Happy Holidaze?

The holiday season is pretty much in full swing. Thanksgiving is tomorrow and Christmas is less than a month away. I read in the past that the holidays can be a stressful time, as well as a lonely one. Of course, this holiday season is bringing the first Thanksgiving and Christmas without my Dad. My Dad never ate turkey, nor did he care much about football. He did enjoy a good ham on Thanksgiving. Since I like both turkey and ham, I rather enjoyed having both of them on Thanksgiving Day. I know the holidays will be much tougher on my Mom. I happened to turn the tv channel to GAC on Saturday night. They were having a gospel music hour. Two quartets on stage singing gospel songs together. I knew that this would be something that my Mom would enjoy, so I left the channel where it was at. After about 10 minutes of watching the show, I looked over at my Mom and I saw that she was crying. The music had moved her to tears. I'm not a huge gospel music fan, but I could see the joy these 8 men were sharing while singing together. The sight of seeing people really enjoying something they are doing does make one feel nice inside. I just wish I had a great singing voice like some others have. My Mom and I will be spending Thanksgiving Day with my sister and her husband's extended family. That brings us to Christmas. This Christmas comes with the realization that I will have one less person to buy gifts for this Christmas. Another thing on my mind is all those friends of mine who have lost someone close to them this year. Many of these people will be going through all the emotions my family and I will be experiencing this holiday season. I wish there was a way to bring peace and joy to all those who need it this holiday season. I hope the good memories of those loved ones they have lost this year can bring them some comfort. Best wishes to all.

Stuck In A Moment.

I'm off work again this week. Last Friday, I was asked to work in my old department for the last 3-4 hours of the night. It seems that after wanting to get rid of 3rd shift, 1st shift is having a hard time keeping up with the demand for parts. It's funny how things work out, isn't it? When somebody tells you they don't need you anymore and then they ask you for help a few weeks later, it's kinda hard to feel any kind of sympathy for them. That's pretty much how things run at work sometimes. It makes me laugh. I had a hard time sleeping last night. Too much on my mind. I am divided in how I feel about the direction I am headed in. I do feel like I am going to miss the independence I've had over the past 12 years. It's something I am going to have to get used to. Perhaps, in time, I will feel better about everything.

Safe Trip Home.

Dido finally released a new cd this week. It's called "Safe Trip Home". For the record, I downloaded it off iTunes and purchased the deluxe edition at Target as well. Lots of pics of Dido in the cd booklet. Can't get those on iTunes! Anyway, it's a typical smoothed out Dido cd. Something to chill to. Go get it!

Moving On.

Today was the 3 month anniversary of the passing of my Father. Time flies. I have been off work for the past two weeks. I have been in the process of moving in with my Mom. Yeah, I'm doing it. I'm hoping this all works out for the best. Root for me, if you can. I have my bedroom all furnished at the condo. I have been bringing all my cds and dvds over this week. I brought a few clothes over a few weeks ago. I have a lot of things to get rid of. I am not taking very much furniture with me when I go. Just a recliner, possibly an entertainment center and for sure a wooden chest that my Dad made me over 20 years ago. The main things I have left here right now are my computer and my tv. We have made some major improvements entertainment-wise at the condo. We bought a brand new 32" Samsung LCD TV last week. This week I bought a new receiver and some Boston Acoustics tower speakers for the new tv. I also added HDTV/Digital cable. Other improvements include a new tv stand and a new computer desk. We also got a new sleeper sofa for the basement. Despite giving up the freedom of living alone, things will be a lot nicer for me. I will admit that.

39.....With A Chip On My Shoulder.

