Saturday, January 31, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 031

31/January/2015, Day 031.  Saturday.

"Some people are so poor, the only thing they have is money."
From a rustic sign at the wonderful French Market & Tavern, in Locust Grove, Georgia.

It was a bad day, and it was a good day.

The bad parts started early.  First, Dodong woke up with coughing and with a fever.  Then when Grump tried to remote connect into work again, his connection failed, again.  (He just tried it one more time tonight, with the same result, failure.)  So the whole family had to come with Grump while he drove to work to login, to see why he was called last night.

It was a simple problem, and would have been easily fixed if Grump's remote access had worked, but the company he works for tries to do everything as cheaply as possible, so their remote access process is a joke.

We were at work longer than we hoped, waiting for Grump to do his thing.  Once he was finally done, we could set off to do the things we really wanted to do, namely, shop and eat.

Unfortunately as the day went on it became apparent that Dodong just wasn't doing well at all.  So after dinner we drove straight to the pediatric after hours care, where after a short wait it was determined that Dodong has an ear infection, again.  Drat!

So Dodong is back on the antibiotics, along with tylenol for fever, and childrens benedril for some slight rash he got.  Poor Dodong!

Now the good stuff!

First of all, we went shopping.  Besides the usual places such as Target, we made a special trip to Babys-R-Us in McDonough, which is a bit of a drive for us.  They had lots and lots and lots of the baby food Sweetie likes to give Dodong, (Earth's Best Organic, if you're curious), so we loaded up on it, and some other odds and ends, and wound up spending about $130.00, which went straight to the American Express credit card.

After a brief stop at T.J. Maxx, we drove back to Locust Grove to have a wonderful dinner at the previously mentioned French Market & Tavern.  We all had a wonderful meal, (even Dodong, who ate some of the just purchased baby food), then Lola, Sweetie, and Kuya all had a piece of cake for desert.  The total for the meal, including tip, coincidentally also come to about $130.00, which also went on the AMEX credit card.

And we wonder why we're always in debt?

But rather than end this entry on that sour note, I encourage you, dear reader, to read again the quote with which this post began, and ponder on the fact that maybe, just perhaps, there are more important things in life than money.   
 

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 030

30/January/2015, Day 030.  Friday.

It was a fairly quiet day, which was a good thing, because Grump was very tired.  He mostly fussed and moaned his way through the day, and continued his fussing and moaning once he got home from work.

Kuya had a good day at school, (hooray!), Sweetie was only bit more tired than normal, and Lola and Dodong were their usual wonderful selves.

Grump wanted to skip Bible study because of his grumpiness, but Sweetie insisted that he go.  The whole family was there, and everyone had a great time except Grump, who sat off by himself and almost dozed off once or twice.  Grump doesn't speak Tagalog, (or Cebuano either!), so most of what was being said he didn't understand anyway.

We all came home, Grump fussed and moaned about how all he wanted to do was crawl in bed, and finally, at around 10:30 pm, everyone was in bed.

Fifteen minutes later the phone rang!  It was work; a job had gone down.  GRRR!!!!

Grump pulled his tired body out of bed, booted up the laptop, and tried, for an hour and a half, to connect in to work.  IT WOULDN'T FRIGGIN' WORK!!  The STUPID network people have the dial-in protocol so jacked-up now that it takes a miracle for the connection to take, and last night Grump was out of miracles.  Finally he got disgusted and went back to bed.

So now he will have to deal with this silly problem in the morning.  So much for a relaxing weekend!

Thursday, January 29, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 029

29/January/2015, Day 029.  Thursday.

Dodong was a little more fussy than normal last night, so Grump and Sweetie didn't sleep too well.  Despite this, it was turning out to be a more-or-less normal, basically good day, until .....

When Sweetie picked up Kuya at school this afternoon, his teacher handed her a printed letter.  It said:

"Dear Mom,

I had to write a not of apology to my friend for accusing him of doing something he didn't do."

The printed letter had Kuya's signature, (in purple crayon!), on the bottom.

This is the second day this week Kuya has been repremanded for bad behavior.  Sigh ...

As you would expect, Sweetie was upset about this.  Grump spoke to Kuya when he got home, and did the best he could to communicate to a five year old that saying people did things that they did not do is not very nice.

We had a wonderful dinner of meatballs, tiny fish, and eggs, (with rice, of course!), then after dinner Grump had the dismal task of attempting to pay our rent and other bills.  We just can't seem to get that silly Amex card balance down!  I know the problem isn't limited to us.  Despite the current low cost of gasoline, the price of everything else it seems is soaring to the heavens!

 

 

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 028

28/January/2015, Day 028.  Wednesday.

Do you know what a "Deist" is?

Grump had an interesting lunchtime discussion with a colleague today over "Deism".  Apparently it was a prominent worldview back when this country, (USA), was created.  Unfortunately it also expressed a "dark side" during the French Revolution.

