What You See Is What You Get!

Well I am back to the blog space. I have been gone for a while but, I have found my way back. Cheryl and I are still trying to sell our house and downsize to a Villa. We thought we had nailed down where we would move but the builder went out of business. This is a common happening in todays world but still hard to deal with. We have been looking for the last few weeks and have found some already built and lived in places. We have found some that we like but we are not getting too attached as we have to sell our house first. Well this is a story that is heard around the country Oh Well!! Well so much for now.

Well my big weekend happened in a really big ways. I turned 60 on Sept 4, 2007 and my family did it up in a really big way. Cheryl has been planning for a really long time to make this birthday special and she and my kids worked really hard and pulled it all off really well. She included Brad, Todd and Sarah and it actually caught me speechless. All my kids came in town, I knew for about 3 weeks that Brad was driving in because he told me. What I did not know was that Todd and Sarah were flying in. Brad picked up Todd and Sarah at the airport and brought them to the house. They rang the doorbell and when I answered the door the surprised me.
On Saturday the three guys went to see "The Simpsons Movie" We laughed through the whole thing. The girls did not want to see the movie( big surprise there) so they shopped. On Sunday we went to Church and than they took me to a Gateway Grizzley's game(minor league baseball). They didn't tell me where we were going and it took about 45 minutes to get there and I had to keep guessing where we were going. We got to the game and Cheryl told me we were going to a pregame picnic. The surprise was that our best friends were there and surprised me. We all had dinner and went to the game. The thing about minor league baseball is that the game is low key there is always something going on between innings and you sit very close to the field. Our friends all had a good time and I just couldn't believe how good I felt. What a special thing to have everyone take time out and come and spend time with my family and I to celebrate my birthday.
The next day(labor day) Bob and Marti came over to have lunch before they drove home to Srpringfield MO. Another suprise. Unfortunately Brad had to leave and drive home. I secretly wish that all three of them, Brad, Todd and Sarah, could live close to us but that would be very selfish.
On Tuesday which was my actual birthday I got to spend some time with just Todd and Sarah which I don't often get to do that was a great way to end the celebration.

I AM TRULY BLESSED!!!

Sometimes I wonder why when I buy something I always buy the most complicated model of that item. We just had Direct TV installed and wow is it complicated with more channels and buttons than I can understand at first. Well I will learn but it will take awhile.

Well it has been a really big month . Cheryl and I went out to Cal. to see Todd and Sarah. Wow did we ever have a great time. It is really great to go to your kids home and have them take care of you as great as they did us. We went to church with them and ate with them and had fun with them all so many times it is hard to comment on it all. One of the more unusal things the four of us ever have done was to take a tour of stars homes in Hollywood. It is really something that everyone should do. You get to see many things that you have only previously heard about. Wow that was fun. We even turned into "stalkers" of sorts. I think this may be one of those occasions that we remember for a long time. But, the main thimg was that we got to spend time together. We really hated to leave but as the saying goes all great things come to an end and than you move on to the next great thing in this life.
When we came home we are haveing a number of things done to our home, new flooring and such so our home in in turmoil but getting better. Cheryl and I are trully blessed.

I have come up against a situation with a coworker who needs help and I just can't help him. I have mentioned Everatte before. He is a 76 year old delivery driver with me. He comes from Kentucky and has a 4th grade education. He has incredible knowledge about all kinds of things, he has a very dry sense of humor, and he has become a very loyal coworker and friend. He is in an incredibly terrible part of his life. He is very poor has a adisabled wife and drug addict for a son(one of 11 children). His kids appear to be takers and as a result he has nothing and cannot afford to quit work and retire. I helped him yesterday with his truck that would not run but, he cannot even afford the parts to fix the truck.
But I cannot really help him and he cannot find the resourses from government agencies because he does not know who to ask. So I am in the position that I really cannot help him and his kids are really only in life for themselves. So Everatte is really going to have to keep going on by himself until something else happens( I don't know what this will be). This thing makes me sad.

Well it has been a while since I last wrote. Cheryl and I have been very busy getting our home ready to sell. After 19 years we are downsizing to a smaller house. It took us several years and much thought and prayer to make the decision. But, we are on our way we still have much to do but we are on our way. My life seems to just hum along and that is a good thing. I have enough of big ups and downs and now I hope for small hills. Our kids are moving along also Sarah just had some surgery and that is a good thing because the result is that she won't have as much pain as she had before.(for those who forgot Sarah is my daughter-in-law) Todd is working hard toward planting the new church in CA. It is much more work than I thought it would be. Brad is also doing well on his career and in his life. His life in DesMoines is expanding and his circle of friends continues to grow. He turned 30 in May and that is always a milestone. I know it was a big deal for him and us. We got to spend the weekend before his birthday with him and this really a very unusual occurance. He is always very busy around the first os May so we have rarley been with him around his birthday.
We went out with the other 3 couples that went on the cruise with last year. They are great friends for us and we love them dearly. In the last year Jane has been through extensive cancer cure. She is fine now. She and her husband Bill held a wedding for their daughter in the past year so they have been very busy. We found out last night that one of the group, Betty, is haveing surgry for cataracts. Wow that made us all feel old.
the other couple dennis and Chrlene had their son Bart and his wife move to Tx. They really did not think that any of their kids would move out of town but it happens to all of us.
Well that is all for now

Sometimes it seems I just don't have enough patience(I also sometimes can't spell). Cheryl and I have just been approved for a home equity loan. For most people this is no big deal but we have had some credit problems in the past. We are trying to fix up our home to sell it and downsize to a villa. We need this to do the repairs that we need to sell our current home. It feels very good to be able to be move back into the mainstream.

Well Cheryl and I went to Lake of The Ozarks for 2 days this week. We figured out that we had been going there for about 35 years. The "Lake" is a recreational area in mid-Missouri. When we first started to go there is was a sleepy little resort area with few reasturants and a lot of vacant lots. The actual lake has about 1,300 miles of shore line and was at one time very calm and serene. The area has grown geometrically and is quite busy both on land and on the lake. You better have a hugh boat or it could be very dangerous. We owned a boat for many years and enjoyed all that was to be done on the lake. Well we have sold the boat and now are stuck on land when we go to this area. Many very nice and expensive places are there to eat at. We ate at the Potted Steer this time and the food was very good. (and expensive) Cheryl and I enjoy traveling together, just the two of us. This trip Cheryl shopped a lot and I sat in the car and read and snoozed, it was a great trip. We hope to do more and more of this.