The Average Don

New Web Site and Blog

2009-02-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

I am sure by now most of you have gotten the note about my new web site and blog, please go to Midnight Magic Studios and you will see my new site. You can comment on the blogs and on the site in general. I look forward to hearing from all of you. Thanks

She never ceases to amaze me

2009-02-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

My daughter never ceases to amaze me. Today was no exception, let me tell you about it:

Over the past month or so, we have been going back and forth about moving KT to a new school. Nothing wrong with the school she was in, but due to her multiple problems she was struggling in class and falling behind. The thing that we were struggling with was not the move itself, but the fact that this would set it in that KT would not have a normal school life. But, as I always say, who defines normal?

We finally made the decision and put the wheels in motion in late December. Then in mid January (don't you just love how fast government works) they told us that they had a school in mind for the move. We were not going to make the move until LA and I could see the school and meet the teacher. Two weeks ago we were able to meet her new teacher and tour the school. It was very nice and the teacher was wonderful. So, we had our meeting and set the date for KT to move West.

She was to start school this past Wednesday so that she could have a going away party with her classmates and we would get a chance to take her to the school and have her meet the new teacher. While we were showing her around, she kept telling me that she was "dizzy" and that her brain hurt and that it was all too much to take in. We took our time and got her comfortable with the school and the teacher, but she kept telling us that it was all so much to take in and that her brain need time to process it all (her words, not ours).

She went to bed Tuesday night and at about 2am, she woke up with a terrible nightmare, we were all up for a while and we also noticed she had a runny nose. We let her sleep late the next morning to allow her to get some sleep, but when she did get up, her nose was awful. So, off to the doctor we go and sure enough, it was a sinus infection. She would miss her first day at her new school.

So, yesterday ended up being her first day. I walked into the school and to her class. We meet up with the teacher and she introduced KT to her new classmates. I made sure KT was comfortable and let her be.

Now, before I tell you this part you have to understand that in the past when we asked KT about her school day the answer was always the same "I don't know". What did you have for lunch today? "I don't know". Who did you play with today? "I don't know". You get the idea.

When we picked her up from school yesterday, she could not stop talking about who she meet, what they did, she made a new friend and KT even kept her new friend from getting into trouble yesterday. LA and I were thrilled to say the least.

Last night was the second night in a row that KT slept ALL NIGHT LONG!!! That has not happened in almost 4 to 6 months. She got up so easily this morning, did what she was supposed to do and got ready. She got ready so early that we had time for her to eat her breakfast at the table instead of being rushed out the door and eating on the way to school like we used to.

But what blew me away this morning was when got to school, she grabbed her stuff, gave me a kiss and said "I love ya dad". She jumped out of the truck and started off for the door. I asked her "KT, do you know where to go?" To which I got this response, "yes, I know where to go." And off she went, right in the door saying hi to everyone on the way in and had a seat. I mean it was like she had been going to that school for years. In the past when I dropped her off, she would stand at the entrance to the school and watch me leave, waving and blowing me kisses. Not today, today she was excited to go to school, she couldn't wait to get in the door.

This little girl is the hardest working pre-tween I know. But, for the time in a long time, I watch her be the little girl I know she can be.

IT SNOWED!!!!

2009-02-02T16:25:00.000-08:00

I grew up in Central Indiana. Winters meant lots of snow and I loved it. Since we have moved to East Tennessee I think we have only had one really good snow to talk about and that was back in '96, so it has been long over due to say the least. We have learned that when the weather guys call for snow it never happens. When they don't call for it, that is when we get a good amount of snow.

Well, last Tuesday the weather guys here said that "early next week, we could have system come through the area that could leave a good amount of snow". I crossed my fingers, all I want is one really good snow. As we got closer to the weekend, the weather guys started backing off that forecast saying the system is going to move farther east than they originally thought. All we would get is rain. Oh Well.

I got up this morning to get ready to meet a bride about shooting her wedding and it was raining just like they said it would. I got to Panera Bread to meet the bride and had to run in to keep from getting wet. I looked out the window just before 9:30 and it was raining. The bride arrived and we started talking about her wedding, I got lost in the conservation talking to her about what I can do for her and the video for her wedding.

At 10:45 we got done and I walked to the door to leave and could not believe my eyes. SNOW!!! My truck was covered, the roads were covered and it was just coming down hard. I had about an inch or so on my truck. Schools were closing left and right but not Knox county. I knew it was going to happen, just when.