Kuya behaved himself at school today.  Yesterday he had apparently insulted a classmate twice, (the second time after being warned not to speak like that again!), but today he was back to his sweet self.  We aren't sure what triggered his mean behavior, but we are working with him to ensure it doesn't happen again.

 Lola, Sweetie, and Dodong all had a wonderful day.  After a dinner of leftovers, (boiled eggs, rice, pita bread with hummus, and lumpia), Sweetie and Grump went for a quick walk around the neighborhood.  It was cold out, but not with the bitter wind of last night.

Would you believe that after this nice walk Sweetie wanted to go buy doughnuts?  Fortunately Grump was able to talk her out it, which wasn't really that hard, as neither of them had much money.

Speaking of money ..... tonight we should receive the biweekly deposit from Grump's job.  Hooray!!

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 027

27/January/2015, Day 027.  Tuesday.

The day started off well enough.  It was a bright sunny morning.  Grump's commute to work was a bit easier than normal, and all was mostly quiet at his job.  (Hooray!)  Lunch was a yummy fish bihon, (noodle), dish Sweetie made the night before.  

Sweetie was having a great day too!  Dodong seemed at ease, while she and Lola folded laundry.

Then she got the call.  It was Kuya's teacher, and apparently he had misbehaved at school.  Kuya had called one of his classmates a, "stupid friggin' idiot", and now the other boy was crying.

Sweetie had to drop everything and drive to Kuya's school to meet with his teacher.  She was informed that, since this was his first offence, he would not be punished, but if he upset a classmate like that again he would be suspended for a day.

Now I know some of y'all are thinking, "Good grief!  He only called the other kid a name!  What's the big friggin' deal?"  

If Kuya went to a public school, this probably would not have even been an issue; it seems that as long as you don't draw blood, all sorts of misbehavior is tolerated at public schools.  But Kuya goes to a small private Christian school, (paid for by Grandma and Grandpa  -  THANK YOU!), and misbehavior of this sort is absolutely not tolerated! 

Sweetie was EXTREMELY embarassed by all this.  She assured Kuya's teacher that we don't speak like that in our house, and in her case that is absolutely true.  In Grump's case, however ......

The sad truth is that Old Grump has quite a potty mouth.  He calls people "idiots" and things "stupid" all the time, and curses way too much.  Kuya is just picking up some of Grump's bad habits.

So Sweetie laid down the law tonight.  There will be NO MORE BAD WORDS SPOKEN IN OUR HOUSE!  That applies both to Grump and Kuya.  Grump is going to have to clean up his act, else he's gonna find himself sleeping in the garage.

Poor Grump.  He's been foul-mouthed so long it will be a challenge for him to speak nicely now.  Wish him luck!


Monday, January 26, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 026

26/January/2015, Day 026.  Monday.

I suppose the best news of the day was that Grump had a meeting with his boss at work, and she told him that she and his team lead think he is doing a good job.  Hooray!  Ever since Grump has been reassigned to a new team his work has gone MUCH, MUCH better.  

This is very important to all of us, as the overwhelming majority of our income still comes from Grump's job.  We sometimes get a wee bit of income from the condo in S.C., (and sometimes not!), but currently it is so small as to be irrelevant.  

As for online income  ...... ha!  We had another expense today.  Our online business is at this point a massive failure!

Speaking of expenses, this month we had to cough up $600 to various dentists, ($400 for getting Kuya's teeth drilled, and $200 for Kuya's, Sweetie's, and Grump's semi-annual cleaning).  No wonder we can't save any money!

Back to events of the day ..... Grump met Sweetie for lunch at Maggio's.  They hadn't had a "lunch date" in a long, long time, (ever since Dodong has been born, I believe), but now that Lola is here to watch Dodong for a bit, and Kuya is safely in school, they can spend lunchtime together.  I think they will be doing this more often in the future!  :-)

After dinner Sweetie suggested to Grump that they go for a walk around the neighborhood.  Grump tried to explain to her that it was cold out, but Sweetie was insistent, so they bundled up, stepped outside, and ..... made it all the way to the end of the driveway before Sweetie declared that it was, "TOO COLD!", and back inside they went.
 

Sunday, January 25, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 025

25/January/2015, Day 025.  Sunday.

Dodong had a rought night sleeping last night, so Sweetie and Grump were both very tired.  

Most of the day was spent puttering around at home.  Grump spent a lot of time working on a few of his websites,  http://www.missingmusic.blogspot.com/ and http://buyingnirvana.com/ .

At Missing Music, the problem has been all the old links he built years ago with MediaFire have long since dissapated.  Meanwhile, videos on YouTube seem to last forever, (as long as you don't violate their prudish rules on nudity).  So obviously the better choice for storing music clips would be to post them as a video on YouTube!

