For my Love

Happy 19th Anniversary Princess!!! I love you with all my heart. I wish I were with you today and not in Mexico!!

You are my all, my everything and thanks for a wonderful journey this far!

I Love you!

Hugs and Kisses

Jim

Sunday Update

Yesterday, as I had stated before, Princess and I were asked to talk in Sacrament meeting. The Bishop told us to take 12.5 minutes each for our remarks.

We got to the Chapel, set up on the stand by the pulpit. There was a youth speaker and a rest hymn, so I was not panicked about time. Well...after the youth speaker spoke for about 15 minutes, Princess spoke for 22 minutes without stopping or looking at the clock!!! She sat down next to me and there was 5 minutes left to the meeting before the closing hymn.

I stood up to speak and the Bishop and first counselor both looked at me, nodded and told me to deliver my talk. I had 8 pages typed single spaced to deliver. I talked faster than I ever have in my life. I consolidated where I could, didn't read all the scriptures that I had chosen, and we finished about 8 minutes after we should have.

Before I entered my Primary class, the first counselor asked if Princess and I would choose another topic and speak at a youth fireside!!! I told him NO! I don't believe he heard me.

We'll see - Jim

Hairdo II

So this is Princess's new do! Gone is the 1980's mall hair with the huge updraft in the front. Now she has longer slicker lines in a much more modern fashion.

She took this photo herself in our kitchen/dining room. I promise to take a better picture tomorrow and post, but I know that all the family is dying to see this.

Just gotta love my Princess!

Jim

Hotter than...

So, it has been like 100 or more for about the last three weeks. The hottest summer since Princess and I moved here in '01. We got our electric bill yesterday. They say we used more electricity this year than last. I find that hard to believe. We've set our thermostat up higher than ever before. We're turning off lights, ceiling fans, you name it, just so we cut the bill. We're even staying up late, trying to do laundry in off-peak hours to keep the bill down. But, here we are with our highest electric bill ever in 19 years of married life. We may have to cut out trips to Sonic so that we can afford to pay it.

On a lighter note, Princess and I are speaking in Sacrament meeting tomorrow. For those non-LDS, this means we are the people giving the sermon. Both of us have been extra nervous and vying for computer time to write our talks. And I still have to teach Primary afterwards - I tell you, my life is hectic.

I spent all week in Mexico for work - hotter than you know what there too! I will be traveling quite a bit for the next month - my schedule never lightens up. I'll be back boiling in Mexico this coming week too. Thank goodness this white boy can speak, read, and write the lingo down there or it would be mayhem. I mean mayhem.

The worst part about traveling for my job is that sometimes I am gone for important life events, Valentine's Day, Anniversaries, Birthdays, etc. This Monday, Princess and I will celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary! Who'd have thunk that she could put up with me for this long?! I certainly am the luckiest guy in the whole world to have her. She is so kind, thoughtful, shows unconditional Christ-like love not just to me, but to everyone she meets! I am truly blessed for her in my life. I won't be home for the big event, and she is "ok" with that, so we have done everything she wanted to do this weekend, cards with our friends, me not nagging, etc. and I'll have to make up more next weekend when I am home with her.

Have a great night - Jim

Chores

When I was a kid, our parents had this rule; "No Cartoons on Saturday Morning until your chores are done. Well now as an adult, without children, I can't get Princess to understand this rule at all.

As a huge courtesy to her, I let Princess sleep in on Saturdays...this means, no mowing, no edging, no vacuuming the car out until she is up...around 9:00 to 9:30. So this morning I am up at 6:00 outside enjoying the cool morning (yeah at 78F), pulling weeds, sweeping the front porch/walkway...doing my honey-do's. I decide to wash her Murano since it's been a couple weeks and the sprinklers at her work are constantly getting it wet (also at this time, I have done several loads of wash - not folded, but put in the washer, dryer or hung up to dry).

As I'm finishing up, she comes out and offers to help dry, of which I am very appreciative. She helps, then goes inside, I hear nothing and I'm thinking "she went back to bed!" But she hasn't, she's making a cake (third weekend in a row) for our friends birthday, so I don't go into nag mode. I pick up the rugs in the laundry room and front entry way, take them out to shake them off, sweep the front tile, then mop it. So why do I tell you this? I look over and she's on the couch watching "Paula Dean" on the food network. I just shrug and keep going. She is after all my Princess...and I love her for it.

