Today is Frank's (Dad's) Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Posted on: Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Today is Mom's (Pat's) Birthday!!
Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is Leo's birthday!!
Happy Birthday, Leo!!

Today is Kenneth's birthday!!
Happy Birthday, Kenneth!!

Congratulations to Mom & Dad on 33 years of marriage today!

We all love you VERY much!!

Posted on: Wednesday, August 27, 2008

 Dear Anthony

Well, it has been almost a week since we have talked. It has been a busy week here, what with Dad gone (still!!) and getting ready at work to be gone for a week in San Diego. But since I am up at 4 AM (!!!!!!????)I thought I would visit. Of course, everyone is welcome to read, but of course of I know they are all too busy to participate in our little bit of history. Christie, busy with her kids and trying to push information into their little heads, toastmastering, church, learning herself (what is she thinking...), Jchon and Dawn with their 'busyness' raising their sons (silly involved parents), earning a living and all that extra stuff, Frankie and Simone, well Simone...who I think I scared off with all my rantings. Dad..because he thinks nobody reads or cares (what am I?? fried liver?? I care!!, silly man, no chopped liver...that's it..)

So.....I guess it is just you and me (maybe Michelle if she is accused of not protecting her husband in nipple pinching attacks). Family history will go the way of history and your children will have to rely on passed on word of mouth legends and stories. Certainly in 30 years, there will be no written word anyway. Probably people will speak into something and it will be converted to something written, revised by the federal government to fit the message of the day prior to public consumption.

They won't hear of Dads forays into the world of trade shows and set up mishaps, or Frankies Alice in Wonderland interpretation of life (oh come on Frankie..you know it is so :)...you have a windtunnel between your ears, with escape hatches, some info escapes and is rationaled, is that a word?, and some information leaves the other side and you come up with really funky views of events...you get it all sorted out eventually! We won't get the different perspective from Simone, coming from the German upbringing (Simone changed my whole concept of German people!...she doesn't fit the mold..she is so cute AND FUNNY!). She must think because she sees they way things should be done as different from mine (your's, Dads, anyone's) that we will make fun of her or belittle her (OK..maybe make fun of..but never belittle!!) Jchon and Dawn always had uplifiting and funny tales of everyday existance, Christie and Michelle are just plain amusing. If John were to post...well, that would be something extraordinary and as well,  more than interesting. William..needs too, but won't :( He has NO excuse!

So, the long and short, I think it is up to you and I to carry on as best we can, to keep the history alive for as long as we can, to bring the ancestors alive to all the children, because, as they say, if you don't know from whence you came, you can't possibly know where you are going (all typed with the Battle Hymn of the Republic  by the Morman Tabernacle Choir...and Elvis...softly playing in the background, crescendoing into a emotional conclusion!)

This weekend is all about paints. That's new, isn't it!!?? Pouring, pouring, pouring. Any luck at all, I will get some molds poured too, but paints are the priority. Dad has done two straight weekends in a row of shows. One in Illinois and one in Wisconsin, with a foray into Indiana to pick up glass and caps. I think he is more than ready to come home and I am more than ready to have him back home! The shows were so so...probably would not have been worth going to other than we needed to pick up the glass and we had to fairly good sized pre-orders.

Next week it is San Diego for both of us. I have a 3 to 4 day briefing with the Immigration Service Centers and we found a really cheap ticket for Dad to fly on and he is coming to enjoy the balmy San Diego evenings with me and hopefully take some "Dad" time during the day to recharge. He is only allowed to take his computer, no papers. Maybe some paints and projects, but thats it! My brain will be fried by Thursday afternoon, so it won't mattter what I take. I am still hoping to get a Border Patrol tour, but since one of the San Diego agents was murdered a couple of weeks ago by an border crosser, they are not sure they are comfortable taking people out into the field at this point. Not too mention when they start taking Congressional staff out, it takes a ton of agents out of the field, leaving them even more short staffed, so I am not sure I want  them to do that either. But it is such an education to see what is really going on...