At Buying Nirvana, Grump has been copying over mostly all the posts he put on FullofKnowledge, and then changing associated links.  It's a nuisance, but he feels he has to do it since the Admin of PAA began deleting articles after the turn of the year.  The Admin of PAA is the same person as the Admin of FoK, so Grump thinks it's just a matter of time until FoK articles start to dissaper too!  (Besides, the Admin changed the rules on us and decided to stop paying views on any article older than six months.)

Sweetie and the rest of the crew were surprisingly supportive of Grump today, considering how much time he spent on the computer.  Maybe they've bought into his claims that he can make some money with his blogging.  (Uh-oh!)

The only other exciting news was all of us went for a late afternoon walk at the outside mall on Riverside in North Macon.  We got there so late most of the stores were closing by the time we got back to our car, but Grump didn't mind that; it just meant it was harder for us to spend money!

Saturday, January 24, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 024

24/January/2015, Day 024.  Saturday.

This morning Sweetie and Grump slept in, Sweetie until 10:30 am, and Grump until 11:30 am, just in time for lunch!  Lola fried up some eggs for the two sleepyheads, and along with Kuya they had a very late breakfast.  

After breakfast the three of them amazingly went .... back to bed!  Yep, Sweetie and Grump both napped for a while, while Kuya played with his Android textpad.  

We finally got moving around 4:00 pm, and ate an early dinner at the recently relocated/redesigned Fountain of Juice, (which now calls itself, "FoJ an Eatery", I believe).  Sweetie loves this place, and Lola does now too, as she thoroughly enjoyed the fried shrimp she ordered.  Grump like the food, but, characteristically, grumps about the cost!  Dodong just came along for the ride, and thought FoJ was a pleasant enough place to be.

Hmm ..... the facebook pages and webpages are confusing.  I wonder if the original Fountain of Juice is still open?  That calls for further research!

After we ate, we went shopping at Walmart on Zebulon road.  (Yes, this is the same Walmart where we once met Honey Boo Boo!)  It was Lola's first time inside a Walmart, and she was impressed with how much stuff you could buy there.

Now it is late.  Kuya has finally settled down, and Dodong is sleeping, so I suppose it is time to sign off.  Peace to all!



A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 023

23/January/2015, Day 023.  Friday.

This is the first late entry of the year, (it's actually Saturday morning as I write this), but it's an almost certainty that it won't be the last!

It was a mostly quiet day.  Sweetie and Grump went to Bible study by themselves, leaving Lola, Dodong, and Kuya at home.  They did this because Kuya has been incredibly disruptive at the last few Bible studies he has attended, which is to be expected, I suppose; Bible study has never been high on the list of things that interest five year old boys.

Before driving over to Bible study, (it was held on the opposite side of town tonight), Sweetie and Grump stopped at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and each got a little hamburger, and shared an order of fries.  Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Other than that .... well, not much happened that I can remember.  Grump did have a boring day at work, and spent a good part of his day reading about barbicans on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is a wonderful resource freely available to one and all.  I encourage each of you to donate to Wikipedia from time to time, as that is the model they has chosen to operate under, namely "please send us money".  Yeah, it can be irritating at times, but it does keep them free from the influence of any paid advertisers.
 

Thursday, January 22, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 022

22/January/2015, Day 022.  Thursday.


Oh man!  Dodong is screaming!  This will have to be a quick entry.

Work was quiet; Kuya survived another day of school, and Sweetie cooked baked salmon for dinner.

We skipped the "power walking" today, (I think we over did it last night), and instead after dinner went to a cupcake shop.  Sweetie, Lola, Kuya, and Grump all got a cupcake, and they were very, very yummy.  Only Dodong was left out.

Come to think of it ..... maybe that is why he is screaming now.  Maybe he is upset and jealous because, since he is still so small, he is the only member of the family who did not get a cupcake. 

Poor Dodong! 

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 021

21/January/2015, Day 021.  Wednesday.

It was a quiet, peaceful day.  Dodong and Kuya behaved, for the most part, although Kuya stretched the bounds of "good behavior" considerably.  Sweetie made another delicious dinner, and after work she and Old Grump did one of the workouts on the "Leslie Sansone: Walk Away the Pounds - 5-Day Fit Walk" DVD.

But I suppose the day did have its trauma.  Grump read an online article at work that made him teary eyed.  

Now it is late, and Grump is desperately fighting with the INSANELY STUPID mouse pad on his laptop, attempting to finish this post before the inevitable, "WHEN are you coming to bed?" yelling begins.  (He has been absolutely POUNDING on the left mouse pad key to get it to respond.  Soon it will probably break, and he'll have to attach a real mouse to his laptop.)

Good night!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 020

20/January/2015, Day 020.  Tuesday.

Another workday is gone.  When he was younger, Grump used to fantasize about retiring once he turned 40, or 50, or .....