She's showering, I going to put the rugs down, then shower and we're off to shop for tax free weekend in Texas! About time I need some new shorts - so Old Navy here we come. Hope your day is as fruitfull as mine.

Jim

Nothing Interesting

Nothing really interesting has happened lately. My life seems a little boring right now. Too much work, too much stuff to do in the yard, more work, house cleaning, etc. You get the picture.

Princess made a birthday cake for the son of friend who turned 3. The kid is into trains and so his party was train themed. Princess copied the train design from the graphics our friend did for the kids t'shirt. It was originally in black & white, but she did it in colors. For no formal cake decorating classes, she continues to amaze me. Well I tried to upload a picture here, but you're going to have to look at the cake in my Flickr banner in the right side bar.

Going to dinner at Chik-fil-a (for those not familiar, this is a chicken restaurant pronounced Chick filet).

I promise to post more about boring me soon.

Jim

Prepping

Wow - I have been lazy at blogging! I'm sitting here in our den (of course, it is the unused bedroom in our house) preparing my Primary lesson and my sharing time program for Sr. Primary. Just thought I would take a minute to post.

It has been exceptionally hot here in Waco all week - the forecast doesn't look any better for the upcoming week...highs in the upper nineties to one hundred and then you factor in the humidity! Uugh!

We have been doing pretty good with the a/c and trying to conserve energy. Keeping the house at about 76 to 77 when we're gone and about 74 at night for sleeping. A far cry from 5 years ago when all of our neighbors called our home the "meat locker" cause Princess kept it at about 70 all the time.

No travels this past week and no travels for next week, but the rest of the month is looking exceptionally busy - travel to Mexico twice, Chicago once, then to Idaho and Washington - hopefully if it doesn't fall through.

Washed my car this morning - pulled some weed, and fertilized the lawn. Mowed and edged yesterday - and no new movies that we've seen - man are we boring.

Princess made a birthday cake for a little boy today - Trains - it was soooo cute. Well off to a cub scout pack meeting and barbecue - then Church tomorrow.

Jim

Missing In Action

So the past week was spent in southeastern Texas doing some project work. Long, extremely hot humid days (remember, I am a somewhat desk jockey), little or no internet connection, so I took the easy way out and didn't post.

Got back home late Friday - driving from southeastern Texas to Waco is not bad, just the bad traffic in Houston - I feel for my friends who live and commute in that traffic.

Yesterday I got my new "do" re-done and they tried to give my "tips" a highlight, we'll see if it happens again next week. By the way, the way they tried to give me highlights was a new method called "buffing your head" - picture how a shoe shine person holds the cloth when they shine your shoes, only a lot lighter movement across your hair/head.

Church was good today, my class was quite reverent, came home, had some lunch, took a nap and now here I sit. I don't have to travel next week, so I will have more time to post. Tonight for dinner, we are having Chicken Parmesan! Princess got the recipe off Martha Stewart Living Food magazine a couple of years ago and now I can't eat it at any Italian restaurant we go to cause it is not as good as Princess' - I'm spoiled.

Jim

Sunday & Ironing

Our neighbors just left after a short visit. We have known them for 5+ years and have really been blessed with their friendship. They have a three year old daughter who is just really precious to Princess and me.

While they were here, I was ironing clothes for my upcoming trip (I know, It's the Sabbath, but Princess had me working so hard in the garden yesterday that I really didn't have time to iron) and the mom tells us a story from yesterday. They were cleaning out the family video cabinet to move it to the back bedroom and out fell Disney/Pixar's "The Incredibles". Well their little girl picks up the DVD, looks at it, studies it, turns to mom and dad, pointing to the cover right on Mr. Incredible and says "Look, It's Jim"! Both parents were rolling, and we all had a good laugh just now when they told us the story.

If you look at the picture of my new haircut, I kinda do look like Mr. Incredible. Especially like this, all buff and muscle looking ! :-)

I think it's great and I told their little girl she could call me "Mr. Incredible" any time she wanted to. It's kind of like my other title I have "Lord and Master" (inside story - Sarah make sure you tell Becca and Madison).

