The Snow and ice

Unfortuanitly, the camera died before I could take a picture outside but got this blurry picture of Malachi. We woke up this morning to 4 inches of snow and a layer of ice and let me tell you it was a FUN morning. A layer of ice makes it not possible to sled, and the ice disabled us and we were trapped in the house. The good side is that I didnt have to go to work, but as the morning progressed the electricity cut off. This is depressing especially when you want a hot meal.

We managed by getting the fire going and getting the generator up and started. The generator did not want to start so that was a bit frustrating, but the gas was bad and after filtering new gas the generator worked great.

So our morning looked something like this:

A fire going

Malachi playing

The generator working (allowing the modem, wireless router and 3 computers to work)

Mom, Dad, and Elizabeth playing on the computer

Dad going down so often to cut firewood

Getting progressively colder

Busting ice and snow off car

Going to Panera

As we got suited up to leave, the electricity came back on!!!

I came back to play a little xbox which is awesome.

Arrested Development

One of my favorite shows has been rumored to be going to the big screen. I hope its successful and sparks the series to come out of cancellation.

I'm a sinner

We all fall short, right? Its crazy because I lust and lust and finally give into my temptation. Sometimes I wonder if my addiction can control who I am and therefore ruins who I am trying to be. As some of you know from a previous post (found here), that I have been trying to lose weight, and of course I have struggled with it as seen here!

In January, I gave up pop for 6 months, I made a compromise and had sierra mist a grand total of like 6 glasses. Not having coke has drawn me to other things like a snickers bar every day. Yesterday I was really tired and decided I would drink an ale8 (refreshing, sweet, heavenly, wonderful....) to help me stay awake, and so I drank one, then went home and drank a coke, then today my Dad (pap pap as we like to call him) bought me an ale8 and snickers bar, in which I could not pass up.

SO TODAY I have decided NOT to drink any further carbonated drinks and stay clear of most candy bars until June and push for July, my own punishment for not staying on track.

The good news is that I am still playing raquetball everyday and won 2 out of 3 games today WHOO HOO

Game 1 15-11

Game 2 13-15

Game 3 15-5

(yes that is my sad work desk)

Healthy Breakfast

Just before Christmas I have gotten one of these (pictured above) every Thursday and just now decided to blog about it. It is a donut but not just any donut, its a Spalding donut. Spaldings is a locally owned company (Lexington) that makes these donuts, they are very good and believe it or not its healthy. It comes with 1 gram of fat, o calerious, and no carbs. Its almost better than air. So I eat about 2 (sometimes sneak in a 3rd) for healthly reasons. (You know I have to watch my heart these days) I can feel the energy rising in my blood. If you are ever in Lexington, go get one, they are good and did I mention HEALTHY!!! :)

Mouse Killer

Our cat, Mouse, has become a little hunter. Mouse is about 4 yrs old and is declawed but still manages to kill things. In the past several days he has brought in mice, on one particular day he brought a live one while my wife was home alone. I got a call with lots of screaming and a little bit of confusion as to do with the live mouse.

After a few suggestions, the end result was to lock Mouse and the mouse into the bathroom and let them fight it out. This is because every time Elizabeth attempted to separate the mouse from Mouse, Mouse would pick up the mouse and run with it. The end result was a dead mouse brutally slain by the cat. At this point it is Mouse 5 mice 0, Mouse 1 bird 0. Its a running count...

On Saturday, I was home with my son Malachi. He was playing with his toys and I was watching tv when suddenly we heard a bunch of rustling in the kitchen. As I turned I saw Mouse bringing in a mouse.

Because of previous mouth mutilations I had already shut the doors of the bathroom, our room and Malachis room, but forgot about Mom and Dads room.

As I stood from the tv Mouse saw me and knew I was going to take away his prize, seeing that the usual rooms were closed he darts, w/ the mouse in his mouth, into Mom and Dad's room. I cornered Mouse but he did not give in and found an escape route into the living room. I swat Mouse with a broom and he lets go of the mouse, the mouse runs underneath the couch and Mouse is waiting but I pick up Mouse and put him into the bedroom.

