October 31, 2011 7:46 AM HaLLoWeeN… scare time for the kiddies.

Well, I rose about 5:30am and left the house to get rid of the trash and headed to McDonald's for morning coffee and BS session with the boys.

Left McDonald's about 7:30 after getting a couple of Apple pies for Nora.

We will go to District office this morning after stopping at Primasing to get an appointment to fix the RR door on the Chevy.

Damp and a little wet this morning, about 41˚ outside… This week, on the 4th we will go to daylight savings time...

We took the Chevy to Primasing motors to have the RR door repaired to open from the inside… that is now done and it was covered by Warranty so that is even better.

Went to District office after Primising and finished up registering Nora and even had an interview with the facilities manager so that is good, she may get more janitorial calls than food handler work… 

Both positions can and often do lead to full time jobs.

Took the Les Schwab paperwork to Crockers for the Mini tires and rims.  Went to Myron’s re-wedding then we also stopped at Mega Foods but not before Nora checked out the 2nd hand stores for some long pants and turtle necks… didn’t find anything she wanted though.  

We had lunch at Subway and bought a 1’ long one for the kids to split.

Been raining on and off all day, mostly on though… it was supposed to be dry for Halloween but this is Oregon so that didn’t hold water long.

I think the kids are finished “Trick or Treating’ tonight, at dinner I told Kenneth and Joyce about what happens when you don’t treat...

October 30, 2011 8:35 AM Sunday morning it is raining and cold outside so we have decided not to attend church today…

I woke up this morning at about 7:21 AM, I think the kids moving around is what woke me up. 

I got up about 7:35 AM, after telling Nora that it was time to rise and shine. I got dressed and went out into the kitchen where Joyce was preparing hot chocolate. 

I made coffee and as it finished perking, Nora came out from the bedroom.

She poured the coffee as I was here at the computer checking e-mail. Because the weather is nasty outside we have decided not to attend church this morning. Later, after breakfast we will take to Mini Cooper down to Crocker’s motors were Cory can look at it.

I have come to the conclusion that getting an SUV at this time is not feasible because most of our traveling is done within the city limits and an SUV would only afford us about 16 miles per gallon and I cannot afford that kind of mileage. 

I told Nora that perhaps later, after she has a job we can revisit the idea of purchasing an SUV. They do have a very nice Chevrolet Impala at the lot that I am interested in and it would afford us about 22 miles per gallon in town and hopefully a little better than 30 out on the open road.

When I spoke to Cory about the Chevrolet I told him that I want to get enough difference to pay for our trip to California. I sent him about 9 pictures of the Mini Cooper yesterday via e-mail.

It is 8:35 AM now and we’ve not eaten breakfast yet.Well, we went to Crockers and ended up trading the Mini for a 2010 Chevy Impala program car… excellent car at least it seems to be, only 33k on the odometer and clean as a pin.  Got a little pocket change also so that made the deal sweeter.

Filled up the Chevy (ouch) $47.

Back home, took the kids to the dollar store and they blew their $5 on candy and chips… not a good choice, but theirs.  Then back home where we had dinner and after that some TV, YM’d with Jenny and got to see baby denny also… a good day all around… 

Told Lollie and Gareth that we would be making the trip for Christmas… they are pleased.

October 29, 2011 7:45 AM Saturday morning, raining and dark outside...

I got up about 6:35 this morning and made coffee, then I proceeded to make French Toast using the worst bread… I bought a cheap loaf of white bread at Safeway cause they were sold out of the good French Toast bread. It was edible, but not good, the bread fell apart and I think I might have cooked it on too high a heat.

Nora plans to clean house today, Joyce will help her and I am sure there will be things I can do to help out.

Kenneth and I will go to Mom’s house and move the bureaus out of the garage so the new tenants will have room for their stuff. Barb asked me yesterday if the dishwasher worked, I truly don’t know but that may be another expense down the road.

Gareth told me the other day that he sent the Taxes check to the Linn county Tax accessor so I will need to send my half to him as soon as he lets me know the cost, actually I have a copy of the statement so I can just send it to him.

We will see how the remainder of this day unfolds...

October 28, 2011 7:41 AM TGIF… we will turn in the Sub paperwork today...