Great day - had to share.

Jim

Gardening

I have a problem. It is gardening. I don't have any problem mowing the grass or edging, fixing a sprinkler here and there, it's planting shrubs, flower, etc that I have a problem with.

Way back in 1992, when we bought our first house, it came with sprinkler system, grass, one tree in the front yard, 3 green shrubs and two heavenly bamboo plants (nandina to you green thumb people. That was only in our front yard. We had to build a concrete block wall, plumb the sprinklers to the back yard, pour a patio, build a cover, then re-grade the small left-over area, all the while going through torturous infertility treatments, needing new carpet, installing ceramic tile, etc. We never did install sprinklers and plant grass in that back yard...And when it came time to move here to Waco, the house sold in 8 days - and this was almost a year before the Vegas housing market took off.

Fast Forward to 2001 - we move to Waco, build a house and find out that NONE of the landscaping comes with your new custom home. So we had sprinklers installed, and laid sod. That was pretty much it until 2003 when I cam home in the fall from a business trip and Princess and a friend had gone plant shopping, and purchased shrubs for the plant area in front of the garage. Now 2006, that is still the only area in the front that has plants...I know, I'm lazy, and we have now dug holes in the backyard and planted roses, daylillies, mountain laurels, etc. All to beautify and increase the investment potential of our home.

Tonight, we transplanted some sickly roses (not enough sunlight), planted two hostas, the two roses into sunny areas, and two creopsis (daisy looking bushes). We still have one crepe merytl to plant somewhere in the backyard - which receives eastern sun and all day and the back fence gets afternoon (western sun) till about 8:00 PM during the summer and 5:00 Pm during the winter.

Come this fall, we are renting a sod cutter (we), removing some of the front sod, tilling the soil and adding nutrients so we can plant shrubs and some flowers. OOOH Joy - plus before the summer ends, I have to begin painting the outside trim. I need to win the Lotto so I can afford all of these wonderful activities :-).

The joys of homeowner ship never cease! Sorry to complain, but with my travel schedule for work, Church calling, Princesses never ending social calendar, I wanted "easy" carefree lawn and I'm not going to get it! - Oh well - Jim would you like some cheese with that whine!

Going to bed

Jim

Kindred Spirits

As part of my job, sometimes I have to travel to great places for meetings. Such is the case today. I am in Chicago for a group meeting and to work on some training on one of the programs we use in our group.

I am not one of those people that gets on a plane, crosses their arms and never says a word to the person next to them. I greet them, introduce myself and then ask why they are traveling to our destination - work, fun, family, or a stop-over on their way to some other exotic destination. Well today was no different, after flying from Waco to Houston and boarding my flight to Chicago, I followed my routine, and got to know "Gina" my seat mate in 14E. We had about a three hour plane ride, and before you know it we were descending into Chicago - we talked like old friends and she had me laughing so hard, I almost wet myself at a couple of points in her stories. It's good to know there are Kindred Spirits out there on our tiny little rock hurtling through space.

I got to the hotel, did some work, hooked up with my co-worker, did some more work with her to finish off part of our project we worked on together, got some dinner and now I'm posting - all in all, a good day. Just said goodnight to Princess and now I'm off to bed.

Jim

Ever Had...

one of those weeks where everything just whizzed by? I did. After the 4th of July, the following three days just blurred together. I covered for our plant for our QA Manager who was on vacation, so EVERYTHING fell on my shoulders. I managed, but I think that I will wait a while before wishing that I had his job.

Princess and I treated yesterday like the children's hymn: "Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday". We cleaned, washed, vacuumed, dusted, mopped, mowed, weeded - I'm exhausted again just from writing it. We tried to re-arrange the furniture in the living room, but it didn't work the way we wanted, so it went back to the same configuration as before.

To rewared ourselves, we rented three movies, 2 of which we've watched this afternoon, "Rumor has It" - 3 Stars - quite funny in spots, but a little predictable, "Shopgirl" - 2.5 stars - a little slow and depressing, and "Ultraviolet" which we still haven't watched. I'll let you know how that goes. For dinner Saturday night, Princess pounded out two chicken breasts, grilled them, then put sauteed mushrooms, bacon and cheddar cheese on top - yuuummmy! To go with it, we had twice baked mashed potatos, and Cranberry jello salad. Really a sumptuous meal.

