Thursday, December 29, 2011

A Hoarding Christmas


        Well Christmas is gone and we have only to look forward to the new year. Our Christmas this year was a bit different....but it was still wonderful. We went down to Taylor's apartment in Kalamazoo to help her pack up and get ready for he big Move to Texas. Okay...I must be honest...I went down just to watch some cable TV while Kim helped her pack. The reason it was different was because we weren't at home for Christmas day. Well...and our Christmas dinner was comprised of a chicken breast and some sort of noodle side dish from a box. No...I'm not complaining...I'm only stating why it was "different". The Wonderful part of Christmas was that I was with the people I Love the most. And that is really what Christmas is about. Oh yeah...the Cable TV was pretty dog gone awesome too.

        I was like a little kid who saw TV for the first time in my life. I was in Awe!!  So many channels...so much to watch!!!  After watching a few Movies...OK 5 of them...I switched the channel to Hoarders....I was...well...I'm not sure what I was...but I know I was nothing short of Fascinated for sure. I watched a few episodes of the typical hoarder who cant throw out anything, so they make little trails throughout their houses in order to go from room to room. And even though I find that someone could live like that...ever....I was more in awe of the show that I never got to see. I only saw the trailers of it during one of the other hoarders show I was watching.

       There was this lady who couldn't throw away anything...and by anything...I am talking every single thing that she touched. Garbage included. They showed short clips of the cock roaches everywhere. The even took pictures off the wall and there was literally hundreds of cock roaches hiding ...they showed a cock roach moving about right next to the food she was cooking. I swear to God...I just about ralphed right then and there (Of course Taylor was laughing her head off) Happy thoughts....Happy thoughts...I can hurl just thinking about it.  But I just could not believe what I was seeing...it just seemed so unreal to me. Could you imaging the stench that must be fuming from that house?  They also showed a short clip of her sleeping in her bed....and I couldn't even see her in the bed because there was so much garbage laying about the whole room. It was like a "Wheres Waldo?" picture

     

 Now look...I try not to judge people....but really I could not help it on this one.  I found that to be just a bit beyond just hoarding...And yes...I do think hoarding is a type of mental disease. But when you sit on your lazy boy with one of those 3 foot "reach buddy" things  to move the garbage around you so you can put the foot rest up.....I find that to be just pure laziness. I was fascinated just the same...but it just blows my mind to think that there are people that actually enjoy living with garbage.
It makes my bitching about the room we have for the animals to shit and piss in.... a bit minuscule by comparison.

       So now...I'm a bit torn on what my New Years resolution will be...take my dogs for more walks...or clean my favorite hoarding spot....my closet!!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Off to the Races


I was in need of a night out...its always difficult for me to decide on what I really want to do when I have this need. But I wanted to do something different and new this time. Going to friends and hanging out or going to the local pub just didn't sound that exciting to me. Its easy to get in a rut by just staying at home all the time and forgetting that there is a whole new world of entertainment out there for your enjoyment. All you have to do is just make a decision to do it.
My decision was to try the race track...(I know...kind of a guy thing) but hey...the wife was gone to help our daughter start packing up her stuff for her move to Texas. So it was a perfect opportunity for me to do some MAN stuff. Kim is not a gambler...in fact she hates it. She loses twenty bucks and she acts like she just lost the family farm.

 Her idea of gambling is by saying " Hey Ian...I bet you a favor that you will forget to take the garbage out tomorrow morning"  (I don't usually take that bet) but I actually Love to gamble. I love going to the casinos or playing poker or betting on football. So horse racing just sounded like a lot of fun to me. I took my brother Dale with me and we had a ton of fun.

