Test

Who pushed Fast Forward

For the past several years, we've been fortunate that both kids are NOT always doing something extracurricular. This has been a blessing. I knew that having the kids move to High School and Junior High this year would be a change, but wow! Blake is in Football and now Kayla is doing basketball. It is like in a single instant our family life has gone into warp speed. I thought I was ready, but this is all happening way too fast for me. It is going to be a wild ride the next 6 years. I'll try to relax and take it all in and relish each moment, but do wish someone was taping it all so I can go back and watch in slow motion.

Tomorrow....who said this a "free" public education system?

Marital Finance 101

Over the years, my wife and I have gotten better at working together on our finances, but still can always improve. I'm the biggest part of the problem. I'm an anal-retentive CPA type that can't give up too much control. I've recently gotten to the point where I do as much of our banking, bills, etc. on the internet. It is convenient and both of us can keep tabs on the bank account, even when I'm half-way around the world.

Yesterday, Heidi mentioned that she had used the debit card for a Wal-Mart run. I asked for the receipt. She said...."wait....you don't get a receipt from the Mortgage Co., Phone Co., etc. that you do on-line billing with....besides, you can check the bank account tomorrow and get the exact amount......you have to choose....either the old-fashioned paper-receipt world or the modern internet world".... I persisted......"but, I get an e-mail from them telling me the details".....and here is what I got:

• -----Original Message-----
• From: Heidi Woolard
• Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 7:26 AM
• To: Woolard, Paul E.
• Subject:
• Your debit card has been charged 93 dollars and some odd cents for the following things at Wal-Mart:
  First one thing
  And then another.

She won! (But did later gave me the receipt....thank goodness......).

She's Got A Way

Thank-you to Mike Cope for this reminder.

http://www.preachermike.com/

Certainly, Heidi and I fit the description.....with two very socially active kids, ball schedules, my work travel, etc., etc., etc. we can sometimes slip into a near "marital coma" and lose sight of each other. Never in a hateful, negative way.....we ALWAYS remain kind and appreciative of each other's efforts (she of course, better at this than I....but, hey, we are talking about a man and a woman here.....). But rather, just a numbness, and maybe somewhat of a thinking that "hey...we only have x number of years before the kids are out of the house and then we can have time together, alone!" But we both have seen how this can be a dangerous trade-off.....having known people who always put-off doing the right things for themselves as a couple waiting for that day in the future, only to have illness, or even loss take that away at the end.

We try to get time away as a couple to revitalize ourselves and our marriage, but for a variety of reasons, have not been able to make this a routine. As the kids get older, we at least can now go out for a movie/dinner with some regularity without needing to arrange for sitters, etc. This has been a blessing. We are taking walks together, both to try to get a bit healthier, but equally to have at least those few minutes of time to debrief at the end of the day. This is a blessing. We talk on the phone/e-mail throughout the day to keep tabs on each other and who is going where and who needs picked up when. This is a blessing.

All this has made me remember back to the early days of our relationship. Back when we sent song lyrics to each other. We were big Billy Joel fans back in the day......and this is one of the songs that makes me think of what Heidi means to me. After 19 years of marriage, she's not only Still the One, but also Still has a Way!

She's Got A WaySongs In The Attic Released: 1981

She's got a way about her
I don't know what it is
But I know that I can't live without her
She's got a way of pleasin'
I don't know what it is
But there doesn't have to be a reason anyway
She's got a smile that heals me
I don't know why it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me
She's got a way of talkin'
I don't know why it is
But it lifts me up when we are walkin' anywhere

She comes to me when I'm feelin' down
Inspires me without a sound
She touches me and I get turned around
She's got a way of showin'
How I make her feel
And I find the strength to keep on goin'

She's got a light around her
And ev'rywhere she goes
A million dreams of love surround her ev'rywhere

She comes to me when I'm feelin' down
Inspires me without a sound
She touches me and I get turned around

She's got a smile that heals me
I don't know why it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me
She's got a way about her
I don't know what it is,
But I know that I can't live without her anyway

Trying pictures

Just testing to see how to upload some pictures. The first is of Kayla with our favorite family Doctor. The second is of Blake with his new found favorite hobby.

Five things

And to keep up....The five things I heard too often in 2005:

1. Honey, will you help me.......

2. Honey, my Mom is coming over today

3. Dad, Dad, Dad.......get off me, you're too fat, I can't move you......(when wrestling with my son)

4. Dad, I "need" new........ (my daughter learning the fine difference between needs and wants)

5. Owner Man....I dislike you far more than you will ever realize (what I know that Boomer our way too fat cat is saying to me all the time)

Out of my League at Best Buy

My wife and I have made several trips to Best Buy this month for Christmas shopping for the kids and then using some our Christmas gift money to buy a few things for us. We have decided that we have surpassed the age appropriateness for entering Best Buy due to the following:

1. To avoid a heart attack from the chest vibrations, Paul immediately must run to the back of the store to turn off the sub-wooferdoorefer thingy that some #$##%#@ teenager has turned on as loud as possible and then left.

2. It takes only 2 minutes to realize finding what you need in this arena will be impossible without seeking the aid of a ^&%^%$&^ teenager that seems to speak another language.

3. When you ask the &*^%%&*% teenager in the CD section for Hillary Duff's latest for your 11 year old daughter and with a completely straight face the &^%$$%^& teenager asks, "is this for you, sir?"

4. After composing yourself, you tell &%%$ teenager that "No, I am a few decades back in musical taste such as the Beatles and Rolling Stones....you know pot-smoking music" (I didn't inhale.....just kidding, I can honestly say I wouldn't know what to do with a joint if one was handed to me.....) and the kid asks, "who are they?"

5. As soon as we leave the store, Heidi immediately opens her purse to frantically find and take a prescription strength pain killer for migraines, and looks at me and asks if her eye is twitching.

We miss Fisher Price.