Woke at about 7:10am, I managed to easily forget that this morning was the morning I was going to go to coffee at McDonald’s. 

 Too late now so I made coffee and will just continue the day here… at 9:00am we will go to the district office and turn in the paperwork for Nora.

Joyce is still here, it is now 7:43 AM, she will leave soon to catch the bus.

Nora is having a little discomfort now, seems her period started early and is going long this time.

I don’t know what is planned for the day, nothing seems to jump out at me. I know that tomorrow, we need to go to Mom’s and remove the dressers that are still in the garage. I also want to get Dad’s old vice out of there. I will arrange to take them to Myron’s place later.

We went to District office and from there to PD to get the fingerprints done, back to District, found we need to complete yet another part of the edZapp form but cannot log into it so Andrea is looking into that issue.

Stopped at McDonald's and had breakfast then back home.  I found the manual for the Rheem furnace so will be able to program it I hope… Nest says I won’t be able to use the modulation features of the furnace if I use their thermostat.

We will soon leave for Mega Foods, Nora wants to buy some small fish for dinner tonight.

Late entry, I called Sean to wish him a happy birthday and got to talk to two of the kids, Jack and the baby who is now 2.

October 27, 2011 8:27 AM Thursday morning, 39˚ out… I have a meeting with Patrick at VLC at 10am.

Woke up after a solid nights sleep, that Tylenol pm really does the trick and my back is not nearly as sore this morning.

Nora made coffee and I have been catching up the journal from yesterday.

I have my meeting with Patrick this morning at 10am and I think that Nora wants to go along so that would be just fine.

The Nurse from Dr. Thayer called and said that the Tri-Care insurance will cover Nora’s visit to the Gynecologist specialist.

Nora has decided to stay home when I go to the Church office to visit with Patrick.

Nora finished filling out the forms required by the district office and we will turn them in tomorrow.

I finally got screen sharing set up on the kids iMac so now I can sit here and see exactly what they are doing.

We had deep fried chicken wings for dinner, but for some reason, they didn’t all get done so I put them in the micro wave for 5 minutes, that should have zapped ‘em pretty good.

Joyce is doing dishes, Nora wanted to but her hands tell me that she is paying the price...

October 26, 2011 8:08 AM It is 8:08 AM and 32° outside… a good time to be inside!

I woke up at about 6:15 AM and got up and turned the heat up so the children would be freezing in the house and then I returned to bed and didn’t get up until about 7:35 AM.

There was frost on the grass, which tells me Kenneth have a brisk walk to school. I think it won’t be long and he will be asking for a winter coat.

Nora made coffee this morning and is checking out the other computer. I revised the settings on the router so that Nora can use the iPad until 11 PM at night.

This morning we will go to the school district central office and speak to the lady who’s in charge of hiring the subs to let her know that Nora has completed all the training modules and has signed up with the school district as a sub candidate.

I would also like to go to the bank today to find out what is happening to Nora’s debit card, I would’ve thought that it would be here by now but so far it has been a no-show.

We went to the school district office and Andrea could not find Nora’s online application so we came home and logged onto edapp again and filled another one out then returned to the district office… this time Andrea found the application ok and gave us papers to fill out.  We took the papers home and Nora will fill them out tomorrow and we will take them back on Friday.

Then we went to Rite-Aid and bought a few things after which I took Nora to BurgerKing for lunch.  They had a special where you got another burger for $1 so we bought two of them for the kids.

Back home, watched some TV and computered around awhile, chatted some with Lollie… We had dinner then more TV and after a fashion we went to bed.

October 24, 2011 7:55 AM Yet another Monday starts out the week

I woke up this morning at about 6:45 AM and got up to turn on the heat so the children would have a little bit warmer house. Shortly thereafter Kenneth came knocking at the door media ride to school as he had mistaken what time it was and was actually running about 18 min. later than he thought.

I got up and threw on some pajamas and we got out of the pickup and I drove him to school. Outside of not being able to see out the windows it wasn’t too bad, but a little bit chilly.

Nora made us some cappuccino this morning because we don’t have any regular coffee left. We may pick up some today or we might use drip grind that I bought. I may fire up the Farberware coffee pot that I bought many many years ago to emulate one that mother had when she was working.