We arrived a little late so we weren't able to get a seat in the club house to order food and watch the races through the big windows. So we sat by the bar upstairs and watched the races on the monitors. We started out pretty well ....we won a little bit of money on the winning horses. We just couldn't seem to hit the big one...the "Trifecta". It seemed like the first 6 races that I had 2 of the 3 horses needed to win. One horse short of the big win. I mean...that's really why I like to gamble...I want to hit the big one....just once. I want to be the one where everyone is standing around looking at my slot machine wishing it was them.... as the guards are guarding all my winnings.Obviously that has never happened...but One day....just...One day...well...that's why I like to gamble. Winning the trifecta or the superfecta seemed possible as the night was progressing. I kept playing the horses with the best odds and I also tried the horses with the best times in their previous six races. I came so close to hitting the big one...so close.The winning did not get any better the rest of the night though. In fact it got worse. I was about to start picking horses by the color they were wearing. I didn't...but I probably could have produced the same amount of winnings. Really...How could a horse with 10-1 odds come in second place and ruin my chance to win the big one. Didn't they know my plans? Didn't they know that I was planning a very good Christmas for Kim with the money I was going to win? Sorry honey....but the good news is...I will definitely take that garbage out now. :) It was the thought that counts right?
I didn't lose that much really...I only lost 80 bucks the whole night. So it wasn't as bad as it could have been had I really had planned on that "Good Christmas for Kim". Otherwise I would have been forced to bet the proverbial farm on a race. So see honey...I do have self control !! 

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Texas Bound!!!  No...not me...I should be so lucky right? I am talking about my daughter Taylor. She is leaving Michigan to pursue her dreams in Texas. I could not be happier for her. She applied for a position as Operations Manager with a company called Life Touch Photography and after a few phone interviews and a trip to Texas (that they paid for) she got the job. She starts on Jan 9th and I know she is just giggity about it. And I don't blame her. A new job sounds pretty darn good these days. Something to look forward to, something new and exciting...a job with advancement opportunities, good benefits, bonuses, ....all I can say is ...its too bad I don't live my life vicariously through my daughters....or do I? Maybe that's why I have been so stressed out lately and full of excitement at the same time. But on the flip side to those exuberant feelings....
We wont be able to see her as much and lets face it...Skyping just isn't the same....I am just a little sad to see her go so far away. We all want our children to fly out of the nest when their wings are ready...and Taylor has done that when she went off to college. But when they start to migrate south...now that's a whole new dilemma that momma bird and daddy bird have to deal with. We wont be there to navigate her when the winds change or when she flies off course a bit. Its a scary thought if you think about it.  But I know that many lil birdies do it and the mommy and daddy birds usually live through the ordeal once they become adjusted and migrate south themselves once or twice. :)

I can already see how mommy bird is going to react once the migration starts...and let me tell you right now...I will have a couple boxes of Kleenex and some ear plugs handy. Kim has always been a hands on Mother Bird. If there is something going on in one of her chicks life...she is all over it and is either asking questions or doing research, or helping out in any way she can....sometimes just flat out doing it for them. So a big change for Mommy Bird is in store. (Thank God for free calls from Verizon to Verizon)
For me...
I will have to just continue doing what I do best...worry on the inside while I live my life vicariously though my daughters.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Songs of Christmas


          I am in the Christmas spirit...But I am holding back. Every year the songs , shopping, sales, and anything else associated with Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier. So this year I have decided to not listen to any of my favorite music until two days before Christmas. I remember last year and I found a radio station that played Christmas music and thought it was really cool that I could sing all those songs on my way to work and even on my way home from work. And it was...really cool I mean. That was until after the first week when those songs really started to get on my nerves. After that...every time I heard "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" I just wanted to rip out my stereo in my truck and toss it out the window. (OK I still want to do that every time I hear that song) But Holiday music should be nostalgic and it just cant be that way for me if I get burnt out on it. I may as well be listening to head banging rock music because it makes me just as sick. So I plan on waiting to hear all my favorites until Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
          O Holy Night is my favorite song of all the songs that get played. I recorded in my studio because it just gets me in the spirit of Christmas like no other song can. And I Love to be "in the spirit" on Christmas day. (Don't confuse that with "in the spirits") (which I like too) The song makes me wonder what it was like that night when Jesus was born. How Awesome that night must have been for Mary and Joseph and the people who new their King was being born.
           When Christmas day arrives....there is only one CD that is being played in the morning....yep...you guessed it....Kenny G....oh... that's not what you guessed? That's because its not really my choice...but its Kim's...and she gets up before I do on Christmas day. But its been played every year for the last ten years...so its kind of tradition....but its really because I don't have the balls to change the CD :)

Whats your favorite Chrismas Song?