Happy Birthday Dad!

I got to talk to my Dad last night.

Yup.

My phone is still broken.

So I used Rod's.

We are planning our trip out west

to help with the move.

It was wonderful to get to visit with him

for a few minutes.

He is such a good sport!

He loves his family and will even dye easter eggs with them!

He has a silly side.

And an awesome tattoo!!!!

(Yes, it washed off... lol)

I'll never forget when he came home from

helping Nolan and Marlys with haying at the ranch

one year.

He had a MUSTACHE!

I've never seen Dad with facial hair!

They were working too hard to take time to shave.

(That was his story and he was sticking to it!)

He and Mom are embarking on an adventure.

But as always they are doing it together.

With LOVE.

I'm looking forward to some of his 

awesome bread in October!!!

But in the meantime,

today I'm remembering the weekly

"organ recital" lunches we enjoyed together

a gazillion years ago when we were both

working in office buildings in downtown.

It was wonderful to just sit and visit

and get to know each other better.

We have a lot more in common than I thought.

It really helped to ground me during

those tough teenage years.

He is such a guide for our family.

I love you Dad!

Enjoy your day!!!!!

49 Haverhill - with an UPDATE

Holy Smokes!

The folks have decided to sell the

ancestral home.

HAhahahahahaha

And move to Tucson to be close

to family

and far away from Canadian winter.

SMART MOVE

on both counts!

So they decided to test the waters.

And there's a bidding war before

the house is even listed for reals!

Tells you what an amazing job

they have done of 

taking care of it.

It's EXCITING!!!!!

They are re-homing all sort of

things they have loved and used

and taken care of.

And since they are selling these things

themselves, they know they are going

to other families who will love them

and use them

and make even more memories around them.

It's EXCITING!!!!!

Of course there will be twinges of sad,

goodbye is always hard.

But that's LATER.

Right now it's just

EXCITING!!!!!

Just got off the phone with Soni

and we are BOTH EXCITED!

(Even though they aren't moving to where

either of us live... we can VISIT!!!)

*************************************

Oh my goodness!

Sondra just sent me a bunch of pictures

she took this month.

The old bathroom radio!

I TOTALLY WANT THAT!

Mom - I'll send you some $$$

Don't give it away.

That is SO going in my bathroom!

I could do an entire blog post just about that radio.

Running home from school because you

realized just AFTER you left the school

that you NEED to go to the bathroom.

Dash in the door,

peeling off jackets, boots, scarves, mittens, hats

and leaving a trail from the door to the hall

where the bathroom is located.

Not even bothering to turn on the light.

But stopping long enough to switch on the radio.

Cuz... MUSIC - HELLO!

1140 CKXL 

(And even stopping to switch it BACK to 1140

cuz Dad was the last one in the bathroom and he

switched it to HIS station.

Geez.

What, does he think it's HIS radio?)

LOL

Apple Technology

The only Apple stuff I have is an iPod

that Mom and Dad gave me several years ago.

I love it.

It's tiny and has a cracked screen.

It doesn't have much memory.

It pretty much holds my Piano Guys music.

And I LOVE it!

I hang it on my saddle when I go riding.

Or hang it on the fence when I'm 

um,

dispatching critters to send them to

Freezer Camp.

They tried to get me a new one from the

current century.

But I resisted.

However.

Yesterday I could no long resist the pull

of the Apple.

Since my company gave me a FREE

iPod, Apple TV, wireless keyboard

and a whole bag full of other goodies

(that I have no idea what to do with...)

LOL

Our company is going wireless.

Which is awesome.

Considering all the problems I've been

having with my old technology 

during the previous couple of weekends.

We went to Orlando yesterday to

get our "goodie bags" full of stuff

and a quick "down and dirty"

lesson in how to use it.

But the most amazing stuff was the directive.

Last time (years and years and years ago)

they gave us each a Palm Pilot

when that was a thing.

With 

STRICT INSTRUCTIONS

to use it for NOTHING but work related stuff.

(by the way - they promptly took them back!)

(I'm not sure I ever even got to turn it on...)

This time we received

STRICT INSTRUCTIONS

to download everything to it

and take it home,

hook it up to our home televisions

and PLAY with it!

Use it!

Every day!

For everything!

In fact,

right now,

let's all download our gmail accounts!

And our photos.

Oh,

and we already loaded Garage Band

on it for you,

cuz you're gonna love it!

WHAT???

Who are these people?

What happened to the stodgy, cranky,

grumpy people we used to work for?

Shhhhh,

I love these new people.

Annnnnd it's MONDAY

Whew!

It's Monday again.

That seems to happen at least once a week!

Hahahahahaha

The last time I taught at the Coral Springs site

(the first two weekends in July)

we had a capacity crowd.

Literally people sitting in the chairs around 

the edges of the room.

We had 42 people pre-registered

and ran between 28 and 30 both weekends.

This time I had 36 pre-registered.

Started with 12.

Ended with 7!

I'm not sure which I prefer.

Neither actually.

I like 12 - 18.

But this is a good group.

All women.

Except Larry.

We play a game on a mobile app called

Kahoot.it

They are ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN

from using their phones during class.

Like I call them out even if they are just looking

up the definition of a word on Google!

(That's why you have a live instructor... ask me!)

But at the end of every chapter,

they get to pull out their phones / tablets

and we play this game.

They LOVE it.

But if you have an iPhone you have a slight advantage.

Larry.

Our Token Male

has an iPhone.

So he wins.

Every time.

At the beginning of the game

they get to pick a nickname.

And sometimes they are really silly.

