A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 119

29/April/2015, Day 119.  Wednesday.

The started out okay, but by mid-afternoon Grump was swamped at work.  He came home a bit surly and grumpy, (imagine that!), and now after putting up with his crap all evening Sweetie is fed up with him.  To top it off, Dodong isn't the least bit sleepy, and he should be sleeping now.

So excuse me if I take a night off and basically skip writing an entry for today.  There's too much drama going on here at the moment.

Goodnight all.

P.S. -  So far the Liquid Fence product seems to actually be discouraging the STUPID deer from eating our kamote plants that Lola put out in the garden.  Woo hoo!!

P.S.S.  -  Oh man!  Dodong is screaming!  Bye!! 

Final Postscript  -  for all those wondering what Old Grump looks like, here's a recent picture of him with Kuya and Dodong:

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 118

28/April/2015, Day 118.  Tuesday.

People complain about Monday being cruddy, but IMHO Tuesday is much worse.  Yeah, Monday is bad, but you're still kinda in a haze from the weekend, and the harsh reality that you're BACK AT WORK hasn't quite sunk in yet.  But by Tuesday there's no denying the fact that the weekend is dead and gone.

Kuya went to school, Grump went to work, and both survived as well as can be expected.  Actually Kuya is still young enough that school is enjoyable for him, I hope.  I liked school all the way through sixth grade.  But after that school absolutely SUCKED, until I got into college.

Back to the subject ..... (I seem to be meandering a lot tonight - have you noticed?).  It was a pleasant enough day in central Georgia.  Although it was supposed to rain, the skies stayed clear until well into evening.  Taking advantage of the nice weather all of us, (Dodong, Kuya, Sweetie, Grump, and Lola), went to the Riverside mall, and after puttering around here and there got some great deals at Gap.  If you don't know, Tuesday is a splendid day to shop at Gap, as they have all sorts of specials.

Sweetie is very pleased with the treasures she got tonight, most of which are for Kuya or Dodong.  (Though she did get a nice sweater for herself.)  But now she is anxious to go to bed, and wishes for me to finish up this post and shut down the PC!

Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 117

27/April/2015, Day 117.  Monday.

Monday, monday, monday!  Back to work for Grump, and back to school for Kuya.

It was yet another beautiful day here in central Georgia.  Although Grump and Sweetie were both still sniffling, (especially Sweetie), and tired, (especially Grump), they decided to treat everyone to some frozen yogurt after dinner.  Yes, it's expensive, and yes, we had to charge it all on the credit card, but it was such nice day it seemed a shame not to go out and enjoy the weather.  Besides, what better way to end a Monday than having a nice treat!

Speaking briefly of finances, we continue to receive our monthly rent check on our condo, and it appears Grump can make $50 - 100/ month on clickworker/IHRU.  He would make a LOT more if the stupid IHRU stuff would work better on his PC, but that's life.  He has also signed up for Amazon's MTurk, and will let y'all know which he likes better.

That's all for today.  Goodnight!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 116

26/April/2015, Day 116.  Sunday

Gosh, what a BEAUTIFUL day it was here in central Georgia.  We hope the weather was nice where you live too!

We got up early and went to church, arriving on time for once!  (We're usually late.)  The sermon was a good one, based on one of Paul's letters about contentment.  You should always try to appreciate whatever situation you find yourself in for the opportunities it offers you, and view the challenges as growth exercises.  (Meanwhile, in the back of my head, I hear Steve Martin whining, " .... be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant!")

After church we did a little shopping, then after puttering around for an hour or so Old Grump cut the grass ..... in the heat.  Whew!  He's exhausted now!

Dinner was fantastic, being super sweet corn-on-the-cob and sushi. 

We're all gonna go to bed early again tonight, to attempt to wipe out once and for all the last vestiges of this STUPID cold the boys, (Dodong, Kuya, and Grump), have been fighting.  Thanks to their "X" chromosome the girls haven't seemed to have gotten it as bad, all though poor Sweetie is still suffering from the non-stop sinus congestion she has had for what seems like forever now.

Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 115

25/April/2015, Day 115.  Saturday.

Here in central Georgia it rained most of the day, and most of the time the rain was heavy.  Despite that, we got quite a lot of shopping and other chores done.

We took Sweetie's car to the Hyundai dealer for some maintenance, then we got tissue and other "essentials", (including some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stuff, since Kuya was with us), at Target, and diapers, wipes, and mangoes at Sam's Club.

Grump, Sweetie, and Kuya arrived back home slightly damp, so we stayed inside with Lola and Dodong for a while until we dried off.

In the late afternoon Sweetie and Lola went to a baby shower, leaving Kuya and Dodong with Old Grump.  Miraculously all three survived their time together completely unscathed and untraumatized!