Now I find myself into a predicament because:

1. I am afraid of mice, a recently discovered fear
2. Malachi is completely excited about the mouse in the house and is running everywhere
3. the mouse is underneath the couch
4. I had to somehow pick up the couch, hold Malachi back, and get the mouse

I was in a doozy of a situation. I decided to do something different I got Mouse out and set him by the couch and demanded Malachi sit still as I lift the couch. So Mouse is ready, Malachi is waiting with anticipation and so I lift up the couch and Mouse charges the mouse and goes up over the gate and through the doggy door.

Most people would think it would have been a good idea to let Mouse destroy the mouse outside but not me I didn't want the mouse to escape and get back in. So I put on my shoes and go down the stairs (as I demand that Malachi stay on the porch but he could watch) in order to seperate the mouse from Mouse so I could dispose of the mouse appropriately.

As I get to the bottom of the steps Mouse jumps over the fence and so I go through the gate to get him on the other side in which he jumps back over the fence, goes up the stairs, and through the doggy door where he is back in the same house I was just trying to get him out of. (again Malachi jumping up and down with excitement)

I go back into the house and get Mouse into the bathroom somehow got him to drop the mouse and got him back in the living room with the mouse in the bathroom.

Again I find myself in a predicament because the mouse is still in the house and he is still alive. But I remembered that my Dad had bought a mouse trap that is a black box and when the mouse goes through the box it electrocutes him, killing the mouse. So I take Malachis toys, some bottles of shampoo and cups to make a maze into the black death box for the mouse. I somehow lead him into it, and I decide to leave him in there so he could die by himself.

After a while I go back in open the box and find the mouse. I call my Dad explaining what I thought was a humorous story but decide to take the broom handle and poke the mouse where I realize the mouse was still alive. The mouse gets out of the trap and runs into a nearby cup. The smart person would have taken the cup and put the mouse outside but not this man, I decide to reset the trap and make another maze and somehow the mouse got back into the trap. This time I left the trap for about a 1/2 hour before I went back to check on the mouse.

After the 1/2 hour I check and the mouse is still but after the first time I decide to check it one last time, and again the mouse is still alive

At this time I am frustrated and decide to let Mouse finish the job but not in the house. I take the mouse outside and the mouse ran out and jumped off the deck, the deck is a good 15 to 20 feet in the air. I check and see a twitching mouse, so I get Mouse to finish the job. I take mouse down and the mouse is running towards the fence. Mouse darts at him picks him up, the mouse bites Mouse, Mouse lets him go runs up the stairs, and through the doggy door. The mouse makes a run for it and sees another day. Making this adventure Mouse 5, mice 1

My wife called me this morning to tell me that Mouse brought in a bird and the bird was flying around the house. But Mouse grabbed the bird and its now dead. Mouse also has killed about 2 mice since the last encounter so here is the new count:

Mouse 7, Mice 1 Mouse 2, Birds 0

Thought this was humorous and I hope you enjoy the true story of the Mouse Killer :)

Sorry for all the grammatical and spelling errors, hey Im not an English teacher and I dont proofread. :-/

Frankfort Basketball game

A victory for the Frankfort First Church of God basketball team. On Saturday we have our first win. I can't believe it and I scored a 3 pointer WHOO HOO!!! We are now 1-14 in 2 seasons. Take that Ben Walker ;) Plus UK beat Vandy a huge win for us!!

Weight Loss

It becomes a revelation when you step on the scale at it says 197.5. One week ago that is what my scale said. I am not morbidly overweight but I have a zillion bad habits and I don't think it would take much for to get reach over 200 lbs.

One of my many New Years Resolution was to stop drinking coke and lose 40 lbs. I am on my 3rd week of NOT drinking coke and on my 2nd week of only drinking water. I weighed myself yesterday and found that I had lost 2 lbs. Not significant but it was nice to see. I am not watching what I eat and play racquetball everyday. My goal is to start running 30 mins a day and do a little weight lifting to help my flabby body look a little toned. For those few (if any) who read this blog encourage me. I want to be healthy for my family. :)

Just another Jan 4, 2008

For the past 3 days I have been sitting at the front desk of the old steel company because our secretary is out sick. It can be a bit boring. The desk is way to small for me to actually do the work that I was hired to do so I am stuck until they give me a managable job that can be done from this desk.