Well, Knox county schools closed at 12:30 and we went to get Katie. She wanted to play in the snow so bad, she just begged us to take her outside for just a little bit. I sent her upstair to put on her rain boot that Lisa got her for Christmas. She came bounding down the stair with the biggest smile on her face. She had a blast. She and I built a "snow-woman" if that is what you want to call it. My Golden, Brinkley, just loves the snow, he acts like a puppy again. It was a lot of fun and Katie really liked it.

Long Night at the Hospital

2009-01-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a very long day. I had a wedding yesterday so, my day started about 7:30 in the morning doing all my wedding day prep work, loading up the truck and just getting ready. Add to the fact that it was just plain cold outside, I knew it was going to be interesting day. Little did I know just how interesting it was going to be or how long.

The wedding went well, very pretty bride and the groom was a blast. The groom is a Baptist Minster so there was no music at the reception or any dancing. At most receptions I can grab a quick bite to eat but this reception not the case. I do not like sea food and that is what they had at the reception, so no food for me.

During the day I always stay in touch with Lee to see how things are going. I texted her about 4:30pm and was told that things were not good. The reception was over at 5:30 and when I called home I found out that Katie was very, VERY sick. She had gotten sick at STAR (horse therapy), 2 more times on the way home and once more when they got home. When I arrived our good friend Lisa had gotten some medicine to help stop the nausea and Katie was asleep. We kept an eye on her into the night. About 7:45 she got sick again and we tried to get her medicine down. If she is not able to keep her medicine down she can go into what is called Adrenal Shock. This happened to her on 9/11/01. I was out of town that day and could not get home to help Leeann that day. Katie was put in the hospital that night and monitored. She recovered well then and knew from that day on we had to keep a close eye on her when she got sick.

Well, after she got sick at 7:45 we tried to keep her medicine down again. We keep an eye on her and sure enough a little after 9 she got sick again and we knew we had to get her to the hospital. Leeann called for an ambulance because she had a funny feeling about everything. They got to the house very quickly and the paramedic took a quick look at Katie and picked her up and said we needed to go. I said let me get her jacket, he said "we don't have time for jackets, we need to go NOW!". He scooped her up and off we went to the ambulance. Katie was a little scared, but was not very responsive to what was going on.

We got in the ambulance and the paramedic told the drive "GO, GO, Code 3 to Children's". I am in the back with Katie and Leeann is following us in the car. They stared an IV for Katie, and kept her oxygen. When we pulled up to Children's Hospital they rushed her into the room and I lost count as to how many doctors and nurses were in the room. It was like a scene out of ER, instructions being yelled out, orders being given and everyone working as one team. All my our little girl.

They got her stabilized quickly and she stared to show signs of improving. They got her up to a room about 1am and that is where she was until a couple of hours ago. We are home now and Katie is doing much better.

I can't say enough how much we appreciate the fact that we have a hospital for kids so very close with team of professionals that know just how precious each child is, but also know how scared parents can be when something like this happens to our kids. The nurses in the ER and on the floor where Katie stayed not only took great care of Kate but, also took good care of me and Leeann. When ever I or Leeann needed anything, they were there for us. They were able to get me a bit to eat late last night. They were great to say the least.

Katie is doing well today and being just any other 9 year old.

BIG Day Tomorrow

2009-01-10T06:19:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that I do wedding videos. I have been doing this for more years than I can count, but doing it professionally since 2001. I love the work I do and working the brides has been great. But, to be able to keep doing this fun job, I have to get more brides every year and one of the ways I can do that is with the Premier Bride Wedding Show. The show is tomorrow and I have been working for the past 3 months on rebranding myself and my business. I have redesigned the ad that goes into the Premier Bride magazine, come up with a new sign that will hang in the booth tomorrow and worked very hard on a new demo video that I will hand out. For the past month, I have been thinking about this show at some point every day. This is where I hope to get about 60% of my business from this year.

The thing that has me the most worried is the economy. Let's face it, we all know it is bad. The past week or two there have been story after story in the local news about companies laying off workers, Goody's is closing up, Jewelry Television is laying off more people (I used to work there), Alcoa is letting go of 450 people... The list just keeps going. But, people will still get married and weddings will still be big events. I guess the thing that worries me is will they still spend a bit of money that they may not have?

