Sunday From Hopfully Sunny Denver!

Good morning!

We got to Denver Friday afternoon. Left on Wednesday around 3am. I did all of the driving!

Yesterday was a bust cause it was kind of rainy and snowing in Denver and cold. We were going to Rocky Mountain National Park but it was blizzarding up there sonwe went thrift stare hopping instead with my girlfriend!

Today im not sure what I'm doing!

We are leaving Denver on Tuesday and going to the mountains for a day or two. Then on to Chicago.

Well the hot coffee is calling me! I guess im going to fire up the piddaly coffee pot they have here!

We are staying at a LaQuinta that is near our old house!

Talk in Ill check back later!

Carla

Morning Carla and OFF family yet to come in today!!

Carla...for someone that lives where it is warmer you sure travel back where its COLD!!!!!!! LOL

Went to Bingo last night and had so many chances and still didn't win...grrrrrrrr!!! LOL Got home and had a tenant that plugged her toilet up so bad we had to call in the sewer man to get it unplugged!!! OMG he had a terrible time with it!!! He had to take her toile off the floor and everything and what a mess she had!!! Not sure how many rolls of toilet paper her and her daughter used to "clean her up" but it was so packed the man had so much trouble unclogging it!!!!!! She was swearing at him like a trooper also!!! Rick was so embarrassed...this woman is about late to early 40's also and has been told numerous times to watch her mouth!!!!! She doesn't care!!! She has MS and hates men because of her EX husband. OMG. Rick has unplugged her toilet in the past but never this bad...he told the sewer man to bill HER not us...maybe that is why she went off??? Now he has to redo her toilet today...new wax ring etc not sure what all else he has to do. All I do know is Rick was mad as hell last night at her and her daughter. He told her to use the wastebasket not the toilet when they have to use ALOT of paper!!!!! She does NOT listen!!!!!!

Anyhow it is COLD here again. 23* BRRRR Sun is out though....

NASCAR race today & they are in California. NICE!!!  

Making a beef roast for supper today. Hope we don't have any interuptions...  lol

Need to call my younger brother today...its his birthday.  Also have to call my mom for our usual Sunday talk.

So that is about it for me today...OH!!!! Connie says that she can't post on here with her phone...she misses you all and says HI!!!!

Thoughts and Prayers for ALL that need them!!!

HUGSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Good morning Carla, Judy, and all my OFF sistas!

Carla, sorry about the bad weather.  I hope today is better for you.  But I agree with Judy--you should stay in Florida where the weather is WARM!  LOL!

Judy, girl, those tenants are more trouble than toddlers and pets!  Poor dumb people.  One has to wonder how they survive on their own.

We're up this morning and the usual chaos reigns at our house.  Oh the joys of mornings with babies and small fry.  If they're not laughing and being adorable, they're fussing and being annoying.  Trouble is, they can do both at the same time!  LOL!

Anyway, Butch says we are going to "help" them today.  We are both getting pretty desperate for the big move to happen.  But I got pretty disgusted with Mr. Mike yesterday.  I swear, I do not understand this generation of young men.  There we were at the new house with lawn mower and chain saw and tools, and Mike wants to sit inside and hook up his X-box to the new TV and play games!  Really?  I believe I mentioned that Mike had never mowed the lawn before, right?  So Butch gets him out there and shows him how to check the gas, start the mower, etc., and then I look out the window a few minutes later and WHO is doing the actual MOWING??  I threw a fit.  Why should my 70 year old husband be mowing the grass when there is a young healthy 32 year old standing around?

Then later on, Butch was trying to fix the gate to the backyard and where was Mike?  Back inside watching that damn TV again.  I went inside to get Butch a bottle of water and Mike announced that he'd like to take a bike ride.  Again, really?  I restrained myself admirably, but I did say, "We could use some help out here."  He finally mosied out of the house to help.

