Happy Birthdays

The 2 most important men in my life today are now 1 year older. One is 50 the other 26.

Justin & Dad. Happy Birthday! You both mean the world to me!





Photo of Justin's from the weekend fishing trip. - Credit Given.

Happy Happy Birthday

It is my uncle's birthday today. I don't see him as often as I would really like. Generally only at Christmas. So, in celebration of his birthday I googled him and his primary alias - Also Aswell - and here is what I found...

Also Aswell Google Results
- Wikipedia - AlsoAswell
- Cosmic Ray Deflection Society
--- Graphic Version (That is his photo under "Hat Comes First..."
- Raw Vision article (His pic is here too, a much better one!)
- Charleston chapter of CRDF
- The image results

Chuck Alston Google Results
- BAMBI vs. THE CAMERA VAN (He is in the story.)

So - Happy Birthday Uncle Chuck. Keep it real!

The Numbers Game

Sorry no post in a few days. Been busy.

72.31
I was expecting to carry around $800 to closing on the Creek Way property Thursday morning. The previous afternoon I called the attorney to find ot how much the check should be for and they did not know. I was suppose to get a call back in an hour but did not hear anything. The next morning about 9:15 I get someone on the phone. The attorney tells me that we will be getting I check. I didn't believe him. But yes, we did, and all the numbers were right on the HUD. $72.31 - made for a nice evening out on Friday. We went with Kristina & Todd to see The DaVinci Code and had dinner at Texas Road House. I thought the movie was quite good and my Dallas Filet really hit the spot.

12 + 11
33! Justin and I really made our first attempt on the foundation today. The lowest spot on the foundation has to have a hole 12" deep. The level guideline (a string) was 11" above the lowest spot so we added 11 and 12 to know how far from the tring the hole depth ha dto be all the way around. So onto digging we went. It worked pretty well. We were doing a good job. After getting 11.5 ft all dug we started down on another section. By that time we were out of water and I had to make a run to fill the bottles. When I got back Justin asked me what 11 + 12 was. I said "23 - Oh Shit!" We dug the entire first section an extra 10" deep. Crap. Well - at least the rest will be easier.

Gonna go to bed now. Byee!

1 Reason Why I love him

I think Justin's long and flowing 'Prince Charming from Shrek' type locks are effecting his brain. It so cool that he is fun and creative like this. Doesnt it just make you want to hug him?

Sir Hooks:
I would like to inquire about our plans for this evening. I had a servant look into purchasing tickets beforehand and I would like to make sure that would meet your approval. I also had the servant work up a couple of options so it would be easier for Ye Knights of the Olde Round Table to come to a decision. This is what my servant has worked up thus far:

Option 1
-----------------------------------------
The Da Vinci Code
2 hrs. 29 min.
(PG-13)
5:30pm, the afternoon of Fri, May 19th
Columbiana Grande Cinemas
1250 Bower Parkway
Columbia, SC 29212
(803) 407-9898
$5.75 per person plus $1 Service charge per ticket.

Option 2
-----------------------------------------
The Da Vinci Code
2 hrs. 29 min.
(PG-13)
6:30pm, the evening of Fri, May 19th
Columbiana Grande Cinemas
1250 Bower Parkway
Columbia, SC 29212
(803) 407-9898
$8.00 per person plus $1 Service charge per ticket.

Option 3
-----------------------------------------
The Da Vinci Code
2 hrs. 29 min.
(PG-13)
6:45pm, the evening of Fri, May 19th
AMC Dutch Square 14
800 Bush River Rd.
Columbia, SC 29210
(803) 750-3576
$7.50 per person plus $1 Service charge per ticket.

Option 4
-----------------------------------------
The Da Vinci Code
2 hrs. 29 min.
(PG-13)
6:45pm, the evening of Fri, May 19th
Regal Sandhill Stadium 16
450 Town Center Place
Columbia, SC, 29229
(803)736-1811
??? per person (no online purchase option available)

Thank you for your attention to this matter in advance. I hope you find my servant's research helpful in an otherwise dreadful day. Many thanks and a hardy handshake until we set forth upon horseback again into the night.
Sir Justin Shearer Esquire

Where are my Underwear?