We will go to the school district office today to check and see if we can get Nora on the sublist for work in the kitchen, I am in hopes that that will produce something positive for her. It would be a good job for her working for the school district, when she got her foot in that door and proved what a good worker she is I am sure that she would be on call almost constantly.

I am going to drink my coffee now and enjoy the morning, checked the news and my e-mails and prepare for the day.

October 23, 2011 8:41 AM Sunday, overcast and a little on the chilly side too...

Rolled out about 8:30 this morning, Nora woke up several hours ago and began tossing and turning, thus waking me up as usual. I ask her what is the problem and she tells me “I am just sleeping”… I told her maybe not.

Anyway after fussing with her for a few seconds, I got up and used the RR then returned to bed… she tossed a couple more times and finally drifted off to sleep again… She has odd sleeping habits for sure.

I doubt that we will go to church as she is in the beginning of her period and doesn’t like to go anywhere during that time.

I don’t have much planned, I want Kenneth to mow the yards though as the recent dampness has given the grass a rejuvenation and now it is growing and green… it does look nicer green, even the weeds look good.

Perhaps today I will cut the ¼ round to length and get it painted in preparation to installing it in front of the tub.

We ended up going to church… Then off to Wal★mart to get some notebooks for Kenneth and some poster board for Joyce… Kenneth bought himself a flannel shirt, good choice.

I did paint the ¼ round and installed it then caulked around the top and bottom of it to keep the water away from the subflooring.

October 22, 2011 8:18 AM Today is Melba's birthday bash in Corvallis...

Nora’s auntie Rhed came to visit yesterday. Nothing new this morning, we managed to roll out about 8am after a pretty fair nights sleep. Yesterday was a busy day for us what with the two kids having conferences at the schools we needed to attend and her Dr. appt in the morning.

Today, we will need to go to Wal★mart and look for some trinket for Melba before we head over to Corvallis for lunch with her. She is either 23 or 22 I think.

October 21, 2011 7:02 AM Friday, No school for the kids...

The alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, the time Nora had chose to get up and prepare to go to the Doctors in Albany. She wants to drop off some spaghetti sauce with Melba too, along the way.

I love my family, my wife is a wonderful but at times confusing woman to whom I am blessed to be married. My children of this union are good kids and I love them both also.

We will leave here about 7:20 or 7:15 to go to Albany.

Got to the Dr. office at 7:55. Nora’s visit went well, the nurse talked to her and also performed a pap smear which is something that Nora wanted to get done anyway. Nurse told her that everything looked normal and good and also reassured Nora that the discomfort she is feeling is like brought on by ovulation.

From there we came back home and had a late breakfast at the new Jack-in-the box restaurant in Lebanon… from there, we stopped at Safeway and got a couple items then went home and dropped them off. From there, we went to the High School for the parent teacher conferences and finished that about 12:30pm.

Back home now, Nora is doing some more laundry and I am chatting with Lollie a little bit.

October 20, 2011 8:02 AM Today is Thursday, PT meetings start this afternoon and continue tomorrow morning.

Awoke at about 7:16am, went to the can then retired again but just hugging and such… about 7:40am, Nora decided we should get up which is correct.

Gotta call the Doctor this morning and make an appointment for her. She started a load of white clothes in the washer already and coffee is setting here beside me.

Just finished making a help file for Lollie about setting up “Mover Connect” and where it stores the files you transfer with it...

I called Dr. Thayer’s office, they are evidently closed until next Monday… they seem to keep bizarre office hours. I asked Nora if she can wait until next week and she said she could.

October 19, 2011 8:12 AM Wednesday, forgot to send forms with Joyce, (she forgot to give them to us!!)

I woke up about 7:30 this morning, but didn’t get up until about 7:50… just too nice laying next to the little brown girl.

We will need to go out to 7 Oaks and fill out a form for the parent teacher conferences being held on Thursday and Friday. I knew about it yesterday, but forgot to ask Joyce for the form and she forgot to give them to us…

Nothing special planned for today I guess… Nora said last night that she wants to clean our bathroom today, I told her I only cleaned it about once ever 3 months… she thought that was really bad.

