Full time

I am now two weeks back into full time employment. Despite my joy about the pending paycheck, I am already missing the excessive time to do as I wished. Alas I have not played Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii in weeks; my given status as the course favorite is gone. Leaving the office after a half day to go fishing...no longer an option. The dutiful and heart-warming walk to school with the boys, a thing of the past.

On the plus side, having experienced the leisure of time off with limited resources has created a drive deep in my being to become independently wealthy so as to have the envious combination of too much money and ample time to waste it. In addition to good old fashioned work ethic, creativity and determination; I believe I will dabble in high stakes poker games, casino gambling and lotteries. Truth be told, at least for a little while, the only high stakes would be steaks on the top shelf of the fridge (joke works better audibly). Casino gambling would be fun but there is not a local tribe with a nickle bet craps table near. Lottery is a possibility; I have a friend that can mule in tickets from Tennessee (her kid's college needs to be paid for - she will gladly feed my habit).

A dog's life...

It must be nice. I have yard work to do. I will be working on a proposal tonight. I have house repairs to do. I will pause shortly to break up an argument between my kids.... During all of this my two spoiled dogs are peacefully resting in the study. Curry is particularly spoiled. She is part rat-terrier part blue tick coon hound (brain of the rat terrier - size of a coon hound). She lies comfortably across the green chair and a half that is positioned so she can keep a keen eye out the front window to warn us of a passing squirrel or kindergartner on their scooter. As she lounges, her eyes get heavy, chin drops and she is out....

On the brighter side - one positive about not being a dog...I don't eat my own poop or anyone else's for that matter.

Time

Time has been a topic of conversation a lot recently.  My wife has said it is past Time that I write another entry here in the blog (thus half the reason I am doing so - don't want to be in trouble).  I think it is high Time I had found gainful employment.  For all of you work-a-day fools, yes I am a bit jealous but don't feel too bad for me...unemployment is so under-rated.  Take the Dave Ramsey course and then smile real big when someone tells you you're about to have a lot of Time on your hands.  

It is about Time for school to be out.  Angie seems more excited about summer than the boys.  4 weeks from today they will be done; whatever will we do then.

We have finally taken the Time to do some of the annoying upkeep on the house.  Angie painted the kitchen cabinets.  As many of you may be thinking - oh no, cabinets are impossible to do well...you just don't know Angie.  Angie has painted a good bit of the baseboards that needed work.  Angie has done touch up paint in the bathroom.  Angie is about to paint the exterior of the windows; here is the Time where I come back into the work thing....I paint anything past the third step on a ladder.  I also re-caulked a few things in the bathroom....and I do a lot of yard work.  Yes, I feel I need to take a bit of Time to be sure not all of you think Angie does all the work around here.  It may be true but I don't want you to know it.  

It definitely takes too much Time and effort to kill off all the weeds in the yard.  

I can't stand the still freezing cold water for a long enough Time to find the current leak.

I am donating some of my Time to help Phil Williams on his Alabama State Rep campaign (district 6- check him out www.votephilwilliams.com).   It is fun to take Time and talk politics.  It is sad when someone notes I worked on Sid McDonald's US Senate campaign and says "wow, that was a long Time ago".

My mom keeps reminding me that God always comes through just in Time...his Time not mine.  She notes that 11:59 is in Time if you turn into a pumpkin at midnight.  My reply was it feels like 11:45.  

One of my favorite Time quotes is actually from Albert Einstein... "When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes.  When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours that's relativity." It really highlights attitude, situation and focus can affect how Time seems to pass.

Now I have taken a bit of your Time and my Time to talk about Time.  And it is Time I let the dog out as her whimpering is likely due to some pressure making Time drag on for her while the whimpering is finally getting annoying enough for me to take the Time to stop what I am doing and let her out.

So bad luck comes in 3s

If bad luck does truly come in threes as the old adage indicates, I am relieved.  My only hope is that silver linings don't negate or decrement the count in any way.  

Back in January I lost my job...boo hoo, sad for me.  Bad luck number one.  However, I wasn't getting much professional satisfaction there so I wasn't heartbroken (bit of silver creeping in).  Thank the Lord in Heaven, Angie and I had gone through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.  One of the first things they tell you to do when you get the boot is to figure out your "runway", how long will your cash last before you are hosed.  10 minutes - that was all it took; we knew exactly how much we spent, on what, and which expenses could be cut.  Much to my pleasant surprise we had a bit more of a highway than a runway (a thick lining...maybe a double coat on that cloud).  The best part of being laid off in my personal opinion is time with the family - I have walked the kids to and from school most every day for the last quarter.  I have spent hours and hours of time normally wasted facing a computer screen looking at my beautiful wife.  I can take Jake to karate.  I can play basketball with Josh.  On a warm sunny spring day I can make calls about a potential job while sipping tea by the pool. (By now there is a little bit of cloud in the middle of a big ball of silver.)