Grass should be mowed this weekend and William got a head start today and will be doing some more tomorrow. Steve is having another 'jam fest' here next Friday night, so he will probably use his slave labor this weekend to do some more mold tossing, tree limb picking up and general yard cleaning. And maybe he and William can move the filing cabinets out of his living room over to Dads office...maybe. He helps me with paint pouring too!

I was going to have the kids this weekend, but Ben and Monica's plans changed, so I said after I get back from San Diego we would have them over for the weekend. Joey's birthday party was last weekend and Brianna's 13th is coming up. 13!!! WOW!! And William will be 30!!!

Well Anthony...I think that is it for this early morning. Football season is approaching, so perhaps if you post something wonderful about Texas, maybe at least Christie would respond?? But that might be too much to ask of you...to say something that is SO wrong...

Looking forward to hearing from you, and say hello to the kids for me and of course your wife...Michelle isn't it???

(all in jest folks, all in jest...in a backhanded sorta way...I think it is funny...)

Now in the words of our wonderful Oklahoma Governor "write y'all" (no...that was 'read y'all'...equally as bad)

 I was

on the Ferris Wheel when the pinching was going on.  I was actually quite amused by the whole thing.  He is more than able to protect his own honor.  And I was raised to not use violence so what good would I have been anyway?

 And where was your wife???

Did you wife not come up and protect your honor??? She left you there to defend yourself with dippin dots??? Michelle Louise Paradise! (that is YOUR middle name isn't it??, I get confused..), why were you not over there knockin' that drunk girl to the ground telling her to get away from your man! Shame on you!

Well, aside from the assault in Hawaii, nothing exicting happening. Dad is currently in Wisconsin, having survived one show in Illinois. So far we only have on lost credit card, a lost Flying J awards card, a misplaced or left behind computer charger and one fall....not bad! We certainly have done worse! And I am sure the cards are in the truck somewhere, the cord was replaced with a stop at Best Buy and no serious issues with the fall except his back hurts. So...the glass and caps were picked up and he is safely installed in a hotel in West Allis, Wisconsin for a couple days of rest prior to setting up for the Friday/Sat. show. Then he will make a beeline back to OKC to be here Sunday night to get ready to leave for San Deigo on Monday!

I am pouring bisque, pouring bisque and pouring bisque. When caps get here tomorrow or Thursday, I will be pouring paints and putting orders together. I think I am getting the boys this weekend, but I was supposed to pick them up from school and now I can't, so I am not sure what is going to happen.

 A fun time at Bayfest

Yesterday we took the family to Bayfest at the Marine base and it was great!    I think the boys had more fun with the Marines displaying all their military vehicles and weapons than anything else.  I had to tear them away that area.  Bayfest is a fair type of thing that they put on each year with musical guests.  This year, we went to go see the Black Eyed Peas concert, it was a great time had by all. 

The boys were riding rides and enjoying fair food, funnel cakes, when, out of no where, I was attacked!  I was in one of the snack lines getting a diet pepsi when it happened.  An incredibly drunk young lady said, "Are you in line for a Hotdog!"  I said no, and her friends went on to tell me that she has been asking  for one all night.  After some small talk, the drunken girl was talking to her well stacked friend and reached over and pinched her boobings.  Then she pointed at her bigguns, I think, so that I would acknowledge them.  Being a gentleman, I politely nodded, and looked away when it happened. 

None of my military experience prepared me for what came next.  The d-girl reach up and tweeked my nipple!  I felt violated!  Luckily, I had some dippin dots later to help me through it. 

 Another week

Well, one more week has gone by, not sure where. Spent the first 3 days in Ft. Worth at a Medicare training...eeekkk.

Spent Thursday afternoon with Dawn and the boys and a wonderful dinner when Jchon came home. When I got home, Dad had already left for Collinsville, IL and I am a single lady for another 10 days or so.

