Baby, it's cold outside...

As I write this, it is a balmy -8 degrees right now with a wind chill of -29. Gotta love Illinois' winters! Just two weeks ago it was 52! We've got about 6' of that fluffy white crap called snow on the ground. Big storm on Friday. At least on Saturday it was about 27 which gave me a chance to really get my driveway good and clean.

Now for the fun part! We get to do some more Xmas shopping today! Most of it is done but there are still one or two to buy for. Gift cards, anyone? Can't think of a single thing to get for 'em. Kristofer wants one of those new iTouch thingys. Not sure I'm willing to part with that kind of money right now. We're thinking of going to Best Buy to check 'em out just the same.

Now I already mentioned that the wife and I don't usually buy presents for each other, but she really needs a new monitor for her PC. It's worth the investment since she usually stays up to the wee hours of the morning playing poker online (not for cash).

Got the presents from Sis. She didn't wrap them so they got opened early! Now we have two soup tureens and no soup! Time to visit www.foodnetwork.com.

Good News!

Lot of good news to report today.
First, let me explain, I have like 14 different email accounts spread all over the web. I don't always check them regularly. While trying to figure out this "tagging" thing my sister mentioned on her blog, I figured I check my google email. Aunt Pat sent me a message that Uncle Ronnie was/is/did have surgery yesterday.

So I called and talked to Cindy (my cousin) and the surgery went well. They removed all the cancerous tissue. He has to stay in the hospital for the next ten days until he's able to eat on his own. Right now, he's on a feeding tube, but doing well.

Also on Tuesday, my first day back to work (even though I stll felt like poo), as I was going thru my email, here's an announcement about this years healthcare benefits. "Here it comes", I thought. First they freeze our wages and now they'll probably raise our rate on insurance. Effectively making it a pay cut! BUT NO! Due to the wage freeze, they will not be raising employee contributions to insurance. What a shocker that was! However, they are reserving the right to "look at" the situation at a later date. I guess it all depends on the economy.

And more good news! Our esteemed governor of Illinois was arrested yesterday morning on corruption charges. For trying to sell Obama's vacant Senate seat. What a moron! Ahh...Chicago politics at it's finest...

Christmas Decorations

Well, we got the tree up. Will try to post a picture later. We don't usually go all out on the decorations. Stockings over the fireplace, a few pictures, knick-knacks and that's about it.

But this year, the wife bugged me all weekend to put up lites on the house. So, even tho' I felt like crap all weekend, I bundled up and put some lites up. Now she won't talk to me!

TheraFlu

This has got to be the greatest over-the-counter drug ever invented. I've been drinking it like I drink beer all weekend long. Needless to say, I'm sick as a dog at the moment! It's either a really bad cold or a touch of the flu. I managed to stay awake long enough this weekend to watch the Bears game. And that's about it.

It's nap time again now...

It's that time of year again...!

Time to spend money I don't really have to buy stuff for people that I'd rather not. Christmas is for children. I can see spending tons of money on the kids but not the adults. Call me Scrooge. But that's not how the wife will have it! She insists that her kids (in their 30's now) get PJ's every year. It's her tradition.

I have no idea what anyone wants. The nieces get the same thing from us every year. Cash. The grandkids...who knows really? Even they don't. Amanda mentioned more games for her Nintendo DS and all Kirs really wants is internet access. He used to have it but Dad's financial situation had to force him to cancel the service. We're thinking of going in on half for cable access for the year. We'll see. Kris has been spending quite a few weekends over here connecting his XBOX to my router and playing Call of Duty until the wee hours of the morning. Talking to his friends online while playing it too!

He also has Guitar Hero. That is so cool. We watched him play for like an hour and a half. He's pretty good at keeping up with the music.

Judy and I hardly ever buy anything for each other for Xmas. She's been looking at HDTV's but decided we can't afford it right now. She'd rather go on a vacation somewhere later in the year.
She's also been looking at washers and dryers since ours went on the fritz. Well, the repairman just left today and the total to fixed both came to $377. Still cheaper than new ones!

I tell my sister, Heidi, (http://www.ourmarlowefamily.blogspot.com/) every year not to get us anything but she always does anyway. So to make it easy on you Sis, here's what's on my wish list:

http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?DeptID=53006&CatID=54416&GrpTyp=SIZ&ItemID=1459a8b&attrtype=&attrvalue=&CMID=53006%7c53919&Fltr=&Srt=&QL=F&IND=10&CmCatId=530065391954416

Size: Large (Beer gut ya know!)

Besides, It's freaking cold here now! Current temp as I post this is 15°. And there's like 4" of snow on the ground right now!

But there is good news...

Judy's mom had knee replacement surgery almost 2 weeks ago. She's home now and getting around OK. That's where Judy's been this weekend (went up there on Friday). I've been "Home Alone" for three days now! If it wasn't for Thanksgiving leftovers I'd probably starve to death!
(Beer is good food, right?)

And it just keeps coming...

The dryer has been making this gawdawful noise. It still works but it sounds like there's a bunch of ball bearing rolling around loose in it. this has been going on for about two weeks now. I'll get it looked at eventually. Hell, the thing is over 30 years old! It's served me well.

Now the washer doesn't work at all! Just discovered this yesterday when trying to start a load. It's a Maytag Neptune front loader. The door lock lite doesn't come on when you try to start it so I'm thinking that has something to do with it. And, of course, it happens on a holiday weekend so I can't get anyone to look at it until the workweek starts.

And there are no Maytag repairmen in this town! I hope the guy I called is certified. Or at least knows what he's doing!

How much is this going to cost me...?

More Bad News...

Just got thru with an all company meeting. It was announced, that instead of having any layoffs due to the state of the economy, all wages have been frozen.

NO RAISE COME JANUARY!

Real motivator, that is.

There goes Christmas for the next TWO years!

Bad News

Got a call from my Aunt Donna last night. My Uncle Ronnie has cancer of the esophagus. There are a few tests they need to perform prior to surgery (angiogram to see if his heart can stand up to the stress of surgery, especially since he's had one heart atttack). Not sure of the schedule of events at the moment so it'll be at least 2 - 3 weeks before we have any more details.

More to come later.

Wow! That hurt!

I've had a molar that's been giving me some problems/pain when I bit down on it while eating. Well, last Friday, during lunch, the thing finally broke in half! It really wasn't that painful. More annoying than anything else.

So I had to gingerly eat and drink all weekend before I could get in to see a dentist on Monday afternoon. She poked and prodded a little bit, then grabbed a hemostat and yanked out the broken piece. She put a temp seal around it and scheduled a new appt. for Dec 17 to get fitted for a crown or possible root canal.

There goes all the Christmas money!

Here goes nothing...

Well, I'm going to give this blog thing a try. My sister started one so let's see if I can keep up.
WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE BORING!

I'll see as time goes by what I learn to do here. Hopefully, it will be worthwhile for someone out there who enjoys wasting a lot of time on their PC's/MAC's.