Those days are long gone!  Grump is closing in on 60 years old, and retirement seems as far away as ever.  I guess that's what happens when you have kids.

Kuya was back in school today, which made him happy.  Even though he is still in kindergarten, they are teaching him to read very simple words.  

Have you noticed that even though the price of oil, and therefore gasoline, is way, way down, food prices seem as high as ever?  Sweetie and Grump went shopping tonight for a few items, (mostly baby food for Dodong), and while it seems that they hardly bought anything, the total price came to over $100.00 !  Grump remembers when $100.00 could buy you a whole shopping cart full of food, not just a few odds and ends.

Sweetie made a fish soup tonight for herself and Lola.  It was a Filipino style fish soup, with bones and skin included.  Despite this, Grump was able to eat a small bowlful, and he actually liked it!

Goodnight all!

Monday, January 19, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 019

19/January/2015, Day 019.  Monday.

Despite the fact that Grump spent a good part of last night attempting to hack up a lung, and was only able to stop coughing after swilling some codeine syrup, (again!), it was actually a decent day.

Kuya had a day off school, due to MLK day.  He says he "learned" today, but since he wasn't in school, we aren't sure exactly WHAT he learned.

Dodong and Lola hung out and did what Dodong and Lola usually do: Dodong slept, ate, crawled, and cried, and Lola washed dishes and cleaned clothes. 

For some reason, Sweetie was absolutely radiant today.  Even Old Grump was struck by how wonderful she looked when he got home from work, and he told her so.

All in all, it was a very happy evening, until ..... she saw it!

Over at Buying Nirvana, (another crazy website we more-or-less maintain), we have been copying our posts from FullofKnowledge, saving them there in case the admin decides to do what he did to PAA, and start deleting old posts.  One of the posts, (A Squirrel Story), is about a wild event that happened to Grump and his ex-wife.  Now Grump happens to think the story reads better with "wife" in it instead of "ex-wife", so he saved it that way. 

Unfortunately, Sweetie does NOT appreciate any reference to this ex-wife as "wife".   In fact, she HATES it.  So you can imagine what happened when she read that post! 

So now Grump is in trouble, again.  Let's hope that Sweetie soon forgives his poor judgement.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 018

18/January/2015, Day 018.  Sunday.

If you read yesterday's entry, you will pretty much know how Sweetie and Old Grump were today, namely TIRED!  Three miles was a long, long way to walk in their current state of out-of-shape flabbiness.

So we all just hung around the house today, and, as Sweetie says, "poked each others eyes out."  Grump and Sweetie did go for a short half mile walk around their neighborhood, more to loosen up than anything else.  

Dodong is crawling very well now; he did lots of crawling today, all over the living room, dining room, and even past where the carpet ends into the kitchen.  Kuya was mostly bored, stuck as he was in a house with two tired old people, and spent most of the day finding new ways to bounce off the walls and furniture.  And Lola just went about her way quietly cleaning up after all of us.  

Lola never stops working, (unlike Grump), and she never complains, (definitely unlike Grump).  She's just happy to live life the best she can one day at a time.  We could all learn a lot about living well from her!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 017

17/January/2015, Day 017.  Saturday.

The big event of today was that Grump and Sweetie went for a walk.  A LONG walk!  Three miles, to be exact.  They walked from our houses to a shopping center and back, which was a three mile round trip.  And once they got home, they were exhausted!

A few years ago, when we lived in South Carolina, Grump used to regularly walk between five and fifteen miles on the weekend.  As he can barely make three miles now without help, you can see how much he atrophied since moving to central Georgia.

The day started off with some sweet potatoe pancakes with chocolate bits that Sweetie woke up early and made for us all.  After Kuya jumped on Grump to wake him up, we all enjoyed our yummy pancake breakfast.

After breakfast Kuya, Sweetie, and Grump went shopping, mostly to buy diapers and wipes for Dodong.  Back home we had some leftover yummy lentil soup for lunch, then after lunch Sweetie and Grump went for their LONG walk.

Sweetie and Grump did eventually recover enough from their walk for the whole family to go to the Riverside mall, where after a little more shopping we all had dinner at the mexican restaurant.  Lola was happy because she got to eat shrimp again! 

Once home from that adventure we all went to bed early.  If Sweetie and Grump have recovered from their hike by tomorrow, they just may do it again!

Friday, January 16, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 016

16/January/2015, Day 016.  Friday.

Grump made it through the night last night without taking any codeine!  Unfortunately he didn't sleep too well, but he does have some more good news to report: his tooth didn't hurt nearly as much today as it did yesterday.  Hooray!

Kuya went to a special arts-and-crafts session after school today, and made all sorts of neat and cool things which he brought home.  Sweetie, Dodong, and Lola were just their usual wonderful selves.

