2016/August/30 - Sweetie's Birthday!

Today was Sweetie's Birthday!  Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

Lola and the boys pitched in and bought her a nice bouquet of flowers:

Sweetie had a better day than yesterday, (thank God!), but she was still stressed from the effort of homeschooling an inattentive Kuya.  She is not too keen on Grump working out of town, and would like for him to quit and get a job back home.  Unfortunately, there just aren't a whole lot of good IT jobs in central Georgia, particularly for old COBOL mainframe guys.

Meanwhile, back in Columbus, Grump treated himself to some loose leaf tea for breakfast:

While we don't have this specific brand of tea in our store, (at least not yet), Grump assures me he is busy adding several good Chinese brands of loose leaf tea to our inventory.

And while we are on the subject of loose leaf tea, someone needs to write a rebuttal to Anne Greene's silly article, because OF COURSE loose leaf tea is better than any tea that comes in a tea bag.  (And she knows it too!!)


This is a pic of Grump's breakfast, which, in addition to the yummy tea, included some polvoron, cut strawberries, and three hard boiled eggs, (not pictured for some obscure reason).

Most of Grump's breakfast

 Grump's lunch was interesting too, consisting of bitter melon, egg, and rice:

Grump's lunch

So most of the day went by okay.  Work was mostly pleasant for Grump, and Sweetie survived another day of homeschooling with less stress than yesterday.  But I have to say "most", because just before bedtime Kuya went ballistic, throwing a crying tantrum over not being allowed to watch TV.  Poor Sweetie was nearly at her wit's ends with him, when Kuya pushed her over the edge by barfing all over the bathroom rug.

This has been an old, stupid trick of his: to cry uncontrollably until he vomits.  It's rather disgusting that a second grader would behave like this, but he does, and we have to deal with it.

The real source of the problem, truth be told, is Grump working out of town, leaving two young boys with Sweetie.  Something will have to change soon, else I'm afraid Sweetie will wind up crazy, in the hospital, or both.

Peace!

2016/August/29 - Back to Work, Again

What kind of day was today?  How about this: after a very poor night's sleep, (his tummy hurt), Grump drove off to Columbus FORGETTING to bring the yummy tea Sweetie had made him.

Grump's Tea, (in the blue travel mug), left behind at home

After that cruddy start, you can kinda expect that today was pretty rough.

But before we dwell on the bad things, let's take a peek at one of the good things that happened today, namely, Grump's lunch:

Yummy Embutido for lunch!

Sweetie makes wonderful embutido!  Grump thoroughly enjoyed lunch.

Now I suppose we need to return to the day's challenges .......

First and foremost was Kuya's absolutely HORRID performance on a homeschooling test.  I don't know what got into the boy, but for some reason he was completely unable to concentrate, and thus gave fantastically stupid answers to most of the test questions.  For example, did you know that 4 + 4 equals 2?  (When asked why he answered that way, he said that he thought the 4's were 1's!)  This behavior drove poor Sweetie up the wall!

Right before he was supposed to go to a meeting Grump got a call from a frantic, upset Sweetie, describing Kuya's lame-brained attitude.  Grump tried to help, and called back a few times with "advice", but all he did was upset Sweetie worse, to the point where by the end of the day she was more aggravated with him than Kuya!

It was a bad day.

But the very good news is that today is finally done!  All bad days must eventually pass, and then we get a new day to start our endeavors all over again.

Hopefully things will go better for us tomorrow.

Peace!

2016/August/28 - Lazy Sunday

It was Sunday, a great day for staying in bed and sleeping in.  Unfortunately Dodong saw to it that we got out of bed nice and early, by peeing on a rug in the bathroom!  (Sweetie is attempting to "housebreak" him, and he hasn't quite figured out how to be housebroken yet.)

Sweetie dressed the boys to go to church in matching outfits, and while they looked nice briefly, they soon had their clothes all messed up.

Dodong and Kuya.  By the time I took this photo, they had already ruffled their shirts.

The boys playing on the bed

 We go to a congregation that meets in a church that is just south of Macon, GA.