Once Sweetie and Lola arrived back home we headed over to Riverside mall for a very quick stroll, more-or-less dodging raindrops as we went from store to store.  Fortunately the heavy rain didn't start again until we were back home.

Then later in the evening both Grump and Sweetie decided they were "very hungry", so with Kuya in tow they went to Panera, where they ordered a late take-home snack, (flatbread sandwhiches for Grump and Sweetie; mac-and-cheese for Kuya.)

Once again it now is late, and time for all sensible folks to crawl in bed.  Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 114

24/April/2015, Day 114.  Friday.

It was a beautiful day here in central Georgia.  Clear skies, not too hot, and not a lot of humidity.

Old Grump chose to waste the day by being ill.  Actually his illness started in the middle of last night, when he woke up feverish, and then proceded to vomit.  He spent most of the day sleeping.

Let's leave Grump to his misery, and talk about all the wonderful things that occured today.

First of all, there was a mother's picnic at Kuya's school.  Sweetie brought some food from Panera for her and Kuya, and they both enjoyed eating outside with all the other mothers and kids from Kuya's class.  Sweetie discovered a new drink that she loves: ginger ale with a scoop of ice-cream or sherbert.  There were also all sorts of brownies, and cheese, and more goodies than Sweetie can recount.

After lunch everyone did the bunny hop dance, which as best I can tell consists of the following: put your right foot out, then put your left foot out, then HOP HOP HOP!  I'm not sure how much I'd want to hop after eating, but Sweetie says everyone had a good time dancing, so it must not have been too strenuous.

Then after school Kuya went to "bug camp".  I'm not exactly sure what all transpired there, as Kuya is busy watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle videos at the moment, and doesn't want to be bothered, but he did make a spider hat.

Dodong and Lola enjoyed spending lots of the day with each other while Sweetie was out, or sleeping.  THANK GOD that Lola is here helping us now!

Now it is time for those of us who are not already sleeping to go to bed.  Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 113

23/April/2015, Day 113.  Thursday.

First Kuya was sick, (he got better), then Dodong and Sweetie were sick, (Dodong is better; Sweetie is rapidly improving), and now the biggest baby of all is sick.  I speak, of course, of Old Sweaty Grump, who is coughing and has a fever, and is behaving as if he is fixing to die.

Oh woe is Grump!  Oh the suffering!  Oh the humanity!

Fortunately he was still in class today, so it was an easy day at work for him.

The STUPID deer have already eaten Lola's cuttings to the ground.  It doesn't help that Grump has been too busy, (i.e., LAZY), to go spray them with Liquid Fence.  We all wish those STUPID deer would just go away for good.

Sweetie made a delicious supper of baked pompano and fresh bitter mellon salad.  Yum, yum, yum!  For dessert Grump ate a huge slice of tart cherry pie, which considering he is ill probably wasn't the brightest idea.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turble power continues to rule our house, courtesy of Kuya.  I wonder when he'll grow out of his TMNT fixation?

Good night!  We all need to go to bed early, to hopefully shake off these illnesses.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 112

22/April/2015, Day 112.  Wednesday.

Today was Angel's day.  WE LOVE YOU ANGEL!

Let's mention the good things about today first, okay?

1. The weather was absolutely fantastic!  Clear skies, not too hot, slight breeze.  It was a day to celebrate being outdoors.

2. Grump was in class most of the day, (just like yesterday and Monday), so work was a lot easier for him than it has been recently.

Okay, now those nasty ol' bad things!

1. Grump, Kuya, Sweetie, Lola, and Dodong were inside almost the entire day.  (Grump and Kuya did try to fly his kite for a bit after Grump got home from work, but they were only outside 20 minutes or so.)

2. Dodong was still ill, and fussed through the entire night last night.  Sweetie and Lola barely slept; Grump got about three hours sleep.

3. As you know from yesterday's post, Kuya had an abscessed tooth.  The dental surgeon he saw this morning considered it bad enough that he pulled it on the spot!  He's now got some bridgework in his mouth.  (Six years old and already having bridgework!  Yuck!!)  So Kuya missed school, and was in some pain all day.

Sweetie was so tired that she let Lola cook dinner.  Lola did a good job this time; Grump and Kuya ate their supper without a single complaint.  In fact, Grump kinda liked it.  But don't tell Lola, or she might want to cook more often!

It's late, and we're all very, very sleepy, so goodnight all.  May you have sweet dreams.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 111

21/April/2015, Day 111.  Tuesday.

Dodong is ill again, darn it!  We're all hoping he feels better tomorrow, because we really don't want to take him to the doctor one more time. * 

Poor Sweetie was up all night with him again.  And again, I have to express wonder and admiration that Sweetie is able to function on so little sleep.  Despite her extreme tiredness, she was able to cook some delicious chicken adobo for supper tonight.  Women are tough!