We had Bible study tonight, so we are all up later than normal.  

Poor Grump!  For the past two years now he has been trying to find a stable online site to post articles to, and make a little money in the process, but all that he has gained has been disappointment.  Either the site is a scam, or pays practically nothing, or over time just fizzles away.  Now he is in the process of copying all the articles he wrote to one of his websites, buyingnirvana.com.  It's still a work in progress, and will probably remain so for quite a while.

Boys and girls, if you have any interest in writing articles, write them for your own site, either a free one here on blogger or wordpress.com, or on your own webpage.  Trying to make money writing articles for others is a futile pursuit!    

Thursday, January 15, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 015

15/January/2015, Day 015.  Thursday.

Poor Grump!  Besides his irritating cough, (which is so bad when he goes to bed that he's had to take codeine cough syrup EVERY night this week just to settle down enough to get to sleep), he now has a sore tooth.  Well, sore gums around the tooth more accurately.  

Grump got paid today, so he was able to bring Sweetie home some money for the week.  He also had to try to pay the bills, which at this point are starting to overwhelm him.  This American Express card balance is over $3,000.00 now, and he hasn't a clue how he will pay it.  Such is life in middle class America!

Today's entry is going to be cut short, because Grump promised Kuya he would watch "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", (again!), with him on the computer, and Kuya is behind him right now, impatiently waiting.  Family is more important than blog entries, so until tomorrow we must bid y'all, "Adieu."


Wednesday, January 14, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 014

14/January/2015, Day 014.  Wednesday.

It was another chilly, overcast day in central Georgia, that just seemed to get colder as the day went on.

The big news was that Kuya and Dodong's bunk bed finally arrived this afternoon.  The delivery guys got here around 2:00 pm to take it upstairs and assemble it.  Old Grump had to leave work early to pickup Kuya after school, as Sweetie was busy supervising the bunk bed installation.  Kuya was pleasantly surprised to see Grump at school!

After dinner Sweetie decided to change Dodong's diaper.  This is usually a relatively uneventful act, but tonight when the diaper came off she found wet poop all over his bum, up his back, and smeared around to the front of his body!  By the time Grump had responded to her cry for help some poop had even dripped onto the sofa, which Lola had to clean.

Grump carried Dodong into the bathroom and stood him up in the sink, while Sweetie removed his poop stained clothes and began to wash him.  But Dodong wasn't finished creating excitement; he began to pee on Old Grump!  So poor Old Grump wound up with poop on his hands and pee on his shirt and pants.

The final excitement was a quick trip Sweetie and Grump made to Dillards to buy mattress covers for the new bunk bed mattresses.  As it so happened, Ralph Lauren towels were on sale at a heavy discount, and you know you should never pass up a good deal!  By the time the spending was complete another $200.00 had been added to the Dillards' credit card, and Grump was fussing and eager to go home.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 013

13/January/2015, Day 013.  Tuesday.

Good stuff first:

Sweetie and Lola cleaned up the room where Kuya and Dodong's new bunk bed will go.  (It's supposed to be delivered tomorrow.)  This room had been a toy room; Kuya had toys and crayons and markers and bit of paper scattered all across the room.  Now it is nice and clean, and will probably stay that way for at least a day or so.

Dinner was delicious!  Sweetie cooked up some cod and rice, with a garnish of a boiled egg.  Lucky Grump gets to has this again for lunch tomorrow!

Now the bad stuff:

For the past two nights Grump hasn't slept well.  He goes to bed early enough, but on both nights as he begins to fall asleep he starts to cough and cough and cough and COUGH!  Both nights the only way he was able to get any sleep at all was to resort to taking some of the codeine cough medicine.  He's so tired right now, (just after dinner), that he plans to go to bed as soon as he finishes a few chores.

Sweet dreams, Old Grump!

Monday, January 12, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 012

12/January/2015, Day 012.  Monday.

Old Grump was coughing so bad last night he had to take some codine cough medicine.  Many years ago, when Grump was a boy, you could simply go to a pharmacy and purchase cough medicine with codine in it, but now, here in the "Land of the Free", you need to have a prescription from a doctor.

The nanny state grows and grows, and our liberties dwindle.

Once he was able to fall asleep Grump slept fine, as did Kuya, but Dodong was up off and on all through the night, and then so was Sweetie.  I don't know how she does it, functioning day after day with such little sleep.

Despite it being overcast all day, it was considerably warmer than yesterday, although very damp.  It is perfect weather for you, if you are a duck, moss, or mold.

Sweetie made a pancit-type noodle dish for dinner, with beef, which was of course yummy.  After dinner Grump, Sweetie, and Lola did a one mile power walk with Leslie Sansone on the DVD player.  Now it is time to get ready for bed.  Good night!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 011

11/January/2015, Day 011.  Sunday.

Blah!  Old Grump still has this STUPID head-cold grunge crap, and Sweetie now has it too!

