a deal. That was cool.
By the time I got home it was there. For dinner I made a red sauce with left over roast pork and then some rotini to go with the sauce. Some of the kids just had noodles and Parmesan cheese some had the sauce. I thought it turned out pretty well.
Delia and Martha have joined a Gosepelfest choir and tonight was their first practice. They were both very excited about it and when they got home it was all they could talk about very cool stuff for those ladies. They will have fun.
Another one of those busy days. I'm excited about taking the first steps to free myself from my medication.
Oddest therapy I discovered today was uropathy. Yeah, I ain't drinking my own piss. Not gonna happen.

DAY NINETY-NINE

Another new week at the print shop. Hopefully, they will give the new gal a pass so she can stay and close by herself and I can finally go home when I'm supposed to. I'll probably stay the remainder of the week. Jobs are a little more sparse so we aren't as busy. I have a couple of big jobs that need some serious time and will probably get some work done on those.
After work Martha picked me up from work. It rained this morning and I didn't feel like getting soaked. We went to Sav A Lot and picked up some serious staples. It was hard because we are still working with no refrigerator.
Lots of canned stuff and dry things for now.
Spam was on sale and it came with it's own reusable plastic container. Very cool so I picked up a few of them.
Got home and I made steak, green beans and rice. Simple and yummy.
Prison Break and Heroes were on. Both series are just getting a head of steam up so while it's exciting to watch they haven't gotten into the new season groove. Both of them are over for the night before I'm ready for it so, they must still be good.
The whole day I was exhausted. I kissed Martha and we both passed out.

DAY NINETY-EIGHT

Had to get up early. It's my turn to make breakfast for Sunday School and I never like to disappoint my fans. I have tried to do interesting, yummy things for breakfast for a while now and I realized that I hadn't made one of my fan favorites is a while. My home made sausage mcmuffins. Like McDonalds, but better. I must have made close to forty of those things and when the smoke cleared I think two were left. Good stuff. I like cooking in the kitchen especially when I'm cranking out food full blast so this was nice for me. Turn off the brain and turn on the skill.
Of course, my Sunday School lesson fell by the wayside because I was busy in the kitchen the whole time, but that's alright for one Sunday out of six.
We're getting ready for revival in the church so there's lots of stuff to get done around the church. Probably spend more time than usual there.
After church we headed home. Had the kids clean their rooms some more. Took a nap and kind of took it easy.
After all the littles were in bed Martha and I watched one of the adult films I had to review. It's called Rendezvous and it was pretty good. Funny, a semblance of a plot and the lead girl Carmen Hart was very pretty. reminded me of Salma Hayek. Randy Spears was in it and he's a funny guy to begin with.
Not to get to detailed but, the movie kept Martha and I 'up' until about one in the morning. I am so gonna pay for this tomorrow when I have to go to work. But, it was a blast so, who's complaining? Not me.