Leeann has been by my side every step of the way the past couple of months. She has looked at my new demo about 500 times making suggestions along the way, she had a huge say in how the new ad looks but most of all, she keeps me focused on moving forward. I would not have gotten to this point if it had not been for her, I am truly blessed to have her in my life.

17 years ago I was a newly wed not knowing what was in store for us. Not sure of where the road of life would take us, but I am so glad that I had her to go with me on this ride.

Good weekend ending on a bad note

2009-01-03T21:42:00.000-08:00

Well, a new year and I plan to keep this more up to date than I have been (yea, we've heard that before haven't we). Anyway, just a bit of catching up over the past couple of months: Katie is doing well, we had a bit of bad spell there for a while, but she is doing better. We do, however, have to make some changes in her school, more about that later as it happens.

Christmas was nice, Leeann's dad was in town and we spent the day with her grandmother. She is not doing very well, seems like she is just living in the moment. She was here at the house all day Christmas and I think she said maybe 5 words. So sad.

We went out with some friends New Years Eve, also known as our 17th anniversary. You know, it is pretty cool to think that I have been married to the same beautiful woman now for 17 years. Every day she amazes me with the things she does. I love her so much.

I have been working at repairing my relationship with my mom. There was a long stretch there where we didn't have any communication. Things are much better now. In fact, we spent the weekend with her and helped my wonderful aunt install her new computer. She will do well with it, it is just going to take some time for her to get adjusted to it.

Anyway, we had a great time this weekend, Katie got to spend some good time with my mom (GramSue as she named her) and got to play with her cousins Blake and Hunter. We went to a place called "Fun Expedition", it's kinda like a Chuck E. Cheese only bigger and with more to do. We played LazerTag, did some bumper cars, and played lots of video games. Katie loved the whole weekend. I can't wait for them to come back down to our place in a couple of weeks. I know Katie is looking forward to showing Blake and Hunter her room.

Now, for the bad note. I have a wedding show next Sunday. This is the biggest show of the year, I got 75% of my business from the show last year. I have been working hard to do some re-branding, changing the web site, the look of the ad and even a new banner. But most of all, I have been working on a new demo video. If you don't know, the demo video is what i show to brides so that they can see my work and know what I can do for them. Anyway, I finally got it finished, it looks great and I really hope it brings in more business this year. Anyway, I went out to my office to burn the demo copy and every-time I try to burn the disk, the software crashes. I did it like 12 or 13 times with the same result. Well, I did some research and it looks like I am not the only one with this problem. Everyone else using the same program I am using has the same problem. The only way to fix it is to upgrade the whole suite to the new version. This means I have to update my editing program, graphics program, everything and that is going to be about $1200. I have been up till 1am trying to fix it. I have no choice, there is no way the the software company is going to release a fix in the next couple of days, but I have to get the update, install it and change all my settings. There goes my Sunday.

Anyway, I had a great weekend, but now, I have a lot of work to get things fixed. Wish me luck.

Dodge Ball and Pneumonia

2008-12-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

Let's get this out of the way right off, I have pneumonia. I never get sick, Katie and Leeann can both be in the bed, sick as anything and I will be just fine. I never get it. I am always the one who is taking care of them. Now, here I am with pneumonia and on top of that, I have to take some very YUCKY!!! medicine. But, how does that fit in with Dodge Ball you ask?

On the way home from the vampire doctor (I call her that because every-time I'm there it seems like she wants some of my blood, go figure) we went out to the farm to drop some feed off for Belle. Along the way we have to go by a elementary school and there were some kids out in front of the school in a big playground area playing kick ball. If you grew up in the late 70's/early 80's like me then you more than likely paid more that few games of kick ball. Now, for those of you out there who grew up in the "PC World" where everyone is a winner and we don't play any kind of competitive game, kick ball is just like baseball, but with a large rubber ball (normally red). You kick the ball instead of hitting it with a bat. However, unlike baseball, you can get tagged out if you are HIT with the ball between bases. Such as if you are running between 1st and 2nd base and you get HIT with the ball, you are out. Pretty simple, yes. Well, it got me to thinking back when I was a kid and really enjoyed playing kick ball and Dodge Ball. DODGE BALL! They don't let kids play Dodge Ball anymore, do they?