Today was cold and overcast and towards evening a bit rainy.  Not at all nice and sunny like yesterday.

We all went to church this morning, where Sweetie gave the nice folks who gave us, (mostly Kuya and Dodong), Christmas gifts, some blueberry scones as a "Thank You" gesture.

In the early afternoon we went to three "open houses", where you get to walk through a house that is for sale.  The first house was an attatched two bedroom, two bath townhouse in a very nice neighborhood, but was a bit dated, and way overpriced at $215,000.00 .  The second house was also an attached townhouse, but was really nice and had three bedrooms.  It was priced at $220,000.00, and in our opinions was a much better deal.

The third house was a fantastic five bedroom mansion in an exclusive area of Macon.  Priced at a little over half-a-million dollars, it would be a great purchase for some rich folk, except for the SMELL.  Apparently the owners had cats; the cats are gone now, but their odor remains.  Why anyone would pay so much money for a smelly house is beyond me!

Dinner was Orange Chicken and Vegetable Mei Fun from the wonderful Mandarian restaurant.  Their food is so much better than the swill from Panda Express it's unfair to Mandarian to even pair them in the same sentence!

Kuya has just finished watching "Rudoph the Red Nosed Reindeer" for about the sixth time now, so I suppose it is time to start getting ready for bed.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 010

10/January/2015, Day 010.  Saturday.

Mopalita ug everything!  We will buy everything!

The key event of today was our shopping trip to the furniture store.  Sweetie had assured Grump that the purpose of this trip was to buy a centerpiece for the dining room table, but by the time we left the store we had purchased a new kitchen table, and five chairs.

We have yet to purchase a dining room centerpiece!

Earlier in the day Grump and Kuya had gone to the Macon Museum.  As museums go, it's kinda small, but the folks there try to make what they have interesting.  The "mini-zoo" is always worth a visit, just to see the antics of the little monkeys.

It felt a little bit warmer today than it has been this week, although it cooled off considerably once the sun went down.  Maybe if it warms up now we'll stop thinking that central Georgia has somehow relocated to inside the artic circle!

Lola and Dodong dislike the cold as much as Old Grump does.  In fact, Lola has taken to wearing her coat even when inside!  Whatever it takes to be comfortable, I suppose.

Now Sweetie is making blueberry scones to give as "thank you" gifts to all the folks who gave us goodies over the holidays.  Kuya is watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" on Dailymotion, Lola and Dodong are napping, and Grump is trying to spiff up his hopelessly amateur website http://www.arph001.com/, particularly the "A Day in a Year in a Life" page.

Friday, January 9, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 009

09/January/2015, Day 009.  Friday

Whaa!!  Grump apparently overdid it yesterday; he feels cruddy again today.

Here's what's going on.  Before getting sick over the holidays, Grump was climbing up the stairs at work five times a day.  He had to scale back because of this STUPID illness, but was trying to get back in the habit again.

Meanwhile, we have started doing the "Walk at Home" routines popularized by Leslie Sansone.  (You can find her videos on YouTube, but if you wish, you can also buy her DVDs at Amazon.)  We've just been doing light 1 mile walks to start, but yesterday Grump walked up the stairs at work six times, then did a 1 mile power walk with Sweetie when he got home.

Apparently that was too much for Grump's sickly fat old body, because today he feels cruddy again.

When asked what he learned at school today, Kuya says, "I learned how to be good."  He is really into Spider-Man at the moment, finding all sorts of YouTube videos with Spider-Man toys he just must have RIGHT NOW!  (So much for learning to "be good", huh?)

Tonight is a Bible Study night.  We will be meeting at Mama Sue's house.  There will be all sorts of Filipino food there, (maybe some of which Grump can even eat), but as a precaution Grump and Kuya had a hotdog each, from the superb Nu-Way Weiners.  If you're ever find yourself in Macon Georgia, and need a bite to eat, check them out! 

Sweetie, Dodong, and Lola are all doing fine.  Dodong appears to be cold-blooded, like Grump, because the illness that he seemed to be developing a few days ago went away once Sweetie bundled him up.  Which is appropriate, because it has been RIDICULOUSLY COLD here in central Georgia these last few days.  Brrrr!!!!

Thursday, January 8, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 008

08/January/2015, Day 008.  Thursday.

It was a relatively quiet day.  Grump had a normal day at work, Kuya had a normal day at school, and Sweetie, Dodong, and Lola had a normal day at home.

And then .... Grump came home, and saw THE BILL!  It was from the dentist who has been filling Kuya's teeth, and it was for $380.00!

Ouch!  Grump was very upset by this, because he's been trying to save some money, month after month after month, so that he can pay down the American Express Credit Card debt.  Yet once again, his efforts come to naught.

He was in a foul mood after this, and even barked at Sweetie and Kuya.  Bad Grump!    

