2 more weeks...and 9 more days...confused?

Two more weeks till my next Michigan visit, and I am soooo excited and anxious for it! I miss everyone so much, and cannot wait to see all the nieces and nephlets and hug and love on them and hear their voices and laughter.

And 9 more days of radiation treatment and I am done with THAT crap. I will be ordering a margarita at P&Cs 2 weeks from tomorrow in celebration.

2 quick little notes for today -

1) I have a GPS and I named her Gretel. Mom got a kick out of that when she "met" Gretel, and also fell in love with her when we drove up to Boyne last July. So today when Mom picked up her rental car in Tampa, she called me all excited because the car had a GPS and she used it and loved it. She named it...Zelda.

2) I have never been a fan of meatloaf. It's a big loaf of ground beef with a bunch of stuff mixed in...bleah. Never cottoned to it, no matter whose recipe it was or how great they claimed it to be. Well Brendan made meatloaf the other day...and I couldn't believe my ears when I told him it was a meal I very much wanted him to make again. It was SOOOOO good. He is a genius in the kitchen. I shake my head every day (and every meal) and how lucky I am to be someone who HATES cooking and stinks at it, who ended up with a guy who loves cooking and is so amazing at it. Whoda thunk it?

Love and miss you all and cannot WAIT to see you in 2 weeks!

Dzie za picacz?

For all you who do not understand the native tongue... "Where should I write this down?" (Meaning a momentous event has occured)

AD is now blogging.... who would have thunk? Welcome to the page, AD.

And now Mom is sitting at the airport, on her way to Tampa. She will return on Monday. I will miss her a ton. Poor sPike, I will probably be bugging him to go for a walk all the time just to get out and do something.. He will probably start hiding on me under the beds.

After today, only 14 more days to go of the diet. P & C's seems like a nice way to celebrate. I can taste those cheese enchiladas now.

emails.....now blogs.....what next?

Just when you guys get me to look at my email more often.......Anyways, I can't promise I'll read and/or write everyday.....

Dad...I have a little job Thursday so maybe I'll see you Friday.....

No, luck on the chair part yet.....will keep you posted.

Wednesday...

... and how did it ever get to be pronounced "wends-day?"
Anyway, it is the 10th day of my diet. After today, 15 days to go and then I will get on the scale to see if there is any damage or if it was all worth it. I am shooting for 15 pounds but will settle for 10.

sPike seems to be over his malady of being listless and throwing up for those few days. Pretty much his own self again. I don't think he had the swine flu... more like the mongrel flu.

Nothing much going on here today... maybe a trip to the post office to ship off the moo-juice lotion to Trilby... Meems day to pick up the girls from school and deliver them to Goggie's.

And then, Scarlet, tomorrow is another day.

BE GENTLE...IT'S MY FIRST TIME

And I thought dad was the dinosaur. Here I am, writing my first blog, as it is, in the world of computers, cable, telecom, and teleportation...ok, so the last is a bit ahead of myself. My caveat at this time, is forgive me if I go astray. I happen to have Big Edburger sitting next to me playing on the other computer, and he doesn't play without talking, arguing, and yelling at the computer. I swear he and Tom are so much alike. The other morning, Jim sat in my lap for 45 mins, almost dead to the world, just watching tv after he woke. Though I could do nothing, compared to when Tom woke, and I could get up, my ears were at peace. Tom didn't require me to sit with him, but the assault of, "hey dad...." was unrelenting. This included several, "hey dad...oh, I forgot." Then Billy, went with me in the car to and from Grammy's on Sunday; just him and I. I don't think there were a total of 5 sentences between us the whole time.

That aside, Cabo it wasn't here, but excitement it was. We had 86 on one or two days, and plenty of water...without the ocean. Katie wouldn't go near that thing, anyway. As you can see here, the kids thoroughly enjoyed it. And our puddle area across the street was twice as deep. My trench area sunk a couple of inches here and there and has to be added to, but the drain itself did what it was meant to do. I don't know how much Bob's Landscaping would charge, but to me it was worth my 50 hours of back breaking labor to witness the water go down my pipe like flushing a toilet, and to be able to walk into a dry garage day after day. Enough blah blah for now. Welcome home Goonboy! We'll keep that in mind for my 50th...how's the weather in December?