Fortunately I had a few pairs packed from when we went to Florence because this morning I searched for the box of my underwear for 10 minutes. I hope it is not in the garage somewhere...

Funny how getting ready in the morning takes longer when you dont know where things are.

I started un-packing at Jeremy's yesterday. I'm actually makcing decent progress. My first thought was to un-pack the kitchen, but then I decided to adequately use the kitchen I need to get the sofa out of there, so the room that the sofa is moving to needs to be un-pack and cleared first.

Yesterday we stopped by Jim Hudson GMC to look at a used Diesel truck they had on the lot. Good price, but with what we still owe on the truck the numbers just dont add up. I see the need for a larger truck but the $$ dont equal the need.

We loaded the kitchen and bathroom up at Creekway. That is really all the easy stuff that was left. Remaining in the house includes...

- 2 or 3 boxes
- a pan and a few dishes
- grandfather clock
- wall clock
- 1.5 chair

And the most impressive...

- Wall to wall authentic dog hair carpeting.

Everything we picked up had dog hair under it. So gross.

Byee for now!

Thank You!

Yesterday was the big move. We have nearly everything out of the house. The next 3 days will be rough though. Much left to do in relation to cleaning and such. There was a great group that helped us get everything done...

The FCC
Hoke, Ginny, Zeb, & Libby - Thank you very much for coming. Your kind words and helpful hands made yesterday much easier than I was anticipating. Remember - we still owe you all CiCis Pizza one night and there is no way you can get out of it. Now that we are over on your side of town for a few months I hope that we will be seeing you more often - starting tonight (if we can still walk when today is thru).

Todd & Kristina
You guys did a great job yesterday. Thank you for taking time out of your day to help us out. Todd dont forget to send me your address today!

Carlo
Dude - you look great and you lift well too. I know we don't stay in touch as well as we should. I MUCH appreciate you coming out yesterday to help. We need to see each other more often. BTW - if you grab tix to the Dashboard show in August down at HOB let me know and we can all ride together - in fact, our buddy Karl may have a ticket you can buy if you are interested. Not sure though...

My Elusive Been-there-Done-That Compadre
Chance - u were awesome. Thanks very much for your lifting and organizing abilities. I think that next to my Dad you are probably the hardest worker I know, and honestly - I put you on a level nearly equal to my Dad. Those that know him will know that means a lot.

Ben
Dawg - thanks. I know you are struggling with a lot these days. I have been thinking about you. Keep it real and stay strong. I will be tapping you for some extra help over the next 2 days or so - remember that!

Justin
I love you babe. You did great yesterday and I know you will be great today and great tomorrow as well. I am sorry I yelled at you about the dog last night (I was worried). The next few days will be tough, but we will get through it!

New House Update
- We are finally going through underwriting today! :-) We hope to have approval on tomorrow or Wednesday and as a result should be able to close on the loan sometime between Friday & Tuesday!

- Septic Permit. We got it in the mail on Saturday! :-) This was one thing required before we could start building.

- Survey. I called Platt Land Surveyors Friday to let them know we were ready to start on the survey. They are suppose to go out and begin today or tomorrow. They expect it will take them 2 full days to do. This we also have to have before we can start building.

- Building Permits - the paperwork is ready to go the plans are ready and the septic permit is in hand. As soon as the survey arrives we are off to the county to get things taken care of!

So - thats what is going on. Just wanted to let you know.

Keep it real peeps!

Last Night

:-( Last night was our last night at 2 Creek Way Ct. This afternoon we are heading to Florence for the NASCAR Race in Darlington tomorrow, and Sunday when we return to Columbia it is moving day.

The worst part about it being the last night was that I slept terribly. With all the packing supplies around Vegeta has an endless supply of toys. Twine, plastic bags, snippets of cardboard, the list goes on and on... She was making all sorts of racket so it took me forever to go to sleep and then I kind of tossed and turned the rest of the night. Even though thats the case I do feel rather rested this morning.