October 18, 2011 8:15 AM Tuesday… tonight we will watch 'Biggest Loser'

I woke up about 6:15am, got up, dressed and went to McDonald's for coffee. I bought some apple pies and came home to give one to Nora.

Last night, Kenneth was using his big mouth to backtalk Nora and insult Joyce by calling her stupid.

 I will talk to him about that today when he comes home from school. He is disrespectful to his mother and has been since I met him in Basud… I don’t know what he thinks when he is doing that, but it won’t be tolerated here.

I need to get a resume printed out for Nora today. We also need to go to the store and get a couple things, bean sprouts and something else...Nora and I went to Safeway to get some produce, unfortunately they are out of bean sprouts today, but will have some tomorrow, she did find some fish oil though.

A couple of sneezes and a slightly runny nose make me suspicious that I may have contracted yet another cold… I do NOT like them.

We just finished dinner, rice and chicken chunks cooked with spinach… rather anemic in my mind but that is what we had.  Always plenty of rice but tonight there just wasn’t much to accompany it on the plate...

Nora was at the big computer watching some videos and I was watching some TV… about 9 I headed to bed to catch some ‘King of the Hill’ and ‘Family guy’.

October 17, 2011 7:55 AM Wow it's really foggy outside this morning…

Nicholas text me messages warning about 7 AM which woke me up and then we got up at about 7:30 AM and Nora made some coffee for us. We are now each of the computer checking your e-mail and our Facebook. Seems to be a daily routine.

It was only 65° in the house this morning when I got up so I cranked up the heat to 72° and that will make it more comfortable. I need to set it up so that he comes on at about 6 when the children get up so that it is not quite so cold for them. Maybe I can find that manual today that tells how to set it up automatically.

I’ve already taken my medication this morning so I don’t have to worry about forgetting that. Not exactly sure what the gameplay is for today, but I’m sure that I will be informed before long.

---

October 15, 2011 10:20 AM Saturday morning, TV and Job Apps for Nora...

We got up a little after 8:00am, slept pretty good but Nora had one of her ‘I can’t sleep’ things again last night.

I asked her to fix some brown an serve sausages and two eggs for me, I specifically asked her to make sure to brown the sausages as they appear like the ‘Un Dead’ gray and yucky if you don’t. She served them to me Microwaved, gray and with only one egg… She either does not understand my requests or, perhaps she doesn’t pay attention when I am speaking to her… either way is very annoying.

I will go the extra mile and from now on, I will confirm with her that she heard me and understands what it is that I want… I think it is just a communication issue that we will overcome in time.

She is filling out another online job application this morning… the only thing she has gotten from all the rest of them is calls offering to finance her continued schooling… damn scumbags only want her money… and their placement services are laughable.

They advertise hundreds of jobs available in Lebanon, Oregon… that is nothing short of an outright lie… but she has high hopes anyway. I hope something materializes for her but have warned her that jobs are scarce and many people bring much more to the plate than she does…

I want her to be successful but it will take a great stroke of luck to pull it all together in this economy.Got the bottom shelf fixed in the refrigerator so now it will work ok again… I hope they take it easier on it from now on...

Fred finally made it over here about 6:15… seems things at the Crosair ranch might be on the lame side and Fred tells me Ray and his new bride are not doing so good.  Sad, I hope that they can work it out.

Nora is talking to her Father in the Philippines now so I am just messing around here on the computer.

She told me that from now on, she wants to send Jenny’s allowance to Father, based on her decisions and stubborness I think it’s a good idea too.

Off to bed now.

---

October 14, 2011 9:42 AM Friday, and believe it, a kids school holiday… Bummed !!!

We got up about 7:45 this morning, no school for the kids today.

It is only about 46˚ outside but hopefully later this afternoon, Kenneth can mow the yards here and at Mom’s place.

Nothing special planned, Nora is filling out a UPS application or at least trying to.

Had Oatmeal for breakfast and took my meds so all the requirements of the morning have been met.