Why, just because the whole purpose of the game is to avoid being hit with a large rubber ball? Nope, it's because somebody might get HIT by a large rubber ball. It's because somebody would win and someone would, GASP OH THE HORROR, loose. Well if you ask me, I most of you won't, Dodge ball teaches you many of life's most important lessons. Like what you ask? Well, here are a few:

SOMETIMES LIFE HURTS.

YOU HAVE TO STAY ON YOUR TOES AT ALL TIMES.

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO RISK A LOT TO GET WHAT YOU WANT.

JUST WHEN YOU THINK THINGS ARE GOING GOOD FOR YOU, WHAM, LIFE HITS YOU.

YOU CAN'T REST WHEN THOSE AROUND YOU ARE RUNNING.

ALWAYS LOOK ABOUT YOU, YOU NEVER KNOW WHATS COMING NEXT.

But, most of all:

SOMETIMES LIFE HURTS.

Rules to live by if you ask me.

What I'm Thankful for:

2008-11-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

Every day I wake up
My wonderful wife
My daughter, the apple of my eye
A home
My work
My health (got good numbers on my last blood test)
My Friends
My Family (getting reconnected)
To be living here in East Tennessee (I can't see us living anywhere else)
The Dogs and our horses
To be an American and to live in this wonderful county

But most of all, I am thankful to God for each and every blessing He has given me. He guides me, and leads me to new and wonderful things everyday.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

GAME ON!!!!!

2008-11-18T16:28:00.000-08:00

Almost 2 years ago my wonderful wife made a major decision in her life by having Gastric Bypass to help her lose weight. I was so proud of her and still impressed by her progress. She lost 144 pounds. Thats two Katies!

Well, she stalled and I wasn't much help in getting her back in gear. I don't know why, maybe just being lazy. I guess I just didn't want to do all the hard work to lose the weight. Well, two weeks ago, my wife got into "The Biggest Loser" on NBC. I had seen it once or twice for maybe 5 or 10 minutes. I stared watching it with her and really got into it. the show was just so inspiring and got me thinking that maybe I could do this.

So, we have started to watch what we eat and walking (trying to anyway). But, one night I was watching the show and saw this thing on the constants' arms. I though it was a timer for when they were in the gym. We Googled it and found out it was called the Body Bugg. It is a device that measures things like calories burned, steps taken, amount and length of activity. We thought it was kinds neat so we tried it.

I LOVE IT! For the first time in my life I know just what I am burning, what I am taking in and how much I need to adjust both. I have already lost 2 pounds in the first week. I want to walk, I want that little meter to burn. The thing is, with this device on your arm you have a constant reminder of what your are doing. It doesn't hurt, but you know it is there. Plus, there is not sneaking a little of this or a little of that. It will catch up to you.

So my wife has made a challenge on her blog to be accountable on line in her blog and accountable with me. So, GAME ON BABE! Starting today, you will know what I have done, what I ate and what I weigh. My goal is to get to 185 by my 45th birthday (October of 2009). I can do it, I know I can.

This should be fun to watch.

Love Is........

2008-10-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

How do you define love? Is it something you can see? Something you can touch? Or is it just a feeling? Many say it is none of the above but merely a state of mind. I say it something you can touch, something you can see. You just have to look in the right place and open you mind. How do I know this, read on:

We are in Key Largo, FL spending a week here with Katie while she is doing dolphin assisted therapy. We did this 3 years ago and are kicking ourselves for not coming back sooner. Anyway, the first time we were here, Katie spent the week with a wonderful dolphin named Squirt and her calf Fiji. We could tell that something special was going on from the moment Katie got on the platform to get in the water. She could not wait and had no fear of being next to the dolphins.

That week was a wonderful and magical time. You could see the bond that Katie made with Squirt and the entire staff at Island Dolphin Care. The high point of the week was on Wednesday. You see, the dolphin will only do what the trainer on the platform tells them to do. They are trained that way. It is a safety issue of course. Well, half way through her time in the water that day, Katie, in loudest voice said, “I love you Squirt, you’re my best friend”. Squirt stopped in the water half way between the platform the trainer was on and where Katie was. She looked at the trainer then back to Katie. Leeann and I were confused as to what was going on, but the trainer just nodded her head yes and Squirt swam over and gave a Katie a kiss.
Not a big deal you say, well it is. You see that had only happened one, let me repeat that ONE other time at Island Dolphin Care. Everyone who saw it was in tears and when the trainer told us how special that was, Leeann and I both started to cry.
We have always said that Katie has a special connection to animals. Look at her room, it looks like stuffed animal kingdom in there sometimes. You should see her at the farm with the horses, it’s almost like she talks to them at times. But this, this was so different.