Way to go Boo... Glad you are back safe and sound. and nice to see you join the contributors to the site. Welcome

Ahhhhhhh Cabo

Well my friends, we are back to the great, dreary state we call Michigan. Weather was 90 and Sunny every day with a light wafting breeze coming from the Sea of Cortez. Didn't spend a lot of time doing much except trying to relax. Bar, chair, beach, bar, chair, pool, maybe a buffet worked in. Not Jimmy...Food.

Went downtown ....Spent my Birthday dinner at Mi Casa (eggcellent choice Senorita Kirsten). Food was awesome....I had the Sea Bass....Yes, it was angry. Jill pulled a bday trick and got the song, cake and clowns to come by the table. Then we went on to Cabo Wabo and drank the rest of the evening whilst listening to the band. Good times.....ask Jill about her Hurricane...Her memory faded after that point ;>

Saturday was spent at Arch Rock and Playa del Armor (Lovers Beach). Really cool place, part of a National Reserve, but open to the public. We spent about 3 hours there, swimming in the ocean, laying out, etc. The water taxis were a bit suspect because of the rough surf. You basically have to jump on the boat as it noses into the sand, before the next wave comes through. Some dudes were on the opposite side (Pacific Side) boogie boarding in the surf. It was a little outrageous for me 10ft breaks on the waves, but not really good surfing. Rise was too fast and curl crashed really quick.

Had a nice massage on Sunday. let me say this; Those people know how to relax you. I almost fell asleep twice and once could have sworn I was at the cottage on the porch. Heard the gentle whine of the jetski and the lapping of waves. A little background music in the distance. It was great.

Overall the trip was awesome. Didn't turn the TV on once. Had plenty to do, drink and eat. Flight home was a bit dicey around DFW. Thunderstorms caused some turbulance during landing and then leaving again. But overall, it was okay. Swine Flu was a non-event on the Western side of the country. Amazing how big of a deal it was for everyone up here.

More details to come when we see you, but we had fun. Missed the girls a lot, but we needed the break. Oh well, back to the grind. Try to lose the 5 lbs of weight I gained from all the "sodas" and food.

And the rain, rain, rain came down down down....

And only 46 degrees right now... a far cry from the last few days.

St. John Hospital and Blue Cross just cannot get together. I get this bill for blood work from St. John from Jan, 2007 for $364 and Blue Cross says they took care of it and I owe nothing, but I still get these threatening letters from St. John... they will turn it over to credit collection... I will have a stain on my credit.... etc., etc. Ohhhh, I'm so scared. You would think these two entities could talk over the telephone and straighten this out. Well, anyone sues me and I will counterclaim and ask for punitive damages to prevent companies from doing this in the future. I remember from my days of law practice, this happens all too often. These companies have this agreement with the insurance company but then both entities put the patient in the middle and expect him to settle the differences. How dumb.

A warning to all. Internet Explorer 8 really stinks... really slows down the computer. do not upgrade to it. If it does automatically, uninstall it. Explorer 7 will be reinstalled. Beware the false prophets of Microsoft.

Another day into the marathon diet... 15 more days to go.... I am starving.....

Out of my mind on a monday moaning....

I have to credit that opening to a former columnist for the Detroit Free Press, Bob Talbot. Although, in all fairness, it really doesn't apply to me, only to those working stiffs out there. I have found that once you retire, you look forward to Mondays and the rest of the week because then you can get back to your normal fun routine. Weekends tend to be a bit... disruptive.... and dissheveled. (Are somethings "sheveled?")