Walking into Church

A view out a church window

During church service Kuya recited the first few verses from Genesis:

After church was over Kuya's friend Mr. B, his little sister, and his momma came over for a visit.  Other neighborhood filipinas showed up too; Sweetie, Lola, and the ladies had great time chatting away in Bisaya.

Old Grump had a great time hiding in the bedroom, taking a nap!

Peace!

2016/August/27 - Back Home

It was a hot, hot Saturday.  How hot was it?  Would you believe 97 F, (36 C), at 5:00 pm?  Ugh!

This had been a super hot summer, and quite frankly we're getting very tired of all the heat.  After three months of 90+ degree days you would too!  And this week the weather forecast is for another week of 90+ degree weather.

Blah ......

But life goes on, and, as they say, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!   Which we did, first thing in the morning.

When the whole family crams into the car, (even Sweetie's car, which is bigger), Sweetie has to jam herself into the backseat between the two boys:

Sweetie getting the boys buckled in, and wedging herself in between them in the back seat

For lunch we went to the Mellow Mushroom Pizza restaurant in North Macon.  Besides having yummy pizzas, the boys enjoy posing with the college mascots featured there:

Whilst waiting for our pizza to arrive, Kuya pretended he was a "frake", (or a "snog" maybe?), which is a frog/snake combination.  (No, this doesn't make sense to me either.  You'll have to ask Kuya about it.)

Dodong simply contemplated how he was going to spill his water and make a huge mess.  (He did not succeed!)

Some of the yummy Mellow Mushroom Mints!

Back home after lunch, we rested for a while, then it was back out to go shopping, this time at the Riverside Mall.  Whilst browsing around Gap, Sweetie found some exceptional deals!

Super Shopper Sweetie searching for bargains at the Gap store

That was about it for our day, as once we returned from the mall we just stayed home and rested.  We were tired, and tried to get to bed early, but that didn't work out.  Oh well ...... tomorrow is Sunday, so we can rest some more.

Peace!

2016/August/26 - Class, Day 2

Today was the final day of Grump's two day class, and just like yesterday, he got to work late, sat on his butt all day doing nothing, and left early.  Tough life, huh?

He did go out during lunch and take a few pics of some nice old houses in Columbus.  While probably not too interesting to most of y'all, (you can see these pics at http://planetarypics.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-few-more-pics-from-columbus-georgia.html if you're curious), there is one pic that I think is kinda cool, because it shows what appears to be a building created at three distinct time periods:

Old and New combined together - Columbus GA

But the real exciting news of the day was that, since it was Friday, Grump came home after work!  Hooray!  He even got home early since he had been in class!   (See first paragraph above.)

And what did he find once he got home?  Things were pretty much back to the normal routines we had before our vacation, such as Kuya laying around playing on the iPad:

Kuya lying in bed with the iPad

What would the boys do without their electronic gadgets?


Peace y'all.

2016/August/25 - Class, Day 1

Although marooned in Columbus, GA because of his job for two more days, today was the first day of a two day class for Grump.  How strenuous, huh?  So when he whines, (like he always does), about how hard it is for him working out of town, remember that for the last two days of this week he did nothing but get to work late, sit on his butt for a while in a classroom, and then leave early.

Oh the suffering this Old Grump must endure!

(Actually there is REAL suffering and stress associated with his working out of town, but it is ALL felt by Sweetie back home, who has to watch two kids, (while attempting to homeschool one), cook and clean, and get Kuya to his afternoon extracurricular activities, all while listening on the phone to Grump complain about how hard his life is!)

As an example of the "work" Grump did today, here are some notes he took on a styrofoam cup, (yes, he took notes on a styrofoam cup!), during class:

Class Notes taken on a Styrofoam Cup

For lunch, since Sweetie wasn't around to stop him, Grump treated himself to some yummy junk food at Taco Bell:

Grump unhealthy lunch

After class was over Grump snapped a few silly pics of Columbus:

A street level view in Columbus Georgia

Another street level view in Columbus, GA

I'm not sure what the significance of these pics are, other than proof that if you give a doofus a powerful piece of technology, (in this case, an iPhone), he will most likely abuse it.

