It's been quite a year...

A year ago...

-I was making twice as much money as I do now

-I did not have a Bachelor's degree

-I was in my 17th year of retail management

-I had a total of 3 days off from Thanksgiving to Christmas

-My mother was in hospice & expected to not survive the year

This past year I realized my dream of getting out of retail management & doing something that I already love immensely...teaching. It has been a scary career move that I still question in the wee hours of the morning, not for happiness (I am) but for the strain & risk to my family.

Simply put...I work twice as hard for half the money now...but my perks included the last two weeks off with my family & that is a better than even trade...at least for me!!

As I review the many changes my family & I have experienced I take comfort in the words of Henry Commager, an American Historian of last century...

"Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change. Education is essential to change, for education creates both new wants and the ability to satisfy them."

My change in life began with, involves, & will conclude some day with education. This year alone I must pass my educator certification exams, complete my Master's, & begin teaching the 6th grade in the fall.

It should be another interesting year...

Wildcard Weekend!

My Colts have secured the #5 seed and will travel to San Diego this week to play our nemisis the Chargers on Saturday. I hope my boys can get it done...

Man's Work

She looks impressed...

I seriously underestimated the down-side of teaching & having 2 weeks off for Christmas...the honey-dos!! Last Saturday I worked on the yard all day & felt like a wet noodle by the end of the day! Luckily I was able to recover on Sunday by going to church all day...the church of the NFL!!

Anyway...I was like Paul Bunyan all day...ripping out 5 trees (size does matter!!) & cleaning up the mess. Next up...get rid of the grass so we can put in gravel...can't wait!!

Rock band

Momma is enjoying her superb vocal efforts!

Look at Yesenia's concentration!

Tammy takes a break for the camera...

The first game my kids requested for our new PS3 was Rock Band 2...and Yesenia's ears have not been the same!! As I write this my girls are drumming, strumming, & signing their hearts out...even the dogs have left the room!

My fatal mistake was getting this game for the PS3 which is located in the living room & my big-screen. I have been forced to watch TV in my bedroom...Daddy's not happy!

Christmas Dinner

My mom & dad hosted dinner this year & it was an awesome dinner. Yesenia & I really enjoyed being able to have a great family dinner without all the work & clean-up. Mom & dad did a fantastic job and the ham was scrumptious. It was really nice to have mom feeling so well & able to spend time with us. Reflecting on last year I realize that so much has changed for the better...good times!!

Christmas

We had a nice holiday again this year. Steve & Corey came over to share the day as always & we had fun opening the presents. The girls talked us into opening the presents on Christmas Eve & it was fun to "mix it up". We splurged (what recession?!) & got a PS3 & Wii this year...more on those later!

All in all...a great day & very relaxing holiday since I didn't have to work at all last week!!

My two cents...

http://www.barefootsworld.net/motherasked.html


I got an email with the above poem from an acquaintance the other day.

These type of emails really piss me off...so I wrote him an email that went like this...

What do you mean by support? Support the actual troops with care packages, our love & thanks for being in harm’s way? Or do you mean support the war in Iraq in general?

The first meaning is absolutely correct. Our troops make great sacrifices to protect us and they are much finer men & women than I could ever hope to be. I think it is cowardly to live in comfort & peace and slander those soldiers that stand upon the wall providing us those freedoms.

I assume that the creator (& all of the people that forward it) of this message mean the second for one simple reason…those acts of cowardice are very rare in today’s society. What the war protesters did to returning vets in Vietnam was unequivocally wrong and society as a whole has recognized that…welcome home events for our troops today are peaceful and joyous…rightfully so.

Are their exceptions? Absolutely. There are outliers on both sides. I have received emails arguing to just nuke the Middle East & get it over with…obviously not an option God would favor.

I normally do not respond to these types of emails…just trash them and move on. However, as we start a new direction in American foreign policy (I’ll leave it to the individual to decide the wisdom of the direction!) I wanted to finally get this off my chest.

Many of…OK, probably most…of you that read this will disagree with my reasoning and opinions. That’s fine…I respect you for that and I am glad that we live in a country where we can disagree publicly without censorship.

An interesting note…the email shows 9 US Presidents who had American troops involved in major combat operations (I have no idea why Clinton is there? Somalia? Why him & not Reagan [Granada]? Curious)…of those I can recall only our current President & Johnson facing major (or any) opposition to the war we were involved in during their terms.
I find it interesting because those two wars are the ONLY ones we started…

Make no mistake...the troops did not choose to invade Iraq...our civilian leadership at the time did. Simply put…I can disagree with a war and still support the troops.

Please STOP implying that I am less of an American than you because I do not support a war that we are fighting!!

I've been lazy...

After the end of my fall Master's courses last week I realized that the blog has been neglected...sorry. I uploaded a couple of posts I had saved but not published...it took me awhile to get the photos uploaded.

Anyway...here are a few shots of our foggy morning the other day.

I know, I know...only someone in Yuma, Arizona would actually take photos of fog!! What can I say...it was a long summer....

My Colts!!