While Kuya seems to be getting over his cold nicely, he does have another problem: an abscessed tooth!  It started hurting him a bit Sunday, and by last night he was crying at bedtime.  Fortunately he had a dental appointment scheduled for today, and when the dentist saw him, he immediately scheduled him for another appointment tomorrow morning at the dental surgeon's office.  Poor Kuya!  It appears he will have to suffer through another tooth drilling.

Lola keeps rolling along, helping hold all of us together here.  She pulled some weeds from the yard today, and in defiance of the STUPID deer planted some cuttings out back.  Once the STUPID deer show up, we'll see if the Liquid Fence spray Grump purchased really keeps them away or not.

Grump has been spending lots of time on clickworker, as it appears he has finally found a way to make a reasonable amount of money online.  Not a HUGE amount, mind you, but at least more than the few pennies of a "rounding error" that he was earning early last summer.

If you too would like to give clickworker a try, Grump would be grateful if you joined up using his affiliate link: http://www.clickworker.com/become-a-clickworker?utm_source=765696&utm_campaign=CW4CW&utm_medium=email .  (That's a mighty long link, huh?)

That was our day.  We hope your day was good, and that tomorrow will be even better!


* -  In the first paragraph of this post, I was gonna write, "Please pray for Dodong", but I think a better sentiment would be, "Please pray for everybody!"  After all, God is omnipotent; he can take care of all of us without any effort at all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 110

20/April/2015, Day 110.  Monday.

Today was Grump and Dodong's day to feel under the weather.  Grump felt queasy and dizzy at work, (and wanted to take a nap), while Dodong felt ill and fussy, (and did take several naps).

For dinner tonight Grump took Kuya to Panera, where Kuya had macaroni and cheese, and chocolate milk.  The two older boys enjoyed their time together, even if Grump was a bit grumpy.  (So what else is new?)

Grump is fighting with YouTube at the moment, trying to figure out how to get it to consistently work on all our computers.  It appears the ONLY way to get the silly site to work is to view it through a browser that has the Adobe Flash plugin disabled.  Weird, huh?  What is especially odd is that other sites require that plugin to be turned on, and work just fine with it.

Since there's so much illness in our family right now, (Kuya is still moaning about one ache or another), I'm going to bid you a quick "Goodnight" and get in bed myself. 

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 109

19/April/2015, Day 109.  Sunday.

Sweetie was up most of the night, tending to a restless Dodong.  Why Dodong didn't sleep we don't know, (he's not ill), but he did fuss nearly all night.  And then at 5:00 am poor Kuya was awake again, coughing and choking with the miserable snot that's pouring out of his nose and down his throat.  To tend to Kuya, Sweetie had to wake up Lola, so that Lola could watch Dodong. Of the whole family, only Grump got sufficient sleep.  ("Sufficient" perhaps, but certainly not "abundant"!)

So the day started out poorly, with Sweetie being especially tired.  She was able to catch a short nap around 10:00 am, (yeah .... we missed church, again!), but she was still not her usual happy self.

Add to this the fact that it rained, HARD, all morning, and most of the day until early afternoon.  It was just a blah day, and we all needed a change to lift up our spirits a bit.

So Old Grump suggested that the five of us go see a movie.

The movie was expensive, almost an extravagance for us, and unfortunately the movie Grump picked wasn't exactly the most riveting one for kids to watch.  It is called "Monkey Kingdom", and since it is a Disney production, (okay, actually "Disneynature"), Grump just assumed it was a cartoon.  Wrong!  This is a live action film about a troop of real monkeys.  While very entertaining, and containing amazing camera work, it personifies the animals a bit too much for Grump's taste, and lacked sufficient WHIZ-BAM-BOOM!! to keep Kuya's six year old mind focused.  (Dodong could care less about this or any movie, and would fuss until one of us would take him outside the theater and walk around holding him.)  Still it is a good movie, and one I would recommend, with the above reservations.  And despite the poor movie choice, we all thoroughly enjoyed our outing, and felt it was most definitely worth the expense.
  
After the movie the weather had cleared up a bit, so we went to the mall again to walk about, looking at all the tempting clothes and consumer goodies that we can't afford at the moment.  Then Lola and Kuya were driven back home, and Sweetie, Grump, and Dodong went grocery shopping at Krogers, (coincidentally next to the movie theater), to get some milk and a few other items.

Now we're all back home, and one by one getting into bed.  Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 108

18/April/2015, Day 108.  Saturday.

The day started with the whole family climbing into Sweetie's car to go check out some nearby yard sales.  Sweetie and Lola bought some cool treasures; Grump and the kids stayed in the car.

After that excitement we dropped Lola and Kuya off at home, then Grump, Sweetie, and Dodong drove off to Sam's Club, in search of mangoes.  They actually had some today, (hooray!), so we bought four boxes of them, along with some other goodies we can't live without.  Also, Sweetie bought a few dresses for Cami, as it was her birthday today.