Oh, and one more thing.  The boy wanted PRAISE for mowing the grass.  Ha!  He mowed a little patch of grass for maybe 30 minutes and he wants me to brag on him?  Honey, I've been mowing grass since I was a teenager, and acres of it at a time!  I am not impressed that he mowed a small city lot!

Okay, rant over.  But Judy, I DO understand your frustration with young men!

I did take the boys to the park yesterday and Benny had the best time!  He can climb like a little monkey.

I would like to take the boys to the zoo today, but not by myself.  I'm not that brave.

Well, best get started on our "fun" day.  I swear, Butch and I are going to have to move out of the country to ever get away from Christie and her gang.  I don't understand why WE have to help THEM move?  They are young, healthy 30-somethings and we are OLD.  I didn't ask my parents for help after I graduated from college.  And certainly not after I got married!  It's time for them to stand on their own.

Sorry, ranting again.  I'd better go.  Love you all!

Vickie,

I know what you mean about how some of these young men have no clue what it takes to be a man. One of my older sisters has four boys around that age and they will sit on their butts and watch her carry in groceries.  Her husband who is 70 will try to move heavy furniture, mow the yard, or work on his car and they will just sit and watch a damn ball game.  I tell their butts off too.   Sometimes that has more to do with their raising than just the generation.  My daughter's husband is a real hard worker.  They live in our old house and he spends time putting in new cabinets and is now building a new room on to the house so the boys will have their own rooms.   He comes up and helps my husband do things too.   If that Chris's boyfriend doesn't get his act together, they will have a very hard life.  Chris has a mom and dad that are hard workers and she will expect him to be the same, so eventually she will say, my dad could do this or that.   

I had custody of my daughter's son because she was so messed up (she is so much better now), and she came to see him one day and ran with him and I didn't see him for months and thought the worst, but she came back and let me visit him and she started coming up too and I knew she was pregnant.  She and the boys lived with us for three months and she had the baby and then they all lived with us for seven more months.  It was so hard because I would get home from teaching and have to bath the baby, cook dinner, clean the dishes, wash the clothes, get the boys bathed and dressed for bed, tuck them in, and then do my work.   When they moved into our old house down in the valley, I just knew that she would not be able to take care of the kids and the house.  I would go pick the kids up and just die if the house wasn't clean or the dishes pilled up.  But over time, I had to let it go.   I come to realize that she may not keep the house as clean as I did or that he priorities are not really matching their clothes the way I did but she is teaching the same values that I taught her.  She reads to her kids; they make good grades; they go to the library; they do crafts; they are being taught to be kind and open minded.   What I am saying is Chris may not build her home the same way you did but I guarantee you that her kids will grow up the same values that you instilled in her in terms of being good and kind.   

Once you are far away from her and she has to sink or swim, she will swim...she will swim up stream some and down stream some and there will be times she barely treads water. LOL.   But that guy...trust me, she will get tired of paying someone to do what he should do so he will either straighten up or he will be kicked out the door.   You and Butch concentrate on getting the hell out of dodge. LOL.   We see our daughter's kids every other week and I go to pick them up and she says, I know this house is driving you nuts and I lie and say, no, no, it's fine.   She laughs.   I don't see my son or his family at all anymore: it's been over a year.   That's how I learned that I could go without seeing the kids; that's what made me decide to go to the middle east.   I know that I will miss them but I can fly them over to see me and I can come home.   Someday, I hope to see my son and his kids but that is his decision and a battle I am not willing to fight again.   A very long, long story.   

You and Butch take a break from helping the kids and make Mike do something.   

So i am back again. (Like a bad penny i have returned LOL ). 

I did meet my goal this week in the gym. 60 mins and 4650 steps on the new step. I also dropped my calories by 100-200 a day. AND i lost 2 lbs. YEAH !!!! 

Judy, so sorry you are having so much difficulty with tenants and workers. My roommate told me there is an article in AARP magazine on the " text generation". The current generation of kids. The authors kid had to ask about how to send a letter, like where and how to buy a stamp and where to go to mail it. LOL. So that may explain your young man. 