 Lollie got Gareth’s phone updated and is going to do hers soon… I sent her a link about a new app called ‘WhatsApp’ and it allows text msgs to anyone anyplace using the app for free… would be good to get for Jenny…

We just finished lunch, the kids, Nora and I will go to Wal★mart in a little while, we have a couple of things to buy and I will give the kids a little spending money too.
Gave each of the kids $10 to blow anyway they wanted… Our first stop was at Wal★mart where I dropped $75. then we hit the Dollar store. Both kids had fun at the Dollar Store and Nora got some more cookie mixes and muffin mixes.

Got home and Lollie called, they took their iMac to the Apple store and the genius there found some virus checking program loaded that was choking the shit out of their computer… he removed that so hopefully things will even out.

No good luck with the computer, even on Skype, she cuts in and out on audio.

We had dinner and then watched some TV, Nora caught up on her soap, ‘Amaya’.

Going to bed now (after a quick shower)...

October 13, 2011 7:57 AM Thursday, another one, yep, one in each week...

I got up about 12:30 this morning to see if the iPhone had updated, it had, so I did the final touches and then got the iPad and hooked it up for the update also.

This morning, I got up about 7:45 and came out, the iPad had successfully updated also so I finished up the process and everything seems to be working good, it will be fun to see some of the new changes that have been invoked in this new version of the Operating system. Hope that there aren’t too many glitches… from what I read, it is a pretty darn stable release.

I need to take Maria to Albany to Fred Meyer this afternoon so she can mail a couple of LBC boxes to her kids in the Philippines. I will buy a couple boxes myself for Nora to use later on.

I helped Nora with an application for Kohls and then we had soup for lunch.  I took my meds late though… wish I could make a habit of when I take them.  Something consistent for a change.

Nora and I went to Mega Foods and bought 10# of chicken wings and some baby back pork ribs, then off to the Dollar store for some cake mixes, muffin mixes and brownie mixes… back home now, she mixed up the muffins (blueberry) and we baked them off… pretty good too.

Nora is updating her games, it is almost 9pm so I am off to watch my cartoons...

October 12, 2011 6:45 AM Tuesday and it looks wet but isn't raining currently...

I woke at about 6:22am this morning, used the rest room then tried to go back to sleep but got to thinking that if it is raining, I should give Kenneth a ride to school but it is not raining now so maybe not. It is still dark outside, nothing too unusual for this time of year though.

Joyce is at the other computer, singing to herself and doing FB. I wonder what the life here would be like for them if they didn’t have that connection to home in the Philippines. I guess that it is a mixed blessing.

Thought about going down to McDonald's for coffee but the longer I think about it, the less appealing it becomes. I do miss the cronies though, I formed some good friendships there and probably should think twice about not going down to visit them now and then.

Friendships are things that we tend to take for granted and don’t realize their true value until we’ve pissed them away and allowed them to dissolve. I don’t think that is a good way to treat friends so I will make a point to go there a little more often.

Went to McDonald's about 7:30am to see Myron, he is back from China now.

I just finished upgrading to the lastest OS X system software ver 10.7.2 which brings iCloud and a host of other improvements to the Apple devices… iOS 5 is not yet available on iTunes so will have to wait for the iPhone and iPad system updates.

October 11, 2011 5:15 PM I am tired today...

Nothing special today, we stripped the bed and I remade it with the light colored sheets. Nora washed and hung the others out to dry. We worked on her job apps today, then this afternoon, I went to the post office to mail the grill rebate form and also stopped at Mega Foods for some milk… Nora doesn’t like the taste of the ‘Special’ brand so I got her a quart of Western Family 2% and she said she like the flavor of that a lot better… funny thing is it comes from the same cow and same dairy, just rebranded to Western Family… Oh well, if she thinks it tastes different that is ok with me. Gonna watch some TV tonight, we watched a movie with Arnie in it before he became the Governor of Ca… damned if i can think of the name of it though… Oh, it was “Collateral Damage”… good action and typical Arnie. Lollie and I chatted for a tiny bit, I called Apple and got Safari to render pages right again… maybe. Then I chatted a bit with Gareth. We are getting ready to have dinner now, Kenneth is doing homework or something. Not much else happening here today… <smiles> it’s always good.