I haven't mentioned my Colts much in my blog...they weren't exactly lighting up the NFL early in the season...but they are now 9-4 and should make the playoffs. They will have to go the long road as a wildcard but you never know...another Super Bowl win?!

Here's hoping...

Stephanie's Birthday

The day after Thanksgiving we had a birthday party for Stephanie...she's 19 now. We had mostly family over and it was alot of fun. My buddy Loren came by & we played drinking games...Kings, Bitches & Beer Pong.

I haven't played drinking games since high school but it was actually fun.

Of course...no one under 21 consumed alcoholic beverages!!

Thanksgiving

We had mom & dad over along with Steve & Corey for Thanksgiving. It was a great day with the family and I really enjoyed it. Tammy & I went to the store the day before & got all the syupplies in the morning. We thenm baked all the pies & stuffing that afternoon. Tammy wants to be a chef when she grows up (she's really going to be a lawyer) & had a blast helping Yesenia & I in the kitchen .

This was the first holiday I didn't have to work since I left high school & it was a special time for me. The pay for teaching is lousy but this holiday made up for it!

The Fan

Now that I have all this spare time since I am a teacher my wife has been gently nudging me to make a dent in my impressive list of honey-do's. Therefore, the other day I dutifully attempted to replace the old & broken ceiling fan in the living room with the sleek & high-powered version pictured above.

The catch was that when I had assembled, mounted, and rewired the new beauty it did nothing when I flipped the switch. So I left it hanging & proudly moved the fan from the "to be completed" list to the "practically finished" list and went to the store to get some beer for a dinner guest coming over that night.

The guest was a hilarious guy named Loren. Loren replaced me at Sports Authority in the role of store manager when I made my escape from retail. He was transferred from Phoenix for a 2-year (yeah right;-) stint here in the boonies. Being a young unmarried man from the big city, Loren finds himself quite bored here in Yuma. The nature of the beast in retail dictates that he can't really hang out with his co-workers so we get together now & then for drinks.

After a delightful dinner prepared by my better half we were sitting in the living room having a beer when Loren hinted that he was hot & the fan should be on. My lovely wife mentioned that the beautiful fan above us was inoperable despite my best efforts.

Lo & behold! Loren is a handyman that loves to work on these type of jobs. You can imagine where it went from there...I held the fan like an ox while superman rewired the fan & found a few minor errors I had made on the installation and before I could yell asshole!! he had my new fan working wonderfully.

Did I mention that Loren is coming over for Thanksgiving? I can't wait...

Equality

The recent ballot initiatives around the nation that defined marriage as between one man & one woman passed in many states, even liberal California.

I find this very disturbing. Why should a man or woman be denied the same rights as any other simply because they are physically & emotionally attracted to the same sex? The religious establishments that provide support & funding for these ballot initiatives are doing a disservice to their God, in my opinion. How could a benevolent God turn away from his creations?

I am not condoning the actions of rioters or people that hurt others...although I understand their frustration...this type of behavior is unacceptable & ultimately hurts in the court of public opinion.

My brother has battled this discrimination his entire life. In the interest of full disclosure, I have not always been so supportive of gay rights. I thought they should have them but getting those rights was their problem, not mine. Thanks to the Bush presidency, I now realize that it is every one's responsibility to make sure that all Americans are treated equally.

How we can take away rights from individuals in modern America is beyond me.

I hope that some day we can read the words...that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...without a wink...

A New Addition

We added a new member of the family a couple of nights ago. My nephew Ryan is being deployed to Afghanistan for a year and he left his rather large golden Labrador, Flaco, with his father here in Yuma for the deployment.

We took Flaco & Sasha on a few play dates (he's male...she's female...you get the idea) & they really got along well. Sasha is a dominant German Shepard that usually overpowers dogs that meet her in a friendly, come here so I can give you an Indian rub kinda way but Flaco is so big & good natured that she treats him as an equal.

Long story short...Flaco has joined our family & now we have 2 extremely large dogs...the evening walks are more of a workout than I'd like!

This is why I switched jobs

I sit here in my home office and realize that I have a good life. I switched careers in June of this year. I had worked retail for the past 17+ years and decidied I wanted to enjoy what I did for a living! So...I used my new bachelor's degree to land a teaching job at an elementary school while I work on my Masters in Education.

The catch is that I now earn almost 60% less than I did in retail management. Needless to say...we live a frugal lifestyle!

I say all that to say this: This Thanksgiving holiday will be the first time ever that I will spend the day before, the day of, & the day after Thanksgiving entirely with my family. I usually work 12 hour days this entire week in preparation for the holiday season...I do not miss those days!!

As I have looked at my meager paycheck the last few months I have consoled myself with the thought of this coming week...a time of relaxation and fun with my lovely ladies!!

The lack of pay is worth it!

Crazy Hair day

A few weeks ago we had our Red Ribbon (say not to drugs) week at school. One of the days was crazy hair day...although we did not get a photo of my crazy hair...it was the best one by far...here are photos of Tammy & Yesenia.