When days are like this I do get to catch up on some of my favorite websites. Unfortuatetly I have ran out because I visit the same sites about everyday. My most frequent websites that I visit are:

gizmodo.com (Very good with new technology)

bungie.net (Even though I no longer have a XBL account I still like to see the new things happening because their will be a day when I shall return to XBL)

The Armory (WoW site, again even though I dont have an account it still has some interesting stuff on it)

xbox.com (Keepin up with whats new)

movies.com (Great reviews)

simplyjosh.com (A youth ministry guy who is highly successful and has a lot of cool info on the site)

Of course there are several other sites that I visit but really not enough to keep a day busy. If you have any suggestions with good sites to visit (that are not dirty) comment them below.

Christmas

My family actually had a great Christmas all around. We are currently living with my Parents due to the fact that my wife has to do an internship. This makes Christmas a bit stressful but we managed. We bought a little tree and decorated it in our room. On Christmas morning we woke Malachi with Presents around the tree.

Malachi woke up to a little Tigger for his bed present which "Santa" gives him, He enthusiastically opened up his other gifts which included a spiderman lego plane (bad idea it is already in pieces and all over the house), cars replica of toy story and monster inc (which are shown at the ending credits of Cars), and he got a helicopter that can be flown inside. He loves that helicopter and has really enjoyed playing with it. Plus he got a ton of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse stuff from both sets of parents.

Elizabeth got some pajama pants (Vera Bradley), ilive (generic ihome), idog, some books and some other things from me and got a digital camera from my parents. She was very pleased with Christmas this year.

I got a ton of things from Elizabeth, which included The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons how to draw the characters book, The Office Season 3, Kentucky Sweatshirt, Kentucky Chair, Malachi got me a Kentucky Basketball which he picked out, and I got Rock Band from my parents. Which is a really awesome game by the way!!!!

We had the extra pleasure of having my sister Saralee and her family with us for Christmas.

For the first time EVER we deep fried a turkey for Christmas. It had to be the best tasting turkey I have ever tasted. It would be hard going back to the same old baked turkey after that delite.

This was a good holiday season all the way around, if you take away the presents that I got, it still was excellent, I had a great time with family. I got along with everyone, there was a lot of laughter. Lots of time to cherish with my nieces, nephew and Malachi. I wouldnt trade that time for anything. I hope and pray that your Christmas was as good as mine.

New Years Resolution

I dont usually do New Year's Resolution but last year was a bad year and things need to change and a new NEW YEAR is a good place to start these changes. Here they are in no particular order:

Excercise More Often
Loose 30 lbs
Stop drinking anything with carbonation for 6 months
Read the Bible
Read more books
Write in a journal
Spend more time with Malachi and Elizabeth
Get out of stupid debt (I mean Credit Cards and things of that nature not home or school debt)

These are the main ones but there are always more. I am starting out 2008 discouraged with where I am at and I hope to end 2008 excited about what is happening and looking at a brighter future. I hope everyone had a Good Christmas and a Good start to the New Year!!!

Life in General

Life has been really interesting!!!! My wife started her Masters program last week and is on Stress overload right now. She is also working a job in which there is big stinch of incompentance roaming around. She is way over qualified while her higher ups are way underqualified. December will be a good month to put this period of time WAY WAY behind us and she can move on to her internship.

Malachi will be 3 on Friday. I am happy yet saddened. My little boy is growing up so fast. Of course there are certain aspects of growing up I wish he'd hurry up, one major being is pooping in the potty. I am currently making a minature cornhole set for him. It is really cute and should be completed sometime by the end of the week. All that is left is painting.

I am working still I did leave Panera, at least for a little while. I am ready for a career but trying to stay patient for Elizabeth. Things are picking up for me in Frankfort to really allow my skills to be used a little more. There are days I miss college, mostly for the unresponsibility related to it. The "real world" has hit hard the past 4 years.

Young Adult Camp

Sometime in February I was asked to be the director of our state Young Adult Camp. After a week of thinking about it I came back to say I would like to have a go at it. Of course my predicessor was an awesome director (and good friend) so I know I am already inadequate for the job. The camp is this weekend and I am excited about what is going to happen. I got an excellent speaker and dynamic worship leader (of course they are both related to me so I think they are awesome). The location is not my favorite but I hope to show a great time and to see this thing grow for next year.