Church was really good today - I had 2 visitors to my Primary class and we were learning about Spriritual Exercise for Spiritual muscle to make right decisions. Our Scripture story was on Samson and Delilah. The kids really got into and it was good to see their eyes light up as they got into the story.

I never thought I would have a positive impact on these kids, but who knows - maybe I will be able to teach them something without ruining their lives.

I'm off to light the grill, we're having steaks, the twice baked mashed potatos, and the leftover jello salad, this is why I weigh so much - she keeps feeding me too well.

Jim

Yo Ho A Pirate's Life for Me

I got to work today and was plugging along when a friend called and asked me if I had signed up for a chance to win tickets to Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest. I said no and he said that he had, had won, and he couldn't go.

I called Princess - got her to commit to leave work at 5:30 and meet me at the movie theater about 5:45. We each got a free bag of "Peanut M&M's" to eat during the movie - the movie started about 6:10 and got over at 8:40 - 2.5 hours of pure adrenaline pumping excitement!

It starts this week - I give it 4 stars out of 4 stars and highly recommend that you take the time and go see it. I can't remember what it is rated, but there are some tense scenes and little ones might not like it!

Also - stay after the closing credits - bonus scene.

It's late - I've got lots of work to do tomorrow and have to get up early

Jim

Happy Birthday America

Happy 4th of July! We are having some humid cloudy weather here in Waco, but that didn't stop Princess and me from getting up - relatively early 8:30 AM - cleaning, Princess in our bedroom, and me in our home office.

We just got back from seeing Superman Returns!! Two thumbs way uuuuupp!! I will not spoil it for anyone, but Kate Bosworth, Brandon Routh, and Kevin Spacey did a fantabulous job.

Princess is now in the Kitchen making fruit salad and "cheesy noodle back" (a recipe from the illustrious Paula Deen) for our barbecue at the friends house with the new pool. That pool is awesome! Having a pool ROCKS!! We certainly have enjoyed being invited up to use the pool with our friends and on occasion, without them (with their permission of course).

Get up, celebrate America, and when you do, don't forget tomorrow to go out, register to vote, and then vote! It's what our fore fathers died for. It's why we troops stationed around the globe, freedom, and the privilege to vote.

Happy 4th of July!

Jim

The day after

So I have been at this for an hour, trying to upload a photo to Blogger without it totally ruining my alignment, etc. I got so aggravated, I uploaded the photos to Flickr instead - view them there.

Here is the upclose view - just a little scary.

Church was good today - Fast and Testimony meeting, and two baby blessings. The Schumates and the Blackhursts, Mathew and Sydnee respectively. Sacrament meeting was quite emotional today - It was a little draining. My primary class was reduced to two kids, they had a really hard time understanding going from a Prophet (Joshua, last weeks lesson) to Judges and then back to a Prophet again to lead the Israelites. It could be that it is just summer and their attention spans have taken the needed summer break.

Enjoy the pictures - can't wait to hear the comments (Sarah, Debbie)!

Jim

Haircuts

Since I was a senior in high school - I know eons ago - I have had the same haircut, pretty conservative, short, parted on the side - think Opie from Mayberry, Ok?! Well today I went in for my four week upkeep and since it is summer, I said to Gina Renee, "The back is pretty heavy/shaggy, let's use the clippers and remove some of the weight! Gina was excited as it's been about six months since we used the clippers. She fixed on the guard, a # 3 and went to work. After the clippers, she got out the scissors and blended the top to the sides. She was almost done and I said "what if we were to do the 'comb to the front kinda messy style' and not the parted on the side blown, brushed look?! Both Princess and Gina Renee looked surprise and before I could get an answer, SNIP, SNIP, and the bangs went shorter along with top! Next came out the hair paste, gooped into my hair, then fingers, and hair tossled about with nary a comb in sight!

Sooo, for the first time since I was seventeen, I have a new hairdo/hairstyle! I'm so self conscious, I haven't let Princess take a photo yet - maybe tomorrow after Church, I've got to see how well I can do the "messy" look without a professional stylist! I also look at myself in every mirror or window to make sure my big head and short hair look ok - heck, I may even have to start exercising so that I have a more fit body to go with the slimmed down
hairdo! ;-)

Check back tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel to see the photos.