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 007

07/January/2015, Day 007.  Wednesday.

We're all sitting around the dinner table, and Lola and Sweetie are laughing at Grump and Kuya's attempts to speak Bisaya.

"Ngalongaloan!"  Whatever the heck that means.  (If it's something bad, blame Sweetie!)

Dinner was some baked tilapia; dinner last night was cod.  Grump is happy, as this is two days in a row he got to eat yummy lightly flavored, non-oily fish, cooked American style.  Sometimes when we have fish for dinner it is some strong flavored stuff, (cooked in VINEGAR, no less!), that he has to force down.  Grump hasn't developed a taste for things like dried fish or sauted sardines yet.

Although he is still in Kindergarten, Kuya got a report card today, and it was very good.  We are so proud of him!

Dodong has gotten in the habit of grabbing anything within reach and sticking it in his mouth.  Yikes!  We have to watch him like a hawk, to make sure he doesn't try to swallow anything that would harm him.

It's supposed to get really, really cold here in central Georgia tonight.  Brrr!!  Why can't the weather just mellow out, and not go to these crazy extremes?

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 006

06/January/2015, Day 006.  Tuesday.

Maybe this time Grump has learned a lesson: NEVER insult a Filipina!  Sweetie was still a bit sore from being called, "fat and lazy", this past Saturday.  Finally Grump relented, and admitted to her that he was upset and depressed because of her lack of affections.  They kissed and made up.  Hooray!

At school today, Kuya made a snowman out of paper plates.  He has two new classmates, a boy and a girl.

Dodong and Lola did what Dodong and Lola usually do, namely, hung out together.

Tonight Grump and Sweetie went to Pubix to buy Dodong's baby food, which was still on sale.  Then they went to Krogers to buy a dozen persimmons, which Sweetie loves.

Peace and Hugs!

P.S.  -  after we went to bed last night, Kuya had a bad coughing fit, then vomited all over himself.  Yuck!

Monday, January 5, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 005

05/January/2015, Day 005.  Monday.

It was back to work for the Old Grump.  After the lull of the holidays, work is beginning to pile up again.  Just today he got assigned two new projects.

Sweetie is still a bit mad at Grump, but she is getting over it ..... slowly.

As Publix is still selling the baby food Dodong eats for half price, ( Earth's Best Organic Baby Food, if you're curious), Grump and Sweetie went shopping after work, and bought 26 jars of the stuff.  Tomorrow we plan on doing the same.

Now .... we plan to EXERCISE!  Grump really needs it, being old and fat, and Sweetie is getting a bit plump too!  But now we're make ourselves skinny and sexy.  Look out!

Sunday, January 4, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 004

04/January/2015, Day 004.  Sunday.

Old Grump and Incredible Sweetie were still a bit ill today.  But even worse, they were still quarrelling from yesterday, barely speaking to each other, and when they did so, in a tone filled with bile.


Despite this, things were accomplished.  Grump and Kuya both got haircuts, (on orders from Sweetie, by the way!), and Sweetie managed to buy lots of baby food for Dodong at half price.

Dinner was a disaster!  We tried takeout from the newly opened Panda Express here in Macon, GA.  Several of Sweetie's friends had recommended it to her.  Our opinion of it can be summed up in one word: YUK!  If you're hard up for cash and you're looking for something to eat, you'll do much better at Taco Bell, IMHO.

How bad was it?  No one liked it, not even Lola, and Grump and Sweetie, (on speaking terms again), went to Publix and bought a small pack of sushi to eat, as both were so hungry.

On reflection, maybe there is a good side to the Panda Express experience.  Nothing brings folks together like sharing a terrible meal!



Saturday, January 3, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 003

03/January/2015, Day 003.  Saturday.

Despite both Old Grump and Incredible Sweetie being ill, the day didn't start off too bad.  Sweetie made some yummy french toast out of croisants for breakfast, and then for lunch we all had burgers from Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

It was some time in the early afternoon that the trouble started.  Grump, who was feeling irritated from some unexpected money pressures, like a true clueless dolt called Sweetie "fat and lazy", and hurt her feelings.  The atmosphere here has been tense and icy ever sense.

On a positive note, we were able to get Lola some affordable insurance via AFLAC.  If you know someone who doesn't have insurance, this might be an option for them, that stupid (un)Affordable Care Act, and EVERYONE who voted for it, be damned! 

So How Are Things Going, Old Boy?

If you've read my latest posts, you know that in the last few days I've been suffering with another bout of nasty sinus crud that my fat old body seems irresistably prone to picking up.  If you want to waste five or ten minutes, read on and listen to me whine about how this sad state of affairs came to be.