Back home we ate a little lunch, then wrapped Cami's gifts and headed down towards Warner-Robbins to attend her birthday party.  Cami is a VERY popular little girl!  It was standing room only in her parents house.

Back home after the party, we ate a very light dinner, (mostly sliced mangoes, with some rice for the Filipinos), then after relaxing a bit headed over to the Riverside Mall, to check out the two new stores there, PetSmart and Pier One Imports.

We have wanted to buy a large aquarium for quite a while now, but other expenses and debts keep delaying that dream.  So the stroll through PetSmart was a harmless.  Pier One, however, was a different story.  Poor Old Grump is gonna suffer for this store, because Sweetie has already spotted several items which we "need" to buy for the house, ASAP!  Sigh .....

We tried to go to bed early, as Kuya is having trouble staying asleep at night due to severe sinus congestion.  In fact, Sweetie had give him some benadryl at various times during the day to dry up his nose and help him breathe.  Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 107

17/April/2015, Day 107.  Friday.

It was the day after Kuya's birthday, so today (through no fault of its own), was a bit of an after-thought.  It didn't help matters that it rained all day.

After a mostly normal day, (Grump hustled at work, but not insanely so; Kuya had a sluggish day at school), Kuya and Dodong were put to bed early, then Sweetie dragged Old Grump off to Bible study.  They didn't get home until (relatively) late, so both got in bed late.

While the events of the day weren't particularly spectacular, it is worth pointing out the theme of the day, (and many days to come, I suppose), which is: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  Kuya got some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys for his birthday yesterday, and now all his waking moments at home are infused with "turtleness".

Oddly enough, Grump remembers back when he was this age, (half a century ago!), living in Ohio, and how he briefly enjoyed having two small turles as pets.  They didn't live very long, (none of us really knew how to care for turtles - Grandpa had bought them for Grump on a whim), but while they did they were fun!

So here's the moral of this little post: if you have a young child at home, you too can head over to Amazon and fill your house with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys and paraphenalia, or you can download the clickbank ebook on how to keep a pet turtle alive.  Good luck! 

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 106

16/April/2015, Day 106.  Thursday.

IT'S KUYA'S BIRTHDAY!!  He is now 6 years old!  Hooray for Kuya!

Grump took the day off from work to help celebrate.  Amazingly, he did NOT get any calls from work about abending jobs today, although perhaps we shouldn't state this too soon, as there are plenty of hours left before tomorrow morning. 

After dropping off Kuya at school, Sweetie and Grump went shopping for some last minute birthday supplies, then picked up some pizza for Kuya's pizza party at school. 

The birthday was a blast!  There were fourteen kids, all juiced up on sugary carbonated drinks and pizza.

The cake was another delicious one from Auntie Joyce:

Kuya and one of his "girlfriends" did a spirited dance for us:

 

 

 The party had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme.  Here are the boys being fierce:

 Here are Kuya and the girls, being even fiercer!  (Well, most of them ...)

After all that excitement, we took it easy for the rest of the day.  We had a wonderful dinner at Pho Saigon, a vietnamese restaurant in Macon, then just relaxed a bit before going to bed.  Hopefully we can make it to morning without Grump getting a call from work.

Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 105

15/April/2015, Day 105.  Wednesday.

It was a typical day for us.  Grump went to work; Kuya went to school; Dodong, Sweetie, and Lola stayed home.  Work was a little hectic for Grump, but then it's been that way for a couple weeks now.

Grump is taking a vacation day tomorrow, so once he got home things were more relaxed.  After dinner we planned to do some last minute shopping for Kuya's birthday party at school tomorrow, and then she did it: Sweetie picked up Grump's phone, and listened to the voicemail.  It was his work.  (Crud!)  Another job had failed.  (Double crud!)

Since he now knew of the message, he had to pay attention to it.  Grump called his Team Lead, and asked if it was okay if he started working on this latest problem in an hour and a half or so, as this would allow him to take Sweetie, (and Dodong!), shopping for the last minute birthday stuff.  His Team Lead agreed, and so the three of them did not cancel their shopping trip.

Grump did eventually drive into work, (his remote connection access STILL doesn't work, because the creepy people responsible for the remote access configuration STILL can't handle the latest release of the Trend Micro anti-virus software!), fix the problem(s), and come home.  But now it is late, and once again Sweetie got swindled out of "talking time".  (This is BIG deal, because as you gals know "talking time" is even more important to a woman than sex.)

So now Grump and Sweetie are going to chat a bit, before calling it a night.  Bye-bye!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 104

14/April/2015, Day 104.  Tuesday.

Wow!  Grump is becomming absolutely FIXATED with clickworker.  He's earned the princely sum of $9.00 just today.  This may seem rather piddly, but for online "work" it's significant, and will be extraordinary if he actually gets paid.

If you have any interest in clickworker at all, please consider signing up via Grump's affiliate link: CLICKWORKER!