Yesterday was my 39th birthday as most people knew. It was a significant birthday for me in a few ways. Mostly because it was my first birthday since the passing of my dad. That was a little sad to think about. The day was low key for the most part. I spent most of the day by myself. I voted in the morning and I did some shopping in the afternoon. For dinner, I decided to go to the Crazy Horse Saloon. Mainly because that is the one restaurant in Holland where my Mom can have dinner and not find anything to complain about. We had dinner at 6:00. My sister had a present for me. Since they had paid for my hotel stay in Traverse City last weekend, I didn't expect a present from them. I waited until after we finished dinner before I opened my present from them. My 10 year-old niece eagerly awaited me opening my present from them. I opened the first present. It felt like a book. I opened it up. It was a book...a diet book. Some book my sister had seen advertised on Rachel Ray. I don't remember the exact title of the book. It was some book explaining "eating choices". You know, don't eat that Whopper....eat a salad instead! I took one look at the book and said, "You got me a fat book!" My brother-in-law said, "No....it's a book about choices." I said, "No....it's a *YOU'RE FAT, READ THIS!* book!" Anyway, my family seem amused over my reaction at first. I told them, "I had no intention of keeping, let alone reading that book!" I was very mad. My second present was a Chipmunk webkin. I had jokingly asked for one of those because I loved chipmunks when I was a little boy. I called them "Chickymumps". But, that did not stop me from being mad over receiving that diet book. I'd always assumed that books like that should only be received as gifts if the person receiving the book had asked someone to buy that book for them. Getting that diet book last night made me feel as if they were telling me "You are fat. You need to change your diet and lose weight." Call it tough love or whatever you wanna call it. Anyway, it is sure to go down as a memorable birthday for me for all the wrong reasons. I left the restaurant without saying goodbye. I hugged my niece and nephew and told them I liked the chipmunk, but I didn't like that book at all. The aftermath that followed seemed to have everything twisted. They thought I was mad that all I got for a birthday present was a book and the chipmunk. It wasn't how much they spent on me, it was what they got me. It doesn't take expensive gifts to make a birthday special. The book now sits in my car. I nearly threw it out on the highway on my way home. I was thinking of several exciting ways of destroying that book. My Mom has urged me to give her that book. I think I will take it with me when I go see my therapist this morning. Should make for an interesting hour of discussion.

More Pics From Traverse City & Great Wolf Lodge.

My Weekend in Words.

I went to Traverse City with my family this weekend. We stayed 2 nights at Great Wolf Lodge. We left on Friday afternoon. Traverse City is about 3 hours slightly Northeast of Holland. We drove up US 131 on Friday afternoon. We stopped in Cadillac, Mi. It was my first time in Cadillac. We arrived in Traverse City about 5:00. After checking in, we decided to go get dinner in town. The restaurant we wanted to go to was too busy, so we ended up eating dinner at Chili's. Visiting cities I've never been to also means seeing women in other cities that I've never seen before. Friday was Halloween night, so some people came into Chili's dressed in their Halloween costumes. There was a family who sat down next to us. The Mom was attractive and dressed like the Mom in the animated movie "The Incredibles". I really wanted to tell her that I thought she looked incredible, but I didn't think her husband would appreciate that very much. After dinner we went back to the hotel and put our swimsuits on. The hotel has a big water park in it. 2 giant water slides, 3 giant water slides for inner tubes, a big hot tub for kids and adults, a big hot tub for adults only, a lazy river, a pool with basketball hoops etc...The big attraction is a giant bucket that holds 700 gallons of water. Every 10 minutes or so, a bell starts ringing and eventually the giant bucket tips over and dumps 700 gallons of water on people who are waiting underneath it. The water tube slides were colored yellow, blue and green. The green slide seemed to be the fastest. On Saturday morning, we went to a family-style restaurant that specialized in omelets. After lunch, we took a tour of Traverse City. Traverse City is situated along Grand Traverse Bay East and Grand Traverse Bay West. We saw lots of beautiful homes on our tour. There were also many local wineries located along the countryside. Grape fields were everywhere. Cherries are what Traverse City is famous for. However, we saw some apple orchards as well. We stopped at the Mission Lighthouse. Supposedly, that lighthouse is located exactly halfway between the North Pole and the equator. On Saturday afternoon, I decided to drive around Traverse City by myself. I ended up doing some shopping in downtown Traverse City. I stopped at "Cherry Republic". It's a store full of cherry products. From cherry jelly/jam to cherry salsa, cherry barbeque sauces and rubs as well as chocolate covered cherries. I bought my Mom a jar of cherry salsa and a jar of cherry jam. Another store featured all kinds of cherry wines. I bought my sister a bottle of wine made from 100% cherries. I took some pictures downtown and I also walked down to the Grand Traverse Bay and took a few pics. The last thing I bought downtown was for myself... 1/2 lb of fudge from Don Murdick's fudge shop. Let me say, it is quite delicious! On Saturday night we went back to the North Peak Brewery for dinner. That's where we wanted to go on Friday night. They make their own beer. I had a tall Steelhead Red brew for dinner. Think Killian's Irish Red. Good stuff. For dinner I had 1/2 roasted chicken dinner with a cherry bbq glaze on it. After dinner, we went back to the hotel. I was the only one in my family who went to the waterpark. Everyone else went there while I shopped in the afternoon. I spent a little bit of time in the adult hot tub. But not too long. I've heard that hot water can wreak havoc with my boys. LOL! Today, we went to the water park for an hour and then we checked out. We had lunch at Olive Garden. You know, when we were there, we really were family. We took the scenic route home. We took M-22 through Manistee (home of the Little River Casino) all the way to US 31 in Ludington. Then we took US 31 south to Holland. All in all, I had fun.

Traverse City and the Great Wolf Lodge In Pictures.