Back home, Kuya and Sweetie were catching up on the school work Kuya missed during our vacation.  He seems to do much, much better when homeschooled than in a traditional classroom setting.  I wonder if that holds true for all kids?

Peace.

2016/August/24 - Back to Work

Ugh!  Old Grump had to wake up super early this morning, and make the long drive halfway across the state to return to his job so we could pay, (almost - medical costs have been killing us this year!), the bills.

He is lucky, I suppose, in that his job is an office job, and looks more like this:

than this:

or, God forbid!, this:

Something I NEVER want to do!

But as everyone who works for a living knows, the mantra of the boss man is always:

Meanwhile, back home, it wasn't all peaches-and-cream for Kuya or Sweetie either, as Kuya had to resume his homeschooling, working extra to catch up on the classes he missed while we were away.



Maybe someday we'll get our costs and other spending under control, and the Old Grump can finally retire?  (Don't hold your breath!)


Peace y'all!

2016/August/23 - Homeward Bound

Today our vacation was over  -  phooey!!  -  so we had to pack up and drive back home.

The boys had a banana each in our hotel room for breakfast.

Dodong's banana eating technique

Kuya's silly banana eating technique

As we were leaving, Grump couldn't resist taking one more "hallway" pic:

Our drive back home was uneventful, thank God.  (Driving on interstate roads is always risky - stay alert and be careful!)  Once we did get back home the boys quickly went back to their normals ways:

Kuya and Dodong back to their routine of watching videos on their electronic gadgets

So our beach vacation is now a memory.  It was short but fun.  We are already looking forward to our next adventure!


Peace.

2016/August/22 - Vacation, Day 4

Another day at the beach, and another post with no beach pics?

Well .... one day at the beach is PLENTY for the adults, so by today they had had their fill of sand and salt water.  The kids could spend another three weeks at the beach, of course, but their beach adventures would go undocumented today.

If your life will be ruined without another glimpse of the beach, you can try the link I posted yesterday: http://planetarypics.blogspot.com/2016/08/jacksonville-beach-and-koi-pond-august.html . If that just won't cut it, here are some completely unrelated to anything beach pics, (via unsplash.com):

Okay ..... back to our vacation!

We were up early again, only this morning we hosed around in our hotel room for a bit.

Dodong hosing around

Kuya hosing around

Sweetie and the boys

Old Grump, (aka, the beached whale), and the boys

We had a nice lunch at Panera.  (Grump is missing from these pics because he was the photographer.  Oh, you didn't notice he wasn't there?  How could you possibly miss him?)

For dinner we went to Carrabba's, which for some unknown reason Grump doesn't like too well.  He got this spaghetti and chicken dish, which he ate about half of:

Sweetie got chicken marsala, and it was absolutely delicious!

The boys each got some spaghetti, which they ate, with help from Sweetie:

After dinner we were all stuffed, so we waddled back to our rooms and went to bed early.


Peace y'all.

2016/August/21 - Vacation, Day 3

For our third day of vacation, Sweetie organized an Attack of the Pink Shirts!

Sweetie getting the boys dressed in the early morning

Sweetie and the boys

Kuya and Dodong in their pink shirts

Old Grump in his pink shirt, attempting to pose with the boys

Where are you going, Kuya?

Big and Little; Old and New

Another posing attempt

Finally, Kuya, Grump, and Dodong posing in their pink shirts

As always, Grump was fascinated by the hotel's hallways, and had to take a pic:

The boys weren't the only ones with colorful clothes.  In the evening Sweetie wore this beautiful blouse Grandma had given her:

Sweetie's New Blouse

For dinner today, we went to a local Mellow Mushroom and got several pizzas.  This restaurant had an old school bus inside as part of its decor:

Grump and Dodong on the bus!

The kids got these weird bits of string coated with wax as toys.  Both of them made glasses with them, (with help from Sweetie!):

Kuya and his glasses

Dodong and his glasses

So that's it for today.  You may have noticed there were no beach pics.  (Odd for a "beach vacation", huh?)  If you'd like to see some, you can click here: http://planetarypics.blogspot.com/2016/08/jacksonville-beach-and-koi-pond-august.html.  

Peace!