It was a pleasant day here in central Georgia.  Dodong seems to be well over his barfing fits from yesterday, and everyone else was in a good mood too.  Grump is happy because we did NOT go shopping!

Kuya is becomming very excited about his birthday, which is this Thursday, April 16th.  He is an extreme fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the moment, so we bought TMNT themed paper plates and cups for his birthday party lunch at school. 

Uh oh ..... Sweetie is NOT happy that Grump has spent so much time goofing around with the computer tonight instead of talking to her.  Grump needs to get his priorities straight!

Oh that note ..... goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 103

13/April/2015, Day 103.  Monday.

Poor Grump!  He got pounded again at work today!  One of the applications he supports keeps abending, (in a test environment, fortunately!), due to cruddy test data.  It's driving him bonkers!

Now that we got that whining out of the way ......

Although rainy, it was nice and cool here in central Georgia.  Lola, just back from the Philippines, is actually cold!  Everyone just seems in such a better mood since Lola has returned!  Sweetie is considerably less stressed, which means the rest of us are less stressed too.  (You know how it goes - "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!")  Even Kuya seems noticably more relaxed.

Dinner was yummy pompano and rice, with pie for dessert.  Sweetie and Lola chose apple pie, while Grump went for the sour cherry pie.  Kuya stuck with his favorite, green tea ice-cream, while Dodong just enjoyed taking whatever bits of food he could grab, and smearing them on his face.


Who are these two pink poodle people?

Why it's Kuya and Sweetie, of course, posing at the Cherry Blossom Festival we went to almost a month ago now.  (Sorry for the cruddy photo.  Grump was the photographer, and, believe it or not, this was the BEST one he took.)  How time flies!

Goodnight all.

Oops ..... not so fast!  45 minutes after we got into bed Dodong began gagging, then procedured to vomit.  Ten minutes later he was vomitting again, and acting listless.  Sweetie got worried, and insisted we take him to see a doctor ..... NOW!

So Dodong, Sweetie, and Grump got into Sweetie's car and drove into town to the after hours pediatric clinic.  As it turns out Dodong was okay, but the doctor recommended we give him some Pedialyte for at least 24 hours.   So Grump drove Sweetie and Dodong home, then motored off to Krogers to pick up some Pedialyte.

Now everybody is finally back home, and hopefully we can all go to bed.  Goodnight again, all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 102

12/April/2015, Day 102.  Sunday.

Gosh it's great having Lola back here with us!  Today Sweetie and Grump were able to go shopping BY THEMSELVES, with no little ones tagging along.  No crying, no pleas for a cookie, or candy, or God-only-knows-what.  Just two adults talking in pleasant voices to each other, enjoying each other's company.

We did slip up and miss going to church today.  This was Grump's fault.  He really, really wanted to cut the grass, and insisted on getting started in the morning.  It's actually a good thing he did, because it started raining a bit as he was finishing, and by late afternoon the rain was heavy.

Not too much else is news here at the moment, other than the fact that Grump and Sweetie are much less stressed than they were before yesterday.  Never underestimate how much more difficult it is to raise two, (or more), chidlren than one child!

Here's a pic Lola took back in RM:

Blue skies over RM!

Yes, there are better, and more personal, pics from Lola's trip back home, but for the moment Sweetie won't let me post any of them.  So for today enjoy the pretty sky.

Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 101

11/April/2015, Day 101.  Saturday.

LOLA'S BACK!!  LOLA'S BACK!!  LOLA'S BACK!!  HOORAY!!!

This morning we woke up early and drove to the Atlanta airport to meet Lola, who was coming back to live with us after going home to the Philippines for more than a month.  We all really, really, really missed her, but she had to go home and stay awhile to help with Lolo's funeral.  Her flight arrived at 10:00 am, but the folks at Immigrations must have been in a bad mood, because she didn't come through the arrival gate to meet us until almost 11:30.

Once we got Lola and the rest of us packed into the car, we headed off for lunch to a sushi place called Nori Nori on the north side of Atlanta.  It is actually a sushi buffet, and WOW was it delicious!  Expensive too!  Grump enjoyed his food tremendously, but the $90.00 bill, (for lunch!), gave him a bit of indigestion.  Okay, not really.  We all over ate, but none of us felt the least bit bloated or uncomfortable afterwards.  The food is really, really fresh and good!

After that extravagance, we headed over to the Buford Highway Farmers Market, where we bought a lot of fish, and some fruits and vegetables.  Sweetie restrained herself from buying the yummy looking jackfruit and durian, but even so the bill came to slightly over $170.00.  Believe it or not, that is actually a little bit less than we usually spend when we shop there.