October 9, 2011 9:22 AM Chilly and overcast… Winter beckons…

Last night was nice, cool enough for good sleep and just a very nice evening. We woke this morning about 7:30am. I think Nora would have liked to sleep longer, but we’ve got Church to go to and breakfast to prepare. I got up first and made the coffee and some Hawaiian English muffin w/peanut butter, Nora’s had honey on it too. She started to tell me she didn’t want it but then decided to eat it or I should say half of it… She rarely has much of a morning appetite. I don’t want to go to church today, or at least I don’t want to go to the Catholic one. I will, for the family but I won’t like it… I am not sure why, I suppose it is because it seems cold and impersonal to me, then there is also my disassociation with organized religion that comes into play. Actually I miss VLC !!! Don’t know what is planned for the rest of the day after church, but the weather certainly does not encourage going outside and we’ve not really got the money to go shopping or anything like that. I hope that Nora meets with some success with her job pursuits… she is dedicated to getting a job, I just wish that she had some credentials or past experience that would help her. I want her to be successful and happy and I think that a major part of that will come from feeling self sufficient.

October 8, 2011 11:59 AM Today started out nice and sunny but now is clouding up a little bit…

We got up at about 8 AM this morning, I was surprised that it was as late as it was.

Nora got dressed and we left at about 8:45 AM to go to Albany for target appointment. We got there early and she decided to go up to the office and check and found out that her appointment was actually for Monday morning not this morning so we will make another trip.

From there we went to the Salvation Army store where she bought a pair of jeans and I got a Powerball (it is an exercise machine for the wrist sort of like a Gyro scope). They are normally about $30 in the sporting goods store, I got this one for $1.99.

We’re home again now and I just filled out the rebate form for the Electrolux range and will mail it perhaps today.

Kenneth is washing the Mini Cooper now so that will be taken care of.

Fairly quiet afternoon, not much going on, the weather turned chilly so staying inside seemed best… Kenneth and Joyce are finishing up their homework assignments.

We had dinner then retired to the living room to watch some TV… I did manage to take a food handler permit site and get an Oregon Food Handler card for Nora, cost me $7.99 but now she has it.

It is after 9pm, going to go to bed and watch some King of the Hill…

Hmmmm ‘King of the Hill’ got pre-empted by my lovely wife… better program me thinks...

October 7, 2011 7:51 AM Another Friday… well my throat feels better but not good but I do believe I am on the mend.

This morning Nora got up at about 7 AM to check on Joyce and use the restroom. When she came back in the bedroom she checked on the iPad for mail and God knows what else. I got up to use the restroom and while I was there she decided it was time for us to be up and opened the blinds which flooded the bedroom with light and ruin my chance to go back to sleep for a while. Oh well! Oddly, I received a text message from Tim, acknowledging that I was right and that Apple is the largest technological firm on the planet. I don’t know if that was meant sarcastically or if he finally came to realize it was true. Doesn’t really matter to me either way. I wonder what will be for breakfast? I have no idea and furthermore I don’t really care. Stupid cold!

October 6, 2011 7:20 AM Steve Jobs, died yesterday the new technology the loss is dramatic.

The day ended yesterday on a sad note with notification that Steven Jobs, the iconic leader of Apple Computer had passed away. Truly a visionary in the computer industry and related technical fields he was one in 1 million perhaps one in 1 million million. It would’ve been a great pleasure to meet him.

The cold that I managed to acquire from my daughter has been wreaking havoc with me as all colds manage to do. I took some medication last night which Nora insisted upon. I don’t feel particularly better this morning, but as with every cold I’ve ever had, eventually I will get over it.

It is overcast outside and the potential for rain is there. I’ve not looked at the forecast for today but I faintly remember seeing either rain or showers forecast.

I did have to make one trip today and that will be to take the immunization forms for Kenneth to the high school and I do believe that today I will have to take Nora back to taco bell to speak with the manager about her application for work there. Nothing else should be pressing today.

I took the immunization forms for Kenneth to the High school. The nurse entered them as I waited and at the end, told me everything was fine now. I thanked her and left.

Back home, we, Nora and I, worked some more on her online test for the iMatchSkills program… we are having a hard time getting past the 5th level though… I am dumb I think.