I dont know what is in store this weekend. I know I had trouble with both the speaker and worship leader only because they are related so I tried for others first but at the end I decided to go with my heart. I know God will bless this thing, he always has.

Anyone can come that is out of high school and I encourage you to go. It is a lot of fun and great place to meet people or reconnect with old friends. I hope to see you there and I will give a post whenever its done.

Back from PA

Yesterday we got back from the big town of Ellwood. Our job there was to clean out Elizabeth's old room and take it back to Kentucky. She had a ton of stuff and so we boxed it and her brother brought back for us. Our next home will be filled with junk.

Anyway I had to get a storage unit to put all this stuff in.

Our second duty was to help her mother with a yard sale. Her mother put up almost everything for sale. It was huge, of course we got to search through and take what we wanted. I got two canopies, a tent and several other camping equipment. My wife got several things as well.

Our last duty was to load up on the food we liked. I got a ton of New Castle chili, cleaned out Giant Eagle (a grocery store in the north for those who don't know), my wife got her Augustine's Pizza and we got some loafs and puffs from Johnny's. It was great.

It was a nice visit and weird knowing we would not set foot in the house again and possibly not go to PA much after this point. I know it had to be weird for my wife to leave a place she has always known.

Going to PA

Today we (my wife, son and myself) are leaving for PA to see my Mother-in-law. Even though the town of Ellwood City is small and growing smaller instead of getting larger it is still a fun place to visit. I will get to eat at a little place called Johnnys and Red Hots. I will also come home with a TON of New Castle Chili which to date is by far my favorite. We will also come packed with Augustines Pizza.

While there, the Simpsons movie will be released. OF COURSE I want to go so bad I just pee'd myself. It should be good and the from what I hear I will not be disappointed. So I am hoping we can scrape the money to watch it of course I am sacrificing Harry Potter for a couple of more weeks but I will eventually get to that one as well.

Me

Just a pic of me for my blog...sorry nothing interesting here!!!

Cedar Point

I love Cedar Point. I went for the first time ever last weekend. IT WAS AWESOME. They had some great roller coasters but I only road 4 of them. I went with the church I am attending and volunteering at. Built some good relationships and had a ball.

Surprisingly, I liked the water park almost as much as the park itself. They had this huge raft thing and some of the guys decided to meet the weight capacity as best we could. So me and 3 others got in weighing in at over 720 lbs, 80 lbs less than the weight capacity. Lets just say it was a very interesting wet my pants ride. Then we did this slide that looked really slow but after getting on it it was super fast and pretty scary. FUN!!

Malachi's first day at Ginza II

A new japanese steak house opened in Frankfort called Ginza II and my parents took us there to eat. It was really fun to see some of Malachi's expressions of the big fire and learning how to use chops sticks. Great fun!!!

Our new pond (updated)

We completed the pond several weeks ago but I believe it turned out well...

of course now it has lily pads, fountain, and fish + a neighboring frog. Looks good

Where have I been

Its been a while since I've posted but that is the story of my life. I am at work today enjoying an empty office. WHOO HOO!!! and getting ready to go to Cedar Point. I have never been before and just printed off the map and ready to explore it. When I get back I will update my month of absence including an update on the pond, my son at Ginza II and a fire that started on the back porch on 4th of July. Should be fun!!!

Counting Bolt Holes

On the right is a detail drawing (off the internet) of a beam with a plate on it. The holes in that beam are there to put bolts (field bolts) into them. On a job, that HGS has, I was asked to go through some drawings a count how many holes are in the beams, plates, and angle. This didn't seem to be to bad except there were like 200 pages of beams and when all was said and done about 15,000 holes for field bolts. My eyes went completely crossed.

ON ANOTHER NOTE:

Today is kind of a lazy day. I am currently trying to draw up plans to build a rock wall (w/ a small pond in the center) for my Dad's house. Then this weekend I will take my time building said wall & pond. I am excited because it gives me something to do but nervous because this is a new venture. I went to my brother in laws last weekend and saw his pond (below). He has done a great job putting his together, so I asked him a TON of questions about it. He lent me a couple of books to help me out. Hopefully I can build a good wall and an ok pond. Should be interesting!!!