After these two experiments in luxury we headed back home, but not before stopping at the Toys-R-Us / Babies-R-Us store in McDonough to buy Dodong some baby food.  We bought LOTS of baby food; the bill came to $130.00.  (Don't tell Kuya, but we also bought some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party supplies for his birthday next week.  He is currently in a phase where he is a drooling fan of the crime fighting turtles.)

These three big expenses  -  90 + 170 + 130  -  all went on the American Express credit card.  The same American Express credit card that Grump has been working so hard to pay down these past few months.  Poor Grump!

We were all so full after our lunch that dinner was just some rice, egg, and dried fish that Lola had brought back from the Philippines.  Sweetie claims that this is "rich people" dried fish, and she might be right, because whatever kind it was, it didn't stink nearly as bad as other dried fish, and even Grump enjoyed nibbling on a few bites or two.

The day ended with Grump fighting with his laptop.  It runs Windows 7, yet for some reason when he plugged in a Microsoft mouse, (to help alleviate the problem with the left key on the keypad), Windows would NOT restart.  He fought with it and fought with it, and finally go the system to work again, but now it appears that the battery won't fit back into the PC properly, so this laptop is limited to use on a power cord only.  Sigh  ......

Goodnight all.  I hope all of you had a wonderful day!

 

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 100

10/April/2015, Day 100.  Friday.

TGIFF!!  (Thank God It's Finally Friday!)  This has been a looooooooooooong week.

Neither Grump nor Sweetie feel all that great at the moment, and we have to get early tomorrow and drive to Atlanta, so let's make this entry brief.

It was a bit cooler today than yesterday, and it rained off and on.  Dodong had a good day at home, and Kuya had a good day at school, which is a very good thing!  Sweetie was tired, so we ate out for dinner.

Currently both Sweetie and Grump feel a bit queasy.  Grump had started feeling this way in the afternoon while still at work, so it's not from the food they had for dinner.  They're both dizzy; Sweetie believes that Grump is dehydrated, and is encouraging him to drink lots of water.

Because of Sweetie's allergies, we had to go buy some more tissue.  She prefers a particular brand, Puff's Ultra Soft & Strong.  Eight boxes of these tissues cost about $10.00!  Oh well ..... I suppose if you're going to be blowing you nose all day, you should at least use the most comfortable tissue you can find.

Goodnight all!  Pleasant dreams, and we hope to have more exciting news tomorrow.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 099

09/April/2015, Day 099.  Thursday.

The friggin' left button on the keypad of this laptop is about to bite the dust!  It doesn't always register, so for a couple years now I've had to bang on it, (usually with the non-writing end of a ballpoint pen).  It is now lower than the right button, and wobbly, but if you hit it just right it works okay.  Inevitably though, it chokes right when I'm in the midst of something I need to get done in a hurry, and then I pound on it mercilessly!  I wonder how much longer it will last?

Moving past the hardware dramas, let talk about our day.  It was warm hot here in central Georgia.  Dodong and Kuya both had a good day, with Kuya enjoying school, and Dodong enjoying being a toddler.  However, since Dodong didn't sleep very well last night, both Sweetie and Grump were tired.  Same old, same old, huh?  When are Sweetie and Grump going to ever NOT be tired?

Work today was still hectic for Grump, but not insanely so like yesterday.  He even was able to take a bit of a breather at the end of the day, which was nice.

For dinner Sweetie made some spaghetti with a delicious homemade sauce.  Well ..... it would have been delicious if she had not put a whole bag of sharp cheddar cheese into it.  Cheddar cheese and spaghetti sauce don't mix well in my opinion, although surprisingly Kuya would beg to differ; he ate up all his spaghetti, and he has been a picky eater of late.  Different tastes for different folks, I guess.

So I guess that is our tip-of-the-day for all you parents out there: if you have a child whom you are having trouble getting to eat his/her food, try some weird combination, like sharp cheddar cheese in the spaghetti sauce.  Who knows?  They may love it!

Goodnight all.   

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 098

08/April/2015, Day 098.  Wednesday.

Who came up with the spelling for "Wednesday"?

Our day started off a bit wobbly.  Technically these dramas took place last night, but they affected today, so I'll put them here.

It was VERY hot in the house, despite which we were all on the verge of sleeping, when suddenly Dodong vomitted, in the bed.  YUCK!!  We had to get up and clean him and the bed up, (as best we could), at which point Sweetie was ADAMANT that Grump stop being so darn kuripot and turn on the air-conditioner, for God's sake, before we all melt!!

Once the air-conditioner got going it was much easier to sleep, and Dodong didn't vomit again.  (Not that the air-conditioner and Dodong's vomitting have any corelation, despite what Sweetie insists.)

It was a warm, beautiful day here in central Georgia, but while Dodong, Kuya, (during recess), and Sweetie got to enjoy it, Grump did not.  As soon as he arrived at his desk he was slammed with work.  The pace didn't let up until nearly 5:00 pm.  He even worked during lunch.

