Yeah, I know, it sounds like a prison sentence. For many women and men, breast cancer can be just that. This weekend someone I love, Wife, walked sixty miles to raise money and awareness to help overcome this disease. It was her second time walking.
WOW, Tuesday night was my first time ever! Speaking at a school board meeting that is! Wife and I attended the meeting because the board is proposing a major rezoning that would impact our kids. I never intended to speak at the meeting, but after much prompting from the Wife, and knowing I would have the cooler head, I took the podium. I must say that my speech was a little bit scattered and not as focused as I would have preferred, but it was extemperaneous. Which plays to my strong suit. Also, it recieved several rounds of applause. PLUS, after the meeting, I pulled a couple of hot soccer moms at Applebee’s that attended the meeting. Wife loved it! Yup, that’s me. Involved parent. Rockstar.
Only two weeks until vacation and we visit the Great White North. I can’t wait to go and the kids are getting geeked up, too. I just hope Toronto and Montreal are kid friendly enough. We have some sights we know we will hit in Toronto, and Montreal will have their big festival going on while we are there, so it should be good. The Hockey Hall of Fame will be a top priority. My son is really getting into learning about the Great One. Taking him to see “99″ in the hall will be cool.
Wife and I spent this past weekend away from the kids for our anniversary. We went to the Port Orleans Resort at Disney which is where we spent our honeymoon. AWW! We had dinner Friday night at Victoria & Albert’s at the Grand Floridian. It was very, very, very nice. Once every ten years ni$$$$e.
I was in the dog house on Saturday. I took my to an open ice skating session, and while I was there, bought my own pair of hockey skates. Wife was none to pleased. Now, all I need is a helmet, stick and gloves and I’ll be allowed to take my son to parent/player skate and shoots. That way he can work on his stick handling.
With spring in the air, and the Masters right around the corner, I’ve got the itch to pull out the golf clubs and start hacking again. My son has been after me to go to the driving range because I haven’t taken him in awhile. I think on my next day off, we will have to go hit some balls. The little guy has his own set of clubs even!
When people talk about money, you hear things like, “I’m a spender.” Or, “I’m a saver.” I think I’m a little bit of both. I was a saver before getting married, and even had some stock from my company tucked away for a rainy day. Once my wife and I needed a house and had kids though, my rainy day had come. It was nice to know when we shopped for mortgages that we had a down payment thanks to that stock I had purchased. I know that not everyone out looking at loans has a down payment, and it made a difference for us in the rate and terms that we got. Once the mortgage lender determined that all of our current accounts were in order we were off shopping for curtains and home insurance.
That was 4 or 5 moves ago, and thanks to the equity we built up in our last home, we were able to build a new home, which we moved into last May. One of the best pieces of debt advice we got was to not be afraid of using our credit cards, as long as we used them wisely. By that I mean that a little debt is good, as long as you pay it off in a timely fashion. Lenders like to see that you’ve used credit wisely and paid off debts in advance. Instead of closing old accounts, we paid them off and left them open, to show that we have willpower too.
As a parent, I hope that my wife and I never had to think about our kids and drug addiction. I hope that we’re instilling values in them now that will help them to make the right choice, when they’re faced with such a choice. There’s some level of comfort in knowing that if you have a child or family member who needs drug rehab that there are many places to turn too - one such place being this directory of drug rehab facilities. You can find a place that shares your vision, and the needs of your child or family member. You can also get help in finding a program covered by your insurance - a big consideration for most of us.
Saturday morning was family cleaning time. I used a floor cleaner I have never used before, Murphy’s Oil Soap. I don’t mean to sound fag, but I loved the way it cleaned our floor and the way the floor felt after mopping it. Good stuff, almost wants to make me mop again.
After that, I met a couple of dads this weekend from a local moms group. Wife hosted a little afternoon get together and the husbands came. They seemed like a pretty good group of guys. We’ll probably wind up playing cards or golfing in the near future. They all want to do something that involves beer and not the wives.
Have you ever had trouble with school teachers or administrators and getting straight answers from them. I had to talk to my son’s teacher and I just felt like I was talking in circles trying to get answers. Also, it’s clear teachers, or at least this teacher, are not used to being held accountable. Too bad. In my line of work, I am used to holding people accountable as well as being held accountable for my performance. I have no problem applying that principle to the education system. Problem with the education system is, the teachers and administrators like to have standards for students, however, they resent standards being applied to them. Too damn bad!