Wow, I have been lax or busy depending on how you look at it.

Christmas eve came and went. I drank a lot, fell asleep on the living room floor. Magically, when I woke up all my guests were gone!

Christmas was nice as usual. Kids got a load of stuff, I think Tracy was happy with her coat. I got a game a shirt,sweats and a new down vest.

Mom's house was nice again too - real relaxed, which is good because, while not hungover, I did feel extremely fat. Of course I ate too much there and left me with a case of Jingle Bowels.

Did a bunch of running around on Saturday, exchanging and returning. Then off to the Schroeder's for our final Christmas event of 2009. Nice relaxing, great lasagna, enjoyable time with friends. That last sentence was horribly written, but you know what I mean.

A few days left of light work and then New Years eve.

The JV team just keeps on keeping on. Another nice win to go 6-2 on the season. Joel played most of the game it was nice to see. I keep giving hime pointers and he says "I did do that" I laugh because he must think he did - I need to tape him and show him.

Anyway he had 5 points to go along with the 25+ minutes.

The grouting of the bathroom is DONE! So close now I can finally see the end.

Yes it is coming to an end. I actually started grouting the bathroom. All done except the ceiling. Took longer to clean the thinset then actually grout the walls. I may get it done before Christmas. Ha.

Otherwise a relative boring few vacation days. Had Brookes birthday party yesterday. Fixed my sisters computer.

Bought some of those Williams-Sonoma frozen croissants and made some today. Underwhelmed by the size frozen. Wondered if I got gyped. Let thrm thaw and rise the requisite 9 hrs or so and then but them in the oven. 6 filled the cookie sheet they were awesome.

Save some for Christmas morning. On to the next week - final week to Christmas.

Virtual Thursday

So that is when you have off Thursday and Friday - you get to move your week up a few days. Tomorrow will be Virtual Friday.

Going to try to get the snowboard to the shop today. Hopefully getting in some runs this week or next. Excited to get out there. I have a lot of mental things I need to work out. Cheaper than therapy. I just wish the runs were longer. Although lift time can be very solitaire as well.

Anyway the big news is Mackenzie got a phone last week. I hemmed and hawed and finally broke down. She is doing too much after school and I need to be connected with her. Ride times coordinating with Joel and the car and everything else. 2 weeks ago I ran late picking her up, is just an example.

The best part is seeing her face when we told her she could get a phone. I think I had to put sunglasses on. We went to the phone store, just her and I. Picked out a phone. (Samsung Solstice - a very nice touch screen phone, free after rebate). Got a pink skin and set her up. within minutes she was entering contacts etc. I told her, like I tell her brother, this is a big test to see if she can behave responsibly with this phone. So far so good. Although some people are just contacting her way too early on weekends. So we set new rules as we go. This is a great bargaining chip as well. Do right you keep it, mess up I take it. Then it only gets used when you need it.

So far I have more cat pictures on that phone than I care to see.

Had a really nice time with the family at Eagans and the Pabst Theater on Friday night. Well Joel opted for basketball and Grandma took his place. Dinner was pretty good and the show was excellent. Our seats wer really good too. Center stage 12 rows back. Just phenomenal.

Updates from Joel is that JV won again and F, V both lost. That makes JV 5-1. Not bad And he got mucho playing time. 10 + minutes. That's great.

Breakfast with Santa this morning was nice to get together for breakfast.

Well we got home to go get a christmas tree. In and out in 15 minutes, just the way I like it. Going to use the picture we took for our Christmas cards.
Hit the walk and driveway with the snow blower to clean up. I caught some lights in the auger and well, I lost a set of net lights. Oh well. the tree is in and up - waiting for decorations tomorrow.

Snow day yesterday, cold day today. I had a bunch of things to say but can't remember anything. Busy weekend, Dinner, Christmas Carol at the Rep and then Breakfast with Santa on Saturday.

Another weekend gone. Shopped till I dropped on Saturday. I think Tracy and I hit 13 different stops (2 for eats) and that includes a mall. All in all a nice day and we didn't want to kill each other. :D.

quick observation - people, if you send a xmas list to people expecting them to get you something off that list...3 weeks before Christmas. Don't buy it for yourself before the 25th. Just sayin'.

Sunday we did a whole lot of nothing and then went to the Kewaskum Christmas parade in the evening. Mackenzie was in it for the second time with the Girl Scout troop. The picture did not turn out as well as I thought. But it was nice.

Went home and had grilled cheese samaches and soup.

Now off to figure out where to burn my last 4 vacation days for this year.

Dog Days

You've heard of the dog days of summer. Well we officially have the dog days of winter. This is the time of the year where Baily flourishes. Cold, below freezing temps. Fell asleep outside and got snow on him. He's back out today. I cannot imagine how hot he must be during the summer.

21 days to Christmas and what started out with me being in the spirit is slowly tapering to my normal self.

Joel had a game yesterday, All three levels beat Campbellsport. That is very rare. Joel had limited playing time again. I told him talk to the coach, find out what he needs to work on. I mean from 28 minutes a game last year to 3 minutes a game and not even getting in the game on 2 occasions, there has got to be something lacking. Probably agression. He's smart, sees the court, makes plays but just doesn't get as involved. He needs to play with the intensity he played summer ball. Banging, taking control, being confident. Something he won't learn from me.

Snow.Snow.Snow. Lets get this season of snowboarding in and then get some surgery for this neck.

Bad day. Work was slow, sitting in my office sun streaming in all nice and warm. I forgot to get Kiki at school after intramural's. So much so to think to myself, I wonder where she is. "Oh Shit I was supposed to get her", luckily it was only 10 minutes after I was supposed to get her. Needless to say she was the last kid there. Ugh.

Then I go to drop the car off for Joel at school (so he has it for coming home from his basketball game). Halfway to FonDuLac - I realize I left my phone in the other car. Not so bad. We stop at the ATM to get some money to get into the game. Some punk starts approaching me as I was getting my money and I think, really? He's just looking for cigarettes. Get in the car and drive to the game. Mackenzie asks as we drive away, do you know that guy, he's waving to you. This was the guy behind me at the ATM. I said no.

Mind you Joel has seen limited playing time this year. New coaches so he has to show up all the time to prove it, again. So he has started practicing with a vengeance. It payed off this game. However, because we were running late by the time Tracy gets home, drop the car off, get money, the game has started. Just in time to pay the door and hear - "Joel Turk for Threeeee". Tracy and I look at each other and frown and laugh at the same time. Get to the bleachers and watch the game. A thrilling OT win 51-49 over Winnebago Lutheran.

We watch 3 quarters of the varsity game and leave to head home. By the time we get home it will be 10, on a school night. Late for Kiki.

Just about through Fondy and I realize we need gas. Quick pull into a gas station and see a mini van. 1994 Quest mind you, just like the one we had, same color, same wheels, same rusted hitch. quite a bit worse for wear, rust in the wheel wells etc but still running. It had to be our van, there were very few of them when it was new and even fewer now. To have the exact same 2" hitch and tow bar I left in it, (cause it had rusted tight) is just too coincidental. To think I got $1500.00 trade on that in 2003.

Anyway, I reach into my pocket, dig out my wallet. Look for the familiar debit card, that I no longer see, or feel in any pocket. Flash back to: "Do we know that guy, he's waving at you" I left my card in the ATM, damn punk asking for cigs completely knocked me off my game.

Man what a day.