Cars, the good old reliable target for gremlins, the never fail source of bad luck and bad timing.  Half way to a camping trip with Jake the transmission all but dropped to the ground on my car.  Angie to the rescue in the van that had so many issues we decided last year to not fix anything else and just run it into the ground until we could replace it...oh yeah, we bought two brand new shiny air conditioners for the house and now unemployment...the whole save for a car thing has been a bit behind due to life continuing to happen on a regular basis.  This was bad luck number two but I would give it a compounded factor due to the fact that it was the reliable car not the piece of something or other that broke down.  Silver lining....Angie and I have tremendous family that know no end to their generosity.  The car is fixed and Angie is driving a new vehicle with a wonderful reliability rating (she thinks its cute too).

Bad luck number three isn't about a silver lining - its about a vinyl one, the pool.  While cleaning out the pool I noticed the water level dropping.  Cleaning out the pool this spring has been especially fun as we decided not to cover the pool this winter and just see what it does.  What it does is fill up with leaves and worms and all sorts of nasty decomposing things that have to be mucked out for you to be able to see the bottom of the pool.  Once the mucking was complete, Angie found the source of the leak - a tear about 18" long.  A vinyl repair kit will likely do the job but the liner is aging a bit and at some point will need to be replaced...what fun.  The more immediate issue is I have to get my butt in that freaking freezing cold water.  I don't normally venture into the water until May...and then only for a bit because the boys want to play or some favorite pool toy is in the bottom of the deep end.  Upon emerging from the water it takes an hour or so before the numbness subsides.  Fixing a tear will take a bit of time.  I will need to measure the tear.  I will need to clean the area pretty well. Check the size of the patch.  Try to get the patch in place...add some more sealant while submerged because it is inevitable that some will wash off and not stick well (know this one from experience).  Smooth out all the wrinkles, bubbles etc in the patch.  After all of this I will likely be so cold that my fingers won't work and muscles will start to freeze up.  Angie will have to pull on a rope attached to my waist to drag me over to the edge of the pool and lay me in the sun to hopefully thaw before sundown... in that process I will likely get a sunburn.  I am looking for the silver lining on this one -Angie thinks she has found it - she gets to pick the pattern for the next pool liner.

On a lighter and rather lovely note

This entry is straight out brown-nosing, bragging and some other word starting starting with a "b" expressing the same sentiment that I will have to think of later. My wife - Angie...easily the most wonderful woman on the face of this Earth.  A brief background: she is also a Christian but much more dedicated to studying the Bible and expanding her knowledge than I have been, mother of my two boys, volunteer to the school, church, etc, etc and a few more etc's, cook extraordinaire, artist (mediums: paint, Styrofoam board, and my favorite - cake).  

This extemporaneous exaltation will focus on her art.  Angie's fatal flaw is humility...normally a fatal flaw would be pride but in this case her humility limits the volume of painting she does.  So my prescription for humility is to brag on her endlessly until she gets a big head.  Unfortunately she discounts my compliments due to the fact that I am her husband and "have to" like what she does..not to mention she is skeptical of ulterior motives I may have.

So the first medium mentioned - paint.  While this has the fewest examples of her artistic prowess, it is the most long lasting example and the only one that can be handed down to children and grandchildren etc.  Angie loves to paint and hates to paint.  As long as she has momentum things go wonderfully.  Getting her to start a painting is like figuring out how to bring the mountain to Mohamed.  If she stops mid-stream in a painting - the mountain has mysteriously made it back to its original geographic position and she has doubled her distance from it.  The mere mention of attempting to sell a painting garners me and her art extensive condemnation (even though she has had a number of people have commissioned certain pieces and family members have the freebie orders in queue...and yes I am pushing her to get those going).  All this being said...here are two examples:

 

The first is 3 18"x24" panels that the photo does no justice to:

If you look closely you can see that she painted the sides of the canvas to ensure that there would not be white showing in the gaps between the panels.  While to an artist or critic, that is certainly a requirement if you intend for the painting to be hung without a frame...the amount of time and attention to detail she showed to this slightly less than an inch strip is an example of her insistance on things being done "right".  It also highlights why I could never be an artist.

The second Angie referred to as her "bad Bob Ross imitation".  Frankly I like it, we got it framed and it is hanging just around the corner.  

The second medium foam-board: not the most typical of artistic mediums but certainly Angie's most prolific...  Angie made the fortunate mistake of volunteering to help with the stage sets for vacation Bible school at our church.  Since then she has created Mexican themed villages, Western deserts, science labs, and even a train that stretched across an entire wall and made 3 sets of double doors look like the you are getting on the train.  

What you cannot see on the cacti is that she carved out ruts to create depth for the darker colored lines ... attention to detail again.

Each of the beakers started as a 4'x8' piece of foam-board.  While "simple" from her perspective.. my son standing in the background gives and example of the scale.

On this set...each of the beakers is an individually cut, sanded (yes we sanded the edges of the foam-board to be sure they were smooth and even) and painted.  