On Friday, December 26th, the day after Christmas, (as if you didn't know that!), the four of us, Ronelin, John, Thomas and me, drove down to Jacksonville, (actually Atlantic Beach), to visit my parents.  We had a good meal Friday night, followed by a good night's sleep, and then a nice breakfast Saturday morning.

By Saturday afternoon Thomas was acting fussy, and feeling warm.  As the day went on he got worse, so we gave him some infant tylenol, which seemed to help.  All then seemed well, until that evening.

Once we were in bed, Thomas began to cry.  He cried and cried and cried and cried and cried and cried, ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT!  Ronelin got no sleep at all; I got about 2 hours in fifteen minute increments here and there.  In the wee hours of Sunday morning we decided we needed to get him home, so we made an early phone call to my parents, then set off for home about 6:00 am.

Fortunately Macon has a really good after-hours pediatric doctor's office, so we were able to get him medical attention once we got back home.  It turns out he had an ear infection.

To make the drive from Jacksonville to Macon on very little sleep I had pumped myself full of caffeine, (energy drinks mostly).  Unfortunately I was still all jacked-up when we went to bed Sunday night, so for the second night in a row I got very little sleep.

Monday was a work day for me, so I had to drag my sleep deprived fat old body out of bed and slog off to work.  By Monday afternoon I was starting to feel unnaturally congested, with a nasty tingling in my throat.  By Monday evening I was sneezing and coughing and doing my best to produce gallons of snot.

I didn't sleep much Monday night either.  Even though I was dead tired, the stupid sinus troubles, (coughing, unable to breathe, snot running down my throat, pounding headache), managed to keep me awake for large chunk of the night.  Tuesday morning I was a wreck; I had to call in to work sick.

So that's how I've been this past week.  I'm living on Mucinex DM, Ibuprofen, and Vitamin C at the moment, waiting for this crud to go away.  It might be a long wait.  Once my body catches one of these sinus nasties, it jealously holds onto it for weeks and weeks, as if reunited with a long lost lover.


 

Friday, January 2, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 002

02/January/2015, Day 002.  Friday.

As most days when Grump isn't at work turn out to be, (as TOO MANY days turn out to be, in Grumps opinion!), today evolved into a Shopping Day.

Despite the fact that Grump's fat old body was still wracked with whatever crud has recently chosen to infect him, and the overcast, cool skies and sporadic bursts of cold rain, we all jammed into Grumps tiny car, (the bigger car was unusable since SOMEBODY barfed all over his car seat yesterday), and went shopping.  

First stop was Sam's Club to buy some decent rice.  Most of the grocery stores around here don't even carry a basic jasmine rice, which, considering how poorly Americans cook rice anyway, (at least according to Sweetie), probably isn't that much of a catastrophe.  We picked up some other goodies at Sam's, (fruits and such), then zipped back home so Grump could rest his battered old body.

After a quick lunch of eggs, hotdogs, and rice, we went shopping again, this time to get bedsheets for the twin mattresses on the new bunk bed we bought for Kuya and Dodong.  After that we stopped off at the grocery store to buy food for Dodong, and some more fruit, this time persimmons for Sweetie.

Now it's not quite even 6:00 pm yet, but Grump is already making mutterings about going to bed!  What better to do on a dreary cold rainy day than sleep and save up your energy for when the sunshine returns?

Thursday, January 1, 2015

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 001

01/January/2015, Day 001.  Thursday.

Happy 2015 One and All!!

Welcome to a new year of the continuing adventures of Old Sweaty Grump, Incredible Sweetie, Kuya and Dodong, (the Wonderkids), and Lola, with occasional appearances by Grandma and Grandpa, and Angel.

Today was rather subdued for us, as both Grump Kuya, (particularly Kuya), were fighting a stupid sinus infection type crud.  As I'm writing this, (a bit after noon), Kuya is still sleeping, after being up for only an hour or so this morning.

Sweetie is tired too; she is laying on the sofa, watching a cooking show on the Food Network on TV.  Meanwhile Lola is busy, busy, busy, cleaning in the kitchen, washing dishes, taking out trash, sweeping the hallway, cleaning up the bathrooms .... whew!  Just writing about her makes me tired!  Sweetie insists that this is NOT how things usually work around the house, with her laying about while Lola works, but I now have evidence to the contrary!

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So as the day went on, Kuya seemed to feel worse and worse.  He didn't even want to eat any of the freshly baked soft pretzels we bought at the mall.  This concerned Sweetie; she insisted we stop shopping, and take him to the doctor.  This was probably a good decision, because on the way to the doctor's office Kuya barfed.

He vomited all over himself and his car seat.  Yuck, yuck, yucky!  Sweetie and Grump cleaned him up as best they could, then the three of them sat in the doctor's office for more than two hours, (yes - 2 hours!), while they waited for the doctor to see Kuya.

Fortunately nothing serious is wrong with him; he apparently just has a virus.  But it was quite a frustrating afternoon/evening for the family!