Dad made it fine and got set up and had the first day of the show yesterday. It is a small show and not much going on, but he felt ok about the first day. Monday he is in Indianapolis to pick up much needed caps and glass so I can finish off some orders. We miscalulated what would take us to October. Wednesday he heads to Milwaukie for another two day show and will be back in town on Sunday afternoon, late. Monday we both fly out to San Diego for the week for an Immigration briefing for me, relaxing for Dad. Hope to see Jimmy while we are there.

Anyway, today..I am going to try to make sense of clothes and laundry, get some bisque poured, and work on the house. We'll see!

 Well, no...not recently...

But I know what you mean. A one hour errand turns into a 6 hour trip! Or in your case, a whole day! Dad and I try to keep out in town stuff to a minimum because it just interrupts the whole day.

But it sounds like you had a lot of fun! And that is what weekends are for!

Right now I am safely settled into the Sheraton in downtown Ft. Worth. I don't have Dad with me, so I am not particulary happy about this. I don't think we were meant to travel seperately :(. And then he has to head up to Illinois on Wednesday and I won't be home until Wednesday night. We will be communicating via phone, email and FB (not likely, but maybe Dad will try that) until the 23rd! And if the shows turn out ok, then he will fly to San Diego to spend the week with me there, as I fly out to CA on the 24th.

I have 3 days of CMS briefing the home in time for our town hall. It is a required event this time for EVERYone in the office. We anticipate about 300 plus angry people. I'll let you know if we all survive.

 On the way to Chuckie Cheese's...

Recently we have had the problem of going out on one simple trip or errand and not returning the whole day!  Does this happen to anyone else?

After soccer games and swimming for the boys, we took off for a trip to chuckie cheese's.  The better chuckie is across the island on the other side of honolulu, so we go.  Only to find out that it had moved to another location, so we grab some lunch at McDonalds, the new angus burgers are pretty good, and if you get a chance try the hapia? pie, tastes like coconut!.  Anyway, I saw a cheap van for Michelles childcare business to look at in in town so we stop and check it out.  We like it and the guy says it will be ready in a couple of hours.  So, we got the the AlaMoana Mall nearby.      

After killing time at the Old Navy and the Thinker Toy store, we head back, and the van is not ready and the guy is no where to be found.  So  we continue our quest for Chuckie Cheese's.  The stinky chuckies cheeses is very busy and does not have the game variety as the old one, but since it is gone, beggars cant be choosers!

So, we decide to have dinner at the Cattle Company steak house, a very nice steak house that reminds us of home, it has a lot of cowboys on the wall and looks like we are in texas or ok, sort of out of place in hawaii, but very cool.  After a great dinner, we get to chuckie cheeses and battle through the crowd.  Only to arrive home at 10 pm!  We only were going to chuckie cheeses!  This whole thing might seem strange, but something like this happens every weekend!  Anyone else? 

 Ok

Day two of the new school and I see the potential, but boys oh boy is it going to be work.  For both the boys and me.  Tony is really excited because 3rd grade is the first year that the really cool electives are available.  So far we know that he is in Game Academy 2D.  He is hoping to get robotics and digital photography but we won't know tommorow or Thursday.   We are slowly figuring out what schedule will work for us here at home.  That is about it for us, I will post again later.

 Yea Anthony!!!

Thank you for posting here! And good job to Leo! And you for your patience and Michelle for teaching!

I am still working on getting Dad ready to go to two shows back to back, all the while I am gone out of town! Dad is working on the bisque and I am getting all the paints done. Steve is being a HUGE help and sits over there with me and helps to pour and cap and label.

Jchon and Dawn, I will be at your place around 5 or so on Sunday, visit for a bit and head to Ft. Worth until Wednesday, then stop back by on my way home.

 You Go Leo!!!

You keep it up Leo.

You can be your dad's teacher . . .