These are just a few examples...we have literally had close to 100 4'x8' sheets of foam-board in our garage over the years; each transformed into beautiful, detailed, large scale works of art.

On to the third and most tasty medium: cake!!!  Angie's mom did the most wonderful and horrible thing in the world for her as a child.  Each year for her birthday, Angie's mom slaved away and made beautifully decorated cakes.  In this tradition, Angie blesses us and torments herself multiple times a year to make birthday cakes.  

The first example is proof again that she does not back away from a culinary challenge...Josh asked for her to make a Bakugan cake (replicas of his favorite toy at the time).  One would clearly not be enough to feed everyone at the party so two were in order.  She proceeded to make spherical cakes and rather precisely copy the pattern from the toys onto a round surface....how I have no clue but as you can see...pretty dang cool.

Angie will likely kill me for this one as she will say it is not precise or something like that but she made a tank out of cake...the time she spent making the general form of the cake was nothing in comparison to the untold hours creating a camouflage pattern out of icing.

And yes she does girly cakes too..my niece was up here for her birthday so Angie make a cake...just threw something together.

Jake's birthday is coming up soon...yummy.

More Cake Samples

 

Following Christ vs. Being Religious

I know - start off the blog with religion, politics and grilling methods...three topics not brought up in polite conversation.  Fortunately, polite conversations are not my goal.  They are normally much more boring than what we really think.

Disclaimers first: This post is mainly directed at  those of us who call ourselves "Christians"; I am far from perfect, this applies to me as much as it does to anyone calling themselves a Christian; I am not a theologian nor do I intend this to be preachy (I'm sure I will miss the mark on that goal); I could easily fit a large portion of the stereotype mentioned below... with that said....

If you read through the New Testament, Jesus - Son of God, perfect, etc, gets very mad on a number of occasions.  Look through those episodes and you will notices a trend; he gets ticked at the religious - not the sinners.  He doesn't let the sinners off the hook nor does he tread lightly so as not to hurt their feelings (but that is another post).  Time and again Jesus lashes out at the "Religious Right" (there is that stereotype I was mentioning above).  Turning over the tables in the temple, his most sarcastic and biting parables, his most hard condemnations are all for those that say "how good are we, look how horrible everyone else is".  And yet we have "Christians"today protesting any number of issues, holding signs saying that "God Hates ____s (fill in group of "sinners" here).   

I believe my mother has the best paraphrase for how Jesus looked at sin - hate the sin, love the sinner.  I truly believe that God hates abortion - I DO NOT believe he hates anyone who has had one or performs them.   Jesus showed compassion to the woman at the well - she was a class A sinner then or now.  Jesus didn't skirt the issue that she was sinning but He also didn't degrade her because of it.  Jesus didn't shy away from Zacchaeus (tax collector back then - would look more like a mafia thug shaking down businesses for protection money today); He had dinner with him.  Zacchaeus didn't have to "turn from his evil ways" before Jesus would associate with him.  

To truncate an argument that could take 200 pages...If we call ourselves "Christian", we should really work on showing everyone we come across that Jesus' love applies to them.  Christians, the Religious Right, etc have rightly earned a reputation for being hateful, exclusionary, elitist, and even "not at all like what I think Jesus was like" (paraphrased quote from a friend of mine). So next time you are protesting...add something to your sign..."God hates ___ (insert sin), God loves you - no matter what!". We might just break through much of the animosity that has rightly built up against religion, churches etc.  

I will follow up at some point with my thoughts on goats vs sheep (without the reference point it could sound like a really inappropriate posting topic... for those of you who may not be big Bible readers that is a reference to God separating out actual followers of Christ from those who call themselves Christians but didn't get it).

As an epilogue...for those of you who know and interact with me in real life...I more than realize that I'm not there yet, I have words not always backed up by my actions, there have been a number of times I have not kept the standard espoused above.  First, I am a sinner.  Second, hold me to it - it will help me get better. Third, (if you call yourself a Christian) look in the mirror.

Another Post to Increase the Random Nature and Volume of Content

Even with my limited blog reading I have discovered a few supposed truths; the content needs to not only be good and interesting but needs to have a particular draw.  From what I can tell it needs to be singular in topic and focus (like my wife's favorite blog Cakewrecks - 6 days of the worst cakes you could ever buy with one day devoted to pros that actually got it right); OR - you need a unique montage of seemingly random topics that stream together to expose the personality of the writer that others can identify with.... I am going to try my best to fake the second method.  I will likely write copious amounts of pseudo-planned, seemingly random entries over the next few days to give you something to read...at which point I will hit an inevitable wall and grind to a slower more reasonable pace.  

At some point I will have to write on charcoal vs gas grills in the near future - an "acquaintance" that read my "Food, Wine and me" entry told me to turn in my man-card for using the latter.  I'd have called him an "old friend" but since he told me to turn in my man-card... this cannot go on without a significant rebuttal.