Houdini isn't dead....

.....he was just reincarnated as a goat. Sammy, our older goat, is the more adventurous of the two. Early this week, I was in Roanoke, but Sharon came home to neighbors telling the tale of seeing Sammy walk across their yards, peering in their windows, and then wrestling him back into his pen. Last night, I came home to first spot goat poop on the walk and then see Sammy trotting up my neighbor's yard. We first thought he was escaping by climbing up a wood pile in their pen (which was probably the case the first time), but it looks as if he escaped yesterday by pushing against the chain link and squeezing under. The fence has now been reinforced with tension wire at the bottom, so let's see if that holds back the mystical wonder goat.

As many of you may know, I'm in an unemployed state right now. I won't go into it here, as it is a pretty tense thing between me and my previous employer. However, I have some very good prospects out there, but they are both corporate entities, and they tend to take a long time in the hiring process.

John and I have now spent about 3 quality months together, and it's evident that we've bonded closer in that time. When I'm working full time, I only see him for 30 minutes or less in the morning and maybe 2 hours at night (if I'm lucky). I need to get back to work, but I will miss the time with him. He just turned two, and is growing up waaaaaay too fast!

Sharon has her next doctor's visit Monday, and this is the all-important boy or girl ultrasound! I'll let everyone know!

I'm still alive....

I bet you were starting to wonder, eh?

Not much time for a lengthy blog now, but since I last typed, I've / we've......

1-Been to Florida
2-Been to the beach
3-Quasi-finished the kitchen
4-Assembled a playset for John
5-Created a new pen for the goats
6-Found out some very exciting news
7-Been planning a high school reunion
8-Been planning a 2nd birthday party
9-Adopted a puppy
10-Been searching for a new job (me)
11-Held band camp (Sharon)
12-Been working on my first side design project
13-Started back at work (Sharon)

Let's see....those are the highlights. I'll catch everyone up soon!

I feel like Bob Vila.

We started renovating our kitchen this past weekend (one of the reasons I've been too busy to write for a while - we have been doing lots to prepare). I won't call it a total "gutting," but it was close in some aspects. I'll have to post pictures soon - during the demo, we found 5-6 different wall and ceiling treatments buried, including several "lovely" wallpaper patterns. Essentially, we have rebuilt the ceiling and one wall, and are adding a few new cabinets, countertops, fridge, sink, fixtures, backsplash, and paint.

Completed over the past 3 days - rip out old ceiling and wall, hang new drywall, tape and mud (1st coat), install base cabinets, install countertop substrate (we are installing a marble tile countertop), add 2 new receptacles and one switch, add 5 new lighting fixtures, and rewire 2 receptacles and 1 switch.

To complete - 2nd and 3rd coats of mud, priming and paint, install backer board for countertop, install tile for countertop, install tile backsplash, install wall cabinets and panty, hang pendant lights and seal countertop.

Phew! What are we doing when we are finished? Going to Disneyworld, of course! :)

Arggh!

No, I'm not imitating a pirate. I'm frustrated with my recent string of bad luck.

Our lawnmower wouldn't start after the winter. I took it to a shop in Christiansburg that ripped me off by charging me $28 to tell me that it needed a new carberetor ($130) and that there was nothing else they could do. So, at a friend's suggestion, I took it to a gentlemen in Floyd who is retired and has a small repair business. One week and $25 later, a good cleanout has the lawnmower running like a champ (without a NEW carberetor, mind you). These rip-off artists in Christiansburg will be hearing from me today.

So, I load up the lawnmower in Floyd, and my truck won't start. I get one thing fixed, and another goes bad. Always seems to work that way. So, it took two trucks to get the lawnmower home last night - my truck on top of a tow truck.

Things can only go up from here, right?

Haha.

Happy Friday everyone! I was at Sharon's band retreat Monday, so I technically only had a 4-day workweek this week. What a difference a day makes - the week seemed to fly by! I can't believe it's May already - in 3-4 weeks we will start renovating our kitchen, and in 7 weeks we leave for Florida!

Now, I love comedy and a good joke. I, however, am not one for toilet humor. Leave the fart jokes and what not out - they typically will turn me off of your act pretty quick. However, I did see this bumper sticker on a truck at the park and ride, and I thought it was hilarious.


Don't we all feel like that sometimes? :)

It's Friday!

Seems like the weeks have been flying by, which is a good thing. I'm wearing the "car salesman" Hawaiian shirt today (pale yellow with sage green leaves and darker yellow palm trees) - it's one of my favorites, but maybe just slightly tacky. Sharon actually was surprised that I didn't put John in a Hawaiian shirt this morning (he has two) - he participated last week :) What does your Hawaiian shirt look like?

This weekend looks to be beautiful, which is a GREAT thing. I think Sharon is attending an event in Roanoke tomorrow, so perhaps the little monster and I will take a good bike ride.

I'm a little nervous - Sharon is conduction a spring retreat for all of her band kids this weekend (grades 6-12) and has invited various industry "professionals" to come and present seminars, workshops, and masterclasses. She has musicians from the Roanoke Symphony, ensembles from Radford University and Virginia Tech, and students from both universities coming - and me. I was asked early on, at the suggestion of a Tech professor, to give a seminar on leadership. Those who know me know that I love to talk and be in front of people, doing such on many previous occasions. However, I've never had to put a 90-minute seminar together before for young students, so it should be interesting - wish me luck! If you have any important leadership ideas or tips, feel free to email them to me!

Felix Felicis...please!

For the non-Harry Potter nerds out there, that would be a bottle of luck potion, of which I am in dire need right now. I can't remember a more stressful or unlucky period in my recent (or total) memory.

Let's see.....both personal and work computers got hit with the conflicker worm and I've had to reformat both. I've got a cat who is spraying all over the house. I've got a rat in the basement that is uncatchable. I've got a 2-year old lawnmower that won't start. I've got a high school reunion to plan that I don't have time to devote to. On top of all of this, I have a job for which I haven't been paid now for 1 MONTH.

I've eluded to it before, but I am in a dire search for a new job. I'm still employed (apparently for free), but the recession has hit us extremely hard, and the company is running on fumes. I've been getting my paychecks typically two weeks late, and now I'm due two checks. Pretty hard to deal with when you have a little one and you live check to check as it is. The really bad thing is that there are virtually NO open jobs out there right now. I might have to resort to pulling out my CDL and cruising around on the BT again!

So, I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer here, but like many others in this crisis, I could use some extra prayers right now. Hopefully something will break soon!

And hopefully that rat will meet his swift death.

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 75% Iron Man 70% Green Lantern 65% Hulk 60% The Flash 60% Superman 55% Robin 45% Supergirl 45% Catwoman 40% Wonder Woman 35% Batman 15%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Uhhh.....hmm....

Sharon had given me several candy bars on my birthday, and a "Hershey's Skor" bar was one of them. I've never had one before.

I was waiting for the bus this morning, and was looking through the ingredients list (don't know why, so don't ask). In the ingredients list for "milk chocolate" is "nonfat milk," immediately followed by "milk fat."

Umm....I'm sure there is a scientific reason for this, but.....what?!

Advances in medical science....

....seem to be lagging in certain areas!

Case in point: I had to go for my yearly eye exam this morning, and the optometrist dialated my eyes for the exam. This was at 10:15 a.m. It is now 1:45, my eyes are still dialated, and I'm staring at a fuzzy computer screen.

My question: if medical science can create drops to dialate my eyes, why can't they create drops to un-dialate them when the good doctor is done?

Due to the fuzzy screen, it should be really interesting to review my drawings once my vision is clear again ;)