Glad that such a grinding work day was over, once home Grump had a beer with dinner.  It was the first beer he's had since Dodong was born, (over a year ago!), and probably since Sweetie was last pregnant.  It was a San Miguel, and it was tasty!

A former co-worker of Grump's, from back in Columbia, SC, called him yesterday to let him know that his wife is ill, and needs some prayers.  So please, in your prayers today, ask God to help the sick women of Columbia, SC.  (Not only does God know who SHE specifically is, but God can also help ALL of them!)

Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 097

07/April/2015, Day 097.  Tuesday.

Today was truly back-to-school for Kuya, (unlike yesterday).  This gave Sweetie a much needed break, as she only had to watch Dodong during the day.

Grump's day at work went easier than yesterday, but it was still hectic.  One of the systems he supports has begun getting various cryptic errors in a test environment.  Grump can fudge his way through these problems, but it sure would be nice to know what is causing them, so that we can fix it.  If one of these weird problems popped up in production it would be a catasrophe!

Sweetie made a good dinner tonight of rice, broccoli, and egg.  Seasoned with garlic and onion, it was actually very tasty.

It's SO HOT in our house tonight, and Old Very Sweaty Grump is too cheap to turn on the air-conditioning just yet.  So we all sweat and suffer.  Ugh!

We hope that all of you had a wonderful day, and that you sleep well tonight.  Bye-bye.

A Day in a Year in a LIfe / Day 096

06/April/2015, Day 096.  Monday.

Today it was back to work for Grump, and back to school for Kuya.  Or so we thought!  Turns out that when Grump drove Kuya up to the school gate, it was closed!  Grump and Sweetie had not been paying close enough attention to school announcements, because it turns out today was the last day of spring break.  School doesn't resume until tomorrow.

So Grump back Kuya back home to a surprised Sweetie, then left the three of them, (Sweetie, Kuya, and Dodong), to go to work.  He wasn't as lucky as Kuya; work was not cancelled today.  In fact, a very sleepy Grump had lots and lots of work to do today.  Poor Grump!

Despite getting better sleep last night, bought Grump and Sweetie are now suffering from what must be accumlated sleep deprivation.  They can't wait for Lola to come back, so that someone can help them with the kids, and maybe help them get a good night's sleep.

In fact, both Grump and Sweetie are eager to go to bed, so let's wrap this up and call it a night.  Goodnight all!

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 095

05/April/2015, Day 095.  Sunday.

Today we had breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa, then we had to say goodbye, and start the long drive back home.

Although we were a wee bit more rested than a few days ago, the roads were much more crowded than they were on Friday, so the drive was not pleasant.  Additionally, crowded roads always seem to bring out the poor and reckless drivers, and today was no exception. 

We stopped in Valdosta to get lunch at Korea Garden, hoping it was open on Easter, but it was not.  So we went instead to a Chinese buffet called Chow Town, (1550 Baytree Road).  It was a very good buffet.  If Korean food just doesn't appeal to you, or you're looking for an all-you-can-eat type experience, I can wholeheartedly recommend Chow Town.  In fact, if you are responsible for feeding a few teenages, it is probably a better option.

By the time we got home we were all very, very tired again, and Grump had a tension headache.  We ate dinner out again, (our budget is feeling the pain of too many restaurant meals recently!), then went to bed early.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 094

04/April/2015, Day 094.  Saturday.

The theme for today, as it is for way too many of our days, was extreme tiredness.  Sometimes the first night in a hotel room is rough sleeping; this was the case for Sweetie and Grump, both of who slept poorly.  The kids responded by both waking up early, 5:00 am!  Grrr!!

After breakfast we went Grandma and Grandpa's place, then we drove Grandma, Sweetie and Dodong to a nice indoor mall.  Unfortunately the mall was nearly 45 minutes away.  (WHY we went to a mall that was so far away I don't know.  You'll have to ask Grandpa.)  Kuya had wanted to swim, so back to Grandma and Grandpa's condo we, (only Grump, Grandpa, and Kuya now), went.  While Kuya got in a brief swim Grump lay down on Grandma and Grandpa's bed, and zonked out for a good 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, back at the mall, Sweetie and Grandma were busy trying on all sorts of wonderful clothing that was on sale at Belks.  Sweetie found two things that looked nice on her and fit perfectly; Grandma graciously bought them for her.

Swimming and shopping time was up, so Grump, Grandpa, and Kuya drove back to the mall to pickup Sweetie, Grandma, and Dodong, then we all went to Paneras for a lunchtime snack.  After that it was time to rest and get ready for dinner.

Dinner was interesting.  Grump finished his meal before the other even got theirs, (he ordered a buffet, while they ordered from the menu), so after he was done he took Kuay, (who was misbehaving), and Dodong back to Grandma and Grandpa's place, where they waited, and waited, and waited for the others to finish dinner and come home.  It took them nearly an hour to finish their meal, by which time Dodong was really missing his mama!