Gohan is at the office this morning. We are taking him to the groomer shortly for the 3rd annual hair-loss festival. I am a little worried though because the nights have been chilly. I can't help but wonder if we need to get him a sweater. I asked Justin what he thought on the way to work this morning and he exclaimed "WHAT?" As a result it lead to me asking if we could at least get him leg warmers which then prompted me to imagine Gohan in leg warmers. Kind of a funny pic I think. It all culmonated (sp) in me saying we should dress him in leg warmers and a leotard for Halloween. He could be that girl, from the Grease movie, with the blond hair, in the music video she did. I couldn't think of her name. Neither could Justin. He asked if I meant Gretchen Wilson. No. Or the 'Joan of Arc' in the mall scene from Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure. About 5 minutes later we remembered her name was Olivia Newton John.



Byee for now!

Wiggity wack

Whoa, the past few days have been CRAAAZZZZYYYY. Headlines include...

- The box jackpot: Justin and I found the mecca of boxes the other day at Pet Supply Warehouse on Garner's Ferry. I think we have enough boxes to pack everything now. Just a matter of getting it all in there.

- Got the appraisal on the new property: 128K - which is enough to take care of what we need to take care of. :-)

- Most excellent video: Reena sent this. The Evolution of Dance You must watch this.

- Ben: He is having it rough. His Grandma is not doing well and he is fighting with his brother. The wedding is also getting closer and closer so he has that to worry about too. Still no passport either. Poor guy. He was a most excellent help with packing last night though.

- Work: Wow - never been this busy I don't think. Lander CMS training went well, and there was a productive ACRM meeting this morning. Got a crazy lady hounding me about GraySail participating in some conference.

Well - that's the deal right now. Watch the video. You will laugh. I am sure.

Have a most groovy day.

#250

This s my 250th post. :-) Thought that was interesting...

Watching 24
Justin and I are back on cycle watching 24. It is nice. The show is really good. Mucho suspense going on and everything.

What a racket
I kind of felt like spelling it 'raquet' - which actually may be the correct way to spell it, but oh well. So - we decided to get some competing quotes on the termite stuff. We ended up getting 2 companies bidding against each other and got it down to $550. Then, the original quote we got went evil on us. After letting them know that we were not going to use them they sent a letter to the attorney's office saying there was active infestation and that we did not plan to remedy it. *Smile* So, I get the guy on the phone to fuss at him and as a result he agrees to meet the $550 price so they are coming to treat the house on Wednesday. Gosh - this whole thing has been ridiculous. It is worse than shopping for a car.

Best Moment of Sunday
Sunday was spent packing and such. While sorting clothes Justin found a velcro visor. He tried it on with his long flowing hair and began playing with his charming locks. When done he went to pull of the visor and Yelp! the velco stuck in his hair. He flailed for a few moments before ripping it out. ROFL!

Feel better Lori
Poor Lori had to have knee surgery the other week - last week maybe. Gosh, the days are passing so fast. Anyhow - I talked to her today and her knee is REALLY bothering her still. So - feel better lady! We need your help building this dang house!

Marked Foundation
As you can see from the picks on Justin's site we have the foundation marked for the new house. :-) Thanks mom & dad! Mucho appreciation!!

Darlington Beau!
The Darlington race is this weekend. We are heading to Florence on Friday evening and I plan to cook for Mom & the Grandmas. 40 Clove Chicken & Baked Goat Cheese Appetizer are 2 of the things I plan to prepare. Justin is covering dessert. He is so good at that stuff.

On The Road
I'm on the road again tomorrow. Up at Greenwood for Lander OpenCMS training. Gonna work on heading to bed. 24 is about over.

Byee

11:30 Lunch

5 May 2006
If you are down for Monterrey's for lunch we are going at 11:30. It will be crowded to the consensus was to go earlier as opposed to later.