Trish, how is the baby doing? In my prayers. 

Jeannie, hope your travels and conferences go well. 

Eileen,  my dad was born and reared in IN. He also played basketball for Elmhurst high school. And went to the state smi finalls. So, i grew up on March Madness.  I am just bummed about Ohio State. I understand that loss did in about 85% of the brackets. Oh well, next year and football season is just around the corner. And baseball season is here (my SO, who lives in Los Angeles played for USC in the glory days and played pro ball in the minors so i get to listen to him go on about baseball all summer... gotta love him.

More to come

Ok, just lost a very long post before i could get it off to you all. So frustrating.  So long story short. There  must b~e something in the air because i wanted to slap the crap out of my roommate yesterday. Instead i went upstairs to y room and did a bunch of stuff i needed to do there. I didn' t speak to her the rest of the day. It started when i got a call from a good friend i have known for about 8 years. He had a RNY about 10 yrs ago and has lost about 200 lbs. He has had about every complication possible, the last one nearly killed him (a rupture of a gastric ulcer in his lower stomach ) AND he would still do it all again. He is such a great support to me. 

OH Vickie, he had the panniculectomy and is so glad he did. He had somevhealing problems but would do it again in a heart beat. 

Posting before i lose this. More to come !!! LOL LOL

Good Afternoon Carla, and OFF Family,

Carla, Florida to Denver in two days?  Do I have that right?  How many hours on the road?  I can barely do six hours a day, with lots of potty breaks.  I once drove further, with another driver.  When Colleen was a baby, my husband and I drove from Monterey, California, to Philadelphia, PA, in three days, taking 40 through Arizona, Texas, Memphis, to 81 in Virginia.  Then, we drove straight from Memphis to Philly straight through.  Oh, to be 19 and young again.  LOL

Vickie, when it comes to Mike's lack of work ethic, I'd sit down with him, and have a heart to heart, when Chris is not around.  He may have lacked a male role model, to help him develop that.  My Christopher, and Colleen, got theirs in high school, working for my brother, Neil in restaurants he managed.  (He totally lacked one till he left the Navy.)  He demanded more from them than his other employees, so he would not be accused of nepotism.  Sean got into the drugs in high school, and missed out on working for Neil.  But, now at 31, and Chris at 36, and Trent at 38, would never sit and watch me try to carry stuff in and not try to help.  Chris works 12-18 hours a day.  Trent too.

I got home from church an hour ago.  Have to go back tonight, because there's a congregational meeting after evening church, which ends at 7:00.  Not sure I'm going to make it that late.  

Well, cancel that.  Colleen just called to ask if I could watch the kids, because she and Trent don't want to drag the kids out tonight, and they want to go to church and that meeting.

Must scoot.  Feet are up.  Research to do for my Docent training.

Hugs,

Trish

Me again, 

I don't have any children. I have watched my sisters raise their kids as single parents (dads were elsewhere) . My sister Cheryl now is struggling with a son and daughter both involved with drugs. Her daughter has three incredible little boys ages 10, 8, and 4. Thank God Cheryl and her husband have been able to have grandparents visits (instead of her daughter who just got out of jail for selling and then violating parole) . Their father would fathers rather be their video game buddy. Thank God my sister has been able to teach the boys some respect and responsibility. The older two used to do chores for me like putting the laundry in the washer and dryer, collecting the trash for trash day, doing the dishes. I gave them an allowance based on what they did each week. Even the little one got a quarter for picking up his toys. It was fun to watch them look for things to do just to earn fifty cents. I also made them tithe 10% and save 10%. I hope they learned something they will remember and use later in life. I only had a few months when they were living in the apartment bove my mom, but i hope it rubs off.

I guess what i am saying is grandparents and great aunts and uncles can be an influence on how and what children learn. So don't give up on them or their parents , it is a little like the old method for testing if spaghetti was done by throwing it against the wall. You never know what will stick. (