Bedtime was early, and after a brief bit of fussiness from Kuya, (who wanted to watch TV), we were all in bed, and soon sound asleep.

Goodnight all!  

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 093

03/April/2015, Day 093.  Friday.

It should have been a mellow day.  We had planned to sleep in a bit late, then drive down to Atlantic Beach to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  Grump had already taken the day before as a vacation, so we were already feeling relaxed.

But ..... NOOOOOO!!  Life had other plans for us.

At 11:30 pm, after we had already fallen asleep, Grump received a phone call from work.  A job had abended.  PHOOEY, PHOOEY, and DOUBLE PHOOEY!!

So good little office drone that he is, Grump got dressed and drove in to the office, (because the STUPID dial-up access they're having him use still doesn't friggin' work!), and puttered around on fixing the stupid problem with the stupid job. 

He was there for several hours, and had to involve his manager.  As it turned out, we did finally resolve the problem, and it was something another group did wrong, not Grump, so that was good. But he didn't get home until 1:45 am, which was very bad,  It was probably 2:30 am by the time Grump and Sweetie settled down enough to fall asleep again.

So we were EXTREMELY tired when we woke up.  Fortunately God protected us, (and other drivers!), as we drove the five hours down to Florida.  We did stop in Valdosta to eat at the Korea Garden restaurant we had stopped at last time we came to Florida, and it was still yummy, but other than that our drive down was uneventful, which was a good thing, I suppose.

We had a nice meal with Grandpa and Grandma, then thankfully went to bed.  Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 092

02/April/2015, Day 092.  Thursday.

Today Grump took a day off from work, and Kuya is still on spring break, and thus not in school, so the four of us, (Dodong, Kuya, Sweetie, and Grump), got to spend the entire day together.  Woo hoo!!

The morning started off slow.  Dodong and Kuya had doctor's appointments, so we spent lots and lots of time waiting in the doctor's office, (and a wee bit of time actually seeing the doctor), which is the way these appointments tend to go.  After that, we ate lunch at the superb Maggio's, which we hadn't been to in a long time, owing to Grump's nervousness over our credit card debt.  Then it was off to Riverside Mall, (actually The Shoppes at River Crossing, but that sounds so fussy!), to buy some school pants for Kuya, which, to Grump's immense pleasure, were ON SALE!

Back home the plan was for Grump to watch Dodong, (and possibly Kuya), while Sweetie caught up on some chores, but Grump spent most of the afternoon puttering around on his computer.  He's been fixated on a site called clickworker for more than a week now, and while still not getting the hang of it, (nor having all of it work successfully on his locked-down PC!), he has managed to earn the princely sum of ..... $5.05!  Now before you say to yourself, "Good Lord!  What a waste of time!", understand that this is more than he has EVER earned from affiliate links, more than his average monthly earnings when he was writing articles, and, if comments here-and-there around the internet are to be believed, if he ever gets his act together, he should easily be earning that much PER HOUR!

Does it sound interesting now?  If you'd like to give clickworker a try, please consider joining using his referral code, so he will get a referral fee: Join Clickworker Now!

Meanwhile, back in the "real world", it was now getting close to dinner time.  We couldn't think of what we wanted to do for dinner, so Sweetie suggested we get some sushi from Fresh Market.  That was a great idea!  The sushi was yummy, and so was the grilled tuna and chicken "pot stickers", (which remind me of Chinese steamed dumplings).

Once dinner was over we started to pack for our big trip, which we'll talk about tomorrow!

Goodnight all.

A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 091

01/April/2015, Day 091.  Wednesday.

Old Grump went to the doctor today, and I guess now it's futile to attempt to hide the news: Grump is pregnant!

While maybe not the first human male to become pregnant, Grump's pregnancy is possibly the first time a fertilized human egg implanted in a male "naturally".  We have to put "naturally" in quotes, because we still aren't sure how this bizarre and potentially tragic situation came about.  (As you may remember, Grump is supposedly vasectomised!)  Not to be too graphic, but after an ejaculation I think you guys need to pull it out, rather than letting it hang around in there for as long as you can. 

Grump is VERY upset about all this, because the sensible thing, from a health perspective, is to abort the embryo.  However, he also believe that life, (a new human "soul"), begins at conception, and so is reluctant to kill another person if there is any other option available.  And thus the awful dilemma, because medical experts are .... well, baffled.

Probably the best thing to do would be to find a female surrogate to carry the child.

This is all so sudden, and such a tremendous shock, that we don't exactly know what to do yet.  Please keep all of us, especially Grump, in your prayers. 

It's been a long, weird day; we gonna wrap it up and go to bed early.  Goodnight all.


P.S. -  Yes, of course this is an April Fools joke!  But you can still pray for all of us, (and we would deeply appreciate it), particularly Grump!