Off My Back
I spent Wednesday in the bed. I thought I had hurt my back in the wreck Saturday, but it seems as if I was just sore because yesterday I felt MUCH better and today I don't hurt at all. :-)

Little White Bugs
The HVAC & Termite guys came to do the letters for the house closing. HVAC is fine, but you know those old whiskey barrels (planters) we have by the house? There are termites under them. The little critters are not on the house though, but because the barrels are within 3 feet of the house it counts as infestation. Gonna be like $700 to get a treatment and the letter done now. *Lovely*

NBT
We went to New Brookland Tavern last night to see Jebb's band play. It was only their second show, and while they started off a little shaky it really came together in the end. I liked several of the songs quite a bit. Best part is that he is back in a band and playing shows - I know he really likes that. While there we saw some people from the deep and dark past as well. Sposa & Mel were there - they came down from NY. The history there is insane and everyone was shocked to see them. Two of my fav moments last night were 1) When Jebb busted out the homestarrunner voice do to the Web site promo for the band; 2) When they played an old Love Apple song, 'sad to say'.

Foundation Marking
Mom & Dad are coming up tomorrow to mark the foundation for the house so we can start digging. :-)

MOVING
If you are available from ~ 1:30 - 5:30 (or any portion of that time) on Sunday, May 14 - I encourage you to assist Justin & I in moving out of our house. A fun time will be had by all, I am sure. The goal is to have all the boxes out of the house before then and just take care of all the furniture on Sunday. That will only leave the small items that Justin and I will need to 'live' for the next few months. The furniture tally includes:
- Washer
- Dryer
- 4 large bureau pieces
- small dresser
- Queen Bed
- Sofa
- 1.5 Chair
- Dining Table
- 4 dining chairs
- Recliner
- Grandfather clock
- 7 side/coffee tables
- 2 book cases
- 2 desks
- 1 trunk

Other than that everything is pretty small. I think we are going to have to leave some of the tables Justin has in the garage, but we will just see.

Gotta go...

Cut My Eyes Out

I have 10 minutes this morning. I am about to head to Moore School for a meeting and the things on my to-do list today take much longer to accomplish than I have time right now, so I figured that a blog post would be more productive than staring at my screen.

Yesterday was a weird day. In some ways very good and in other ways horrible. We got a lot done. I was even relatively productive at work. We signed some paperwork with Kim, picked up building permit applications, got an Rx from Walgreens, marked for the perk test, installed the mailbox on the land, painted around the new patio door, caulked around the new patio door, and watched 24. Problem is that Justin and I were at each other's throats nearly the entire time. The stress is just getting to us both. Hence - please 'Cut My Eyes Out.'

If I cannot see then I wont care what the new house looks like, if my clients shoot me the bird, or if my clothes are wrinkled. My Mary Kay director, Joanne, sent me a forward the other day. I think it is fitting of where I am right now...

MAYONNAISE JAR and 2 CUPS OF COFFEE

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - God, family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions -- things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.
The sand is everything else -- the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. So...Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play With your children. Take time to get medical checkups.

Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. "Take care of the golf balls first-- the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.
The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

I feel like I don't have golf balls right now. Heck - I may not even have pebbles.

Gotta go to my meeting. Byee.

Hole in the House

I think I mentioned that we got the home inspection report last week. Mom & Dad most kindly came up on Sunday to assist us with fixing things. Ok- Justin and Dad did all the fixing. Mom and I just worked on packing.

So - the deterioration on the side door and front column were easy. The electrical was knocked out in no-time. Flashing on the roof, it was a walk in the park. Cleaning the corrosion on the water heater was a no brainer too. The sliding glass doors on the other hand...

Justin and I had called Century Glass on Friday and got an initial estimate on replacing them - $348/door. Ouch. In that case - they were not getting fixed. After running to Lowe's for supplies on Sunday morning Justin and Dad returned with the news there there were patio doors on sale for $298. Hmmm...

20 minutes later there was a giant hole in the back of the house and Mom & I were on our way to Lowe's to buy the doors. We took advantage of the 12 months same as cash deal to buy the doors as well as all the appliances for the new house! :-) It was grand.

By 6:00 the hole was all sealed and clean-up was underway. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Mom & dad for helping. We really appreciate it.

This Week Is going to be a busy one I already have 9 things on my list for today outside of what has to be done for work. Speaking of work - I am off now. See ya!

Gobble Gobble