Jim

All Work?

After our trip to New York, I was in Waco for a couple of weeks with one business trip to Mexico to perform an audit (speaking, reading and writing in Espanol really has it's perks). Life for us returned to "normal" with the travel being a bit quieted down.

Now Princess and I weren't blessed with children, although we tried for 11 years. I look at it as the fact the Heavenly Father blesses us in other ways, good health, good jobs, ability to serve in Church, etc. Well that brings us to Mother's day and Father's day. For Mother's day, we had torrential downpours, flooding, and lightening (it was just a week after the Tornado touched down twice, once in Waco, once in Robinson) and we just kind of hung low. For Father's day weekend, Princess and I along with two dear friends from my work (single gals, but not that way), decided to book a bed and breakfast down in Fredericksburg, TX for the weekend. Lynn, found a beautiful house with no host on site, Holly's Haus, and we had the place to ourselves from Friday PM to Sunday noon.

For those who do not know me, I have never been a "bed and breakfast kind of guy". I always worried about sharing a bathroom with strangers, etc. Well this changed me. We loved the whole weekend. The house was so charming and cute, we went sightseeing, had great German food, shopped, relaxed, played cards, etc. The house has this charming front porch and both mornings we all met out there with bed head and jammies, Lynn drinking her coffee, the rest of us sipping some water or juice - a lovely time.

We came home, I hopped a plane the next morning to Jersey, with...a...cold!!! I am now on the mend, almost 14 days after the trip. My Dr. wouldn't give me anything, said "It needs to run it's course, take decongestants, rinse your nose/nasal cavity with saline solution, drink lot's of fluids and get some rest. I feel much better today, and I think this has something to do with the change from easterly winds to southerly winds and a WHOLE lot more humidity.

The year is now half gone - ?How many days till Christmas? Ha Ha! Tonight it is off to Lynn's self thrown retirement party from work - she is going through some very mixed emotions, so Princess has made one of her superb cakes, I just made my first seven layer salad (or as I call it Guaca-crap! It was fun, Princess letting me into her kitchen to help, and even though this kitchen is bigger than our kitchen from the house in Vegas, it just goes to show that kitchens can never be toooooo big! Our next house the kitchen will be MUCH bigger!

I'll try to post more often - check out the pictures from Fredericksburg in the Flickr window

Jim

Lazy, Overworked, Whatever

I haven't posted since Princess and I knew that Princess was coming out to NJ and we would spend the weekend together sightseeing and going to the Big Apple. I haven't had the desire to post (I know Sarah...I know adoring fans want to know what we did) because work has just been hectic. Long days (12 to 15 hours each day) and never enough time to finish what is on my plate before another thing comes along.

Sooooo - Memorial day weekend, I picked Princess up (late by about 40 minutes) at Newark, we got her luggage and then off to the rental car so we could go back to our Hotel. Dinner was at FATBURGERS (super great hamburgers) and then some shut eye.

Saturday we got up and had free breakfast (I had saved some coupons from the hotel...it was FAB), drove around NJ - I took Princess to see X-MEN 3 (loved it) then to one of my favorite shoppes, The Old Mill, candles, collectibles, etc (where I always pick something up for Princess when I am in NJ. Had dinner down by Mohawk lake and all in all a really good time.

Sunday we went into the City with Greg and Michele (he works for Mars too) and volunteered to be our guides. It was HOT, Sunny and overall a great time.
World Trade Center

The Brooklyn Bridge - We almost walked across it

(l-r)Princess, Michele & Greg in front of Grimaldi's Pizza in Brooklyn. Best Pizza on earth - really and it's underneath the Brooklyn Bridge (they are eating ice cream before we ate pizza cuase it was a 45 minute wait)

We walked and walked, bought tons of Water, rode the subway many times - sat and rested in Central Park and people watched - saw a cute Dachsie while we were there, walked down 5th avenue, saw the Apple store, FAO Schwartz, Trump, Tiffany's (just for you Sue, Shannon and Sarah.