I have decided that I truly feel lousy today… early bedtime I think will be the order for me this evening and some tylenol pm also..

The early to bed happened, but the tylenol did not. I went to bed around 8pm and then Nora doctored me up with something we bought for Joyce’s cold and it managed to stop the coughing.

October 5, 2011 8:20 AM Wednesday morning, gloomy outside and raining.

I went to the alarm at 5:55 AM, got dressed and went down to McDonald’s for coffee. When I left there at 7:55 AM I picked up an apple pie to bring home to Nora. I had called her twice on the Vonage phone with no answer, when I got home she had just gotten out of bed so she must’ve been tired.

I need to contact the high school today and see what the issue is with the drinking fountains. Kenneth wants money to buy bottled water and says that none of the kids drink out of the water fountain and I need to know why.

Nothing special is planned for today except to visit back to Taco Bell to check on Nora’s application there.

••• October 5th, Steve Jobs passed away… my God, only 56 years old… and a billionaire 8x over. Greatest visionary CEO in history.

RIP Steve, the world lost a keeper !!!

Well, it is 9:46 PM and I am headed to bed...

October 4, 2011 7:42 AM Overcast and rainy. A good day to curl up by a warm fire!

I woke a little before 7 AM this morning after a somewhat restless night. I had to get up a number of times to go to the bathroom but was lucky enough to always return to a warm bed and loving wife. I put water on for coffee after saying good morning to Joyce who was at the computer doing her typical Facebook stuff. She left the house at about 7:35 AM for school. She told me her nose was not running this morning after using the Vicks vapor rub on it last night. That stuff is miraculous. I will have to tell all in honesty we probably will not make it down to Sacramento for Christmas… at least not by train. Just too much money has been spent so far this year. Hopefully next year I will be able to retain more of my income and hopefully Nora will have a job by that time. Today, we will drop off the applications that Nora has completed and she also wants to resubmit the application for Walmart.

October 3, 2011 7:48 AM Another week, it is wet outside, but not raining.

Slept good, Nora had a pretty good headache going when she finally came to bed, I made her take 2 excedrins and that seemed to take care of it. We will go to Costco today, stock up for the month I guess… hope it’s not like the last time. Coffee is made, Nora is talking to her sisters to arrange for her mother to remain interred where she is, in the Philippines, you only get to contract for a burial place for 5 years at a time… if you cannot pay, the bones are removed and disposed of. hmmmmmm. Another good case for being BBQ’d. Dust to dust.

October 2, 2011 9:33 AM Sunday, overcast and wet… probably no church today.

Although it is Sunday, the day started late for us, at least it did for Nora and I. We didn’t get up until after 9am. A really late morning.. The kids were both up at 6am this morning. Probably will not go to church this morning, Nora has a headache and it is just not a hurry up and lets go to church morning… Nora and I both had English muffin w/butter for breakfast, hers was peanut butter and honey. I made the coffee. We filled out the rest of the Target application for Nora and then did one for Costco. I hope she hears from them. Watched a Horror movie called “Headless Horseman” on the SciFi channel… typical blood and guts show but it was enjoybable. Chatting a little bit with Gareth, they are looking at getting rid of the Acura and picking up another car or SUV depending. I went to the store, to get Nora an orange and some orange juice so she could make orange chicken… the dinner was different… not the same as the orange chicken she made in the Philippines. Bathed and bed ready… now to see what is on TV... After watching some TV, I decided to go to bed, it is about 9:10, I will watch some ‘King of the Hill’ and maybe ‘American Dad’. Nora followed me shortly.

October 1, 2011 9:46 AM.… Is October 1 Saturday morning, we made some pancakes for breakfast.

We woke up at about 7 AM this morning. I got up and got dressed and came out and made drinks for everyone and then checked my e-mail.

Today is cooler and we will be going to Albany and the Salvation Army to see if we can find Kenneth a winter coat and God knows what else.

It is as I said, cooler today and the skies are overcast and we are predicted to have rain most of the day.

I cleaned up all the kitchen dishes and the stove so now all we have to do is get the family dressed and head out.

Nora is talking to Shanna Meanne. in Tennessee. The nice thing about the call is that on the weekends they are free, and free is a price that I like very much.