As of the close of yesterday, I have now gotten in a full week on my diet. My doctor is a stickler for keeping weight at a constant level so the last time I saw him in January, he said to lose 10 pounds by the July visit. We shall see. I am planning are doing another 2 1/2 weeks... just until Kirsten comes to town, cause then we have to go to my favorite Mexican place, Pancho and Cisco's for my cheese enchiladas, and they are definitely not on the diet menu.

Going up to 85 here today again. I wish the weather would diet and lose about 10 degrees.

Nice to see Kirsten join me as a contributor to this site. It was a heavy burden for me to carry alone.

Success!

Hiccups here and there, but it looks like I am finally registered on tHe sPike rEport as a "contributor", not merely a "follower"...which is good since I have never been happy just being a follower.

Wondering if Boo and Dani are wearing surgical masks in Cabo so they don't catch the Swine Flu and come home "oinking." Fingers crossed.

Had a lovely, relaxing weekend here in Florida. Had to get up early yesterday (Saturday) to be at work at 7am because it was our annual Comcast Cares day where we go down to volunteer at Give Kids the World. I've volunteered in the past...this year was my turn to act as producer so we could shoot everyone volunteering and then make a video of it to air at our All-Hands Company Meeting in May. Golf Channel even sponsored a new villa that was built down there...unfortunately, we technically haven't yet raised all the money that was needed to build it...so hopefully we can do that in the next 18 months so our villa doesn't get foreclosed and the poor, sick children kicked to the curb.

Today ran another personal 5K and it felt great. And only 2 1/2 more weeks of radiation left. I have a rather curious light sunburn on that particular area. Ah well, it will fade eventually.

Love to all Sheens, big and small, and hope your weekends were wonderful too!

Sunday morning

I sent out the necessary stuff last night for all sheens to be authors in this blog. That way, you stuff looks like original posts and you can put up pictures, just like me. Give it a whirl.

Sunday morning is nice for I get to see if I can still do the NY Times crossword. The day I cannot, I will know that I am slipping into dementia.

Girls go to Goggie's this afternoon, Fred and Kate and the boys come over for their much anticipated Sunday visit, after which a hush comes to the old folks home once again

The Bobsey Twins are here

Molly and Polly, alias Natalie and Nicole, have arrived yesterday after school to spend some time with us while their parents are in baja california. They are a trip. Now... saturday 11 am, they are out with Nana visiting Nana's friend, TK, at her farm in Richmond. They both have soccer games today... the first of the season... so guess where I will be going.

I felt like a deadbeat...

Went to charge the food purchased at Kroger's today and was taken aback when my card came back "Not Authorized". Tried it several times.... same thing. Pulled out a different credit card and sneered back at the cash register lady... I was shocked when it, too came back as not authorized... Now the lady really looked askance at me. I suspect she was about to call the manager or start snipping up my cards. I knew I did not have enough cash on me to pay for the $87 with of stuff. One last chance. Both those cards were Master Cards... different banks,though, so I pulled out my last all purposed credit card... the one I really don't like but have it because its all Costco uses.... American Express. Zip, zip.... transaction approved. Now I was suspicious of possibly my identity has been stolen and my cards maxed out. Went home and went on line and found both bank balances normal. Called one of the banks and found nothing unusual with my card. Makes me think I should shit can the one master card and get a visa card just for variety when one doesn't work. Felt like Richard Nixon.... "I am not a crook!"

Never piss off the guy who owns a backhoe...

I think I am too old for this new technology... My head hurts from all this thinking without a nap.

Trouble getting started here.

It is Thursday. I am posting as a comment just to show Kirsten that it works. Mom is out with the Ed man who is over for the day. After their visits to the Humane Society to feed the animals, they will probably go to the Lakeside mall... walk around there and then go to lunch. I will man the computer and take phone messages for Mom from her Red Hat friends who are all coming to the local Bunco Game hosted at our house tonight. Where shall I hide?

the Sheen Family Blog

Inauguration Day. There should be a spell checker here for the likes of me. I had to open Outlook and type in 'inaugeration" to get the correct spelling