Princess outside (a thankfully) closed Tiffany's on 5th Avenue

We went to Times Square - saw the whole world there including...Christine Lahti!!!
She was walking in Times Square with her kids - I freaked, yelled her name, Greg and Michele said "Who?" and I said - "The Emmy award winning actress, was on Chicago Hope, major films, Lifetime Movies!" and again they repeated "who?"...about this time, she stopped, turned, flashed that beautiful smile and waved at Princess and I!!! We were in Heaven!

Finished the day, ate in Hoboken, got to the hotel and slept in on Monday. Then I took Princess to the Delaware water gap, we ate and then back to the airport :-(. Seriously, I cried when she left. I finished up my week, went to Newark on Friday and while going through security, I was untying my shoe when the person behind me pushed me and I almost fell. I looked back and it was none other than...Richard Simmons!!!
I said exscuse me, went to untie again he pushed me. So, I changed sides so I could watch him and he did it again...I said exscuse me Mr. Simmons, and he corrected me and said "Richard!", so I said Richard stop that and he said "no" so I slipped off the shoes still tied, put them in the bin and went through. He is just as funny and hilarious in real life as he is on TV! I got home at 4:00 AM on Saturday morning and this past week has been a blur!

Our friends did have a baby girl yesterday, you can check it out here at www.3girlsandaboy.com She is really cute.

I'm off today and enjoying it immensely - thanks for the patience - long post I know.

East Coastin' it

So, I left Waco this morning at 5:45 AM - only about 12 hours after I arrived home from Puebla. Flight left on time - I snored all the way to Houston, and we got to our gate about 15 minutes earlier than normal.

Now with my travels, I am at the top "elite" position with my favorite airline, Continental. When I checked in for the trip in Waco, the gate agent told me I had been upgraded, but the computer would not allow a seat assignment...she called Houston, was told to give me a seat in coach {:-(}. When I got to Houston I went straight to the gate and was told I was first on the list for upgrades. I smiled graciously, walked away and my spirits were dampened. I'm not one to ask for upgrades, but by golly when they tell me I have an upgrade and then take it away it really bites.

We boarded the plane, I took my seat in coach and struck up conversation with the gentleman next to me when all of a sudden the gate agent came down the aisle and moved me to First Class - whoooopppeeee!!! I love that first class stuff! Had a gourmet egg omelet for breakfast with a delicious fruit plate, watched a movie on my own private video screen and snoozed for just a little bit.

Got to New Jersey, beautiful weather I might add...and came to my hotel for some phone conferences. Just got off the phone with Princess and she is coming to New Jersey for the weekend! We will have 2.5 days of bliss together in the garden state. Well gotta go - it's late, I'm tired and have a busy two days ahead of me.

Iowa and Mexico

So - It's been raining tooo much work for me here in Waco.

After Mother's day, I spent 3 very long days on the road in central Iowa and southwestern Minnesota. Pretty country I must say, especially with 800+ miles driven in the span of 48 hours. Then a couple of really long days to finish out the week and the next thing I knew it was Friday night, time for our friends daughter's 3rd Birthday and the my weekend began (who knew it was only going to be one day at the start of the week).

So I had Saturday to do the "honey-do's", which in my case are pretty much self inflicted - mowing, edging, washing and waxing Princesses Murano - she did help me dry and boy is that car spectacular when it is clean and shiny. Did laundry - ironed and packed to leave on Sunday to go to Puebla, Mexico for work. Had to miss the wonderful 55 mile drive from Waco to Killeen for Stake Conference, but sacrifices are also good for the soul! :-)

Puebla is the capital of...you got it, Puebla! Pretty confusing isn't it - but you gotta hand it to the fore fathers of Mexico...Puebla, Puebla, MX is not too hard to learn. Beautiful city Puebla and home to a gigantic...hugemongous Volkswagen factory. I met up with a co-worker from NJ and we spent two nights and one very busy day working with our supplier...a two hour drive from Puebla, but some breathtaking views as we descended mountains from Puebla into the state of Veracruz to get to our vendors.

Just got home at 5:00 PM CDST and will be back at the airport tomorrow morning at 5:00 AM to leave for a week and a half trip to western NJ. Boy I can really say it - I am tired. Well, gotta go and pack the two suitcases for the trip. I should have some adventures to detail by the end of the week.