Like we had:

I'm Sleepy

Are We Done Yet

Starving

but the best one was

Beat Larry!

Hahahahahahaha

So the next round, one of my younger,

less mature people logged on first 

with the nickname of

Larry's a Nerd

(In her defense, she's an engineer and she swears

Nerd is a term of endearment...)

And here was the response.

They rallied around him.

And he still beat the socks off of them.

Silly bunch.

The game is fun and helps them

remember the material.

Win / Win

In other news...

There isn't any.

LOL

Kyle's actual first "day" is tonight.

Not last night.

He went to 3 hours of "orientation" on Saturday

and learned all about the store and his duties

and "facing" (which means going around and

making sure all the shelves are neat and all product

is lined up and pulled to the front of the shelf...)

He gets his actual schedule tomorrow. (probably)

And then he'll start working on figuring out

if he should sleep in the afternoon / evening before

work at 10 pm or in the morning / afternoon

after he gets off at 6.

And buying black-out curtains.

(He already bought some jeans.  Poor Florida boy.

He HATES long pants...)

(He's never lived in snow before.)

(He'll get used to it / them)

(probably)

Wishing Your Life Away

"They" always say not to wish your life away.

So I try not to.

But I REALLY WISH it was October.

I'm teaching again this weekend.

Substituting at another site.

Which my brain is having a hard time with.

Last weekend I had no idea where I

was half the time.

The two schools are just up the road 

from each other.

So although I stay in different hotels

they are the same chain.

And I eat in the same restaurants because

they are equidistant from the two schools.

It's very confusing.

Looking forward to having Labor Day weekend

OFF!

And then it's back to teaching the next

four weekends.

And then.

Blessed relief.

I am going back to just teaching 

ONE SCHOOL PER MONTH!

Whew!

My poor computer is having as hard a

time with all this as I am.

I bought it a gazillion years ago.

(Five?  Six?  That's 900 in laptop years.)

It nearly didn't make it through this past school.

It keeps turning itself off.

Which is sort of a pain since I'm teaching 

using a Power Point presentation.

And the school I was in last weekend didn't 

have a white board to write on.

And the electronic overhead thingie was broken too.

Kind of frustrating!

This weekend I'm at a site with a white board,

but I need to supply my own computer.

I think I might borrow Rod's.

Next Wednesday I'm going to Orlando for training

on our brand new iPads!!!!

(Which is why I haven't broken down and

purchased a new laptop...)

(It gets to just retire...)

Anyhow.

We will be using the new technology in September.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well.

*****************

In other news...
Kyle got a JOB yesterday!

Working at the grocery store literally across

the street from his apartment.

He's had his eye on it for awhile, but

didn't want to apply just before taking a

week vacation in Florida.

He's excited to start.

It's the graveyard shift.

Which thrills him!  

(No seriously... he's not a "people person".)

Stay tuned to see how it goes.

Sunday night will be his first night.

I'm sure it will be awesome.

Ok.

Back to work.

(Talked to Sondra this morning - sounds like

the Calgary trip was a HUGE hit...)

AND she is sending me a picture of...

THE COLD ROOM!

PERFECT!!!!!

Kyle's Food

One of the most eye opening things

about moving out and living on your own

is the COST OF FOOD!

Kind of a shock.

Notice his TEENY TINY fridge.

(on the right side of his "kitchen")

It's all fridge.

No freezer.

And it's TEENY TINY.

Which means he goes to the grocery store

(across the street) multiple times each

week to get food.

And has to pay premium prices for

smaller "convenience" sizes of everything.

We talked about it and decided it

would save him about $150 a month

if he bought a freezer and could shop

at Sam's.  He already shares a membership

with us, and there is one right there in Logan...

So...

First on his list of important things to do

(after he woke up!  Poor guy!)

was a trip to Sam's where they had a nice

little 5.0 cu ft chest freezer for $149.

And since I spend a lot of $$$ at Sam's,

there was a $50 cash back credit on

our account.

So he only paid $99!

He now has LESS room to move around.

But he has MORE food.

He got to actually buy vegetables!

(He has been living on canned corn

as his veggie of choice.)

(for 2 months)

Now he can buy a large bag of

chicken thighs (his favorite) and a 

large tray of steak

and a couple of big bags of vegetables

and bags of ice

and

ICE CREAM.

And now there is room in his fridge for

SALAD and MILK.

He is totally livin' large now!

Nice Vacation

We had a great week with Kyle here.

Naturally there are limited pictures.

He is SO camera shy.

He and Jim (and friends) went bowling.

And we got photos!

Jimbo

Kyle watching

Kyle being silly

And I snapped one while he was playing with

the dogs...

He was busy so didn't notice.

But an "actual" picture?

Nothin' doin'.

LOL

He didn't get much rest while he was here.

He and Rod re-fenced the opposite side

of the pasture.

All that is left is the fence across the back.

This side REALLY needed to be replaced.

The neighbor's horse used to stand on it

and there were lots of holes in it.

Now it is nice and straight and super tight.

And there are no holes!

AWESOME!

I took a couple of days off to spend with him.

We just sort of relaxed and enjoyed

visiting and chatting.

We also went shopping.

Found him a small chest freezer.

More about that tomorrow.

Anyhow.

He had a good time.

And an exciting flight home.

(Denver was closed due to weather.)

They ended up sitting on the tarmac in

Colorado Springs for about 4 hours.

When they FINALLY got to Salt Lake

(several hours later)

he lucked into a flight at the very next gate

that was just getting ready to leave.

But they slipped him on.

And then he had to drive home.

It was a LONG eventful day.

But he is home and happy to be there.