Well, that was three years ago. We had been trying for the past 3 years to go back but the timing was never right. This year everything fell into place and we were able to make it back. It worked out well since this is Katie’s fall break, so no school was missed. One thing we were worried about was if Katie would remember much about the dolphins or if the dolphins would remember Katie. We weren’t sure she would even get to be with Squirt this time. Much to our surprise, Katie remembered it all the moment she walked in the door. She remembered the tanks in the lobby, she remembered where the dolphins were at and couldn’t wait to get to them. But most of all, she was going to be with Squirt again.

Katie got in the water with Squirt and she was right at home. But the minute she said, “Squirt, I love you”, Squirt knew just who Katie was. The trainer, Wendy, looked at us and said “now I remember her and so does Squirt”. She wasn’t kidding either. It was almost like Katie was one of her own calf’s. Squirt could not get close enough to Katie. She was always checking on how Katie was doing, where she was and allowing Katie to touch her and hold her in places she won’t let others. Even the owners of the facility came out to watch and talked about the bond between Katie and Squirt.

That bond is so strong that today the trainer and the therapist in the water with Katie just let them do their own thing. Katie would ask if she could do something and the trainer would give a quick hand signal and that was it. They danced in the water together, Squirt took Katie around the lagoon a couple of times and they both laughed and smiled together. It was almost like they were meant to be with each other.

Tomorrow, they are going to allow Squirt to dive with Katie. Only two other kids have ever done this before. Katie is in here element here. Katie is truly happy here and in the water with Squirt.

I have attached a photo of the two of them dancing in the water. Look at it with the mind of a child, look at it with the mind of a parent who wants nothing but the best for their child and I know you will see LOVE. But, most of all, you will know that for this week, Katie can touch love. And for this week, love is named SQUIRT.

Release the Doves.....

2008-08-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

There are fireworks in the sky today, there is joy in the hearts of little kids everywhere and yes, there is even joy in Mudville (if you have to ask, you don't remember one of the greatest sports poems of all time).

I HAVE MY IPHONE BACK!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Yes, Yes I know it had been a long, long cold winter, but spring has arrived.

Today Lee and I went to the Apple Store (my favorite place in the mall next to Victoria Secrets & Torrid) and got rid of the dreaded BlackBerry. I feel right with the world again, my phone knows me, I know my phone. All is well.

So, vote for someone, anyone this election year, let the Yankees win the World Series, watch the Redskins go 0-17 and the Cowboys win the Super Bowl and let Lost .... well, let Lost be lost. I don't care, I have my iPhone back.

I need a hug!!!!

End of vacation

2008-08-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is a sad day, the end of a great Florida vacation. As I write this I am sitting in the airport in Orlando getting ready to board our flight back to Knoxville. We had a nice morning with Leeann's dad. We had breakfast with him and his wife. It was nice. We drove down to Orlando from St. Augustine with plenty of time to spare.

We got to the airport and found out we had to wait an hour before we could check into our airline. That was fine, we went to the side area and found a couple of seats to just wait it out. As we were sitting down this blonde lady came up to me and said "It is amazing the people you meet in an airport" and started hugging me. I though who in the hell is this lady and why is she hugging me? Come to find out it is my aunt Barbara from my mom's side of the family. We spent the hour waiting just talking to her. She is one of my favorite family members from my mom's side of the family. Found out she lives here in Florida and was going to Knoxville on the same flight we are on. She is going to see her dad in Kingsport, TN. He is not doing well and she is making an overnight trip to see him.

Well, they are about to call our flight. Back to work, back to a normal life. SO SADDDDDD.

And, get this, Katie starts school on Monday, that is nuts if you ask me.

A nice vacation away........

2008-08-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

It is late in the year I know, but we are on a much needed vacation to St. Augustine, FL. We flew into Orlando this past Sunday and drove into Daytona Beach. I was not impressed by Daytona at all. It reminded me of Myrtle Beach. I am not a fan of commercialized beach areas. I much prefer a smaller more quite beach to go to. I know, I know that Daytona is commercial beach, but I guess it is one of those things everyone has to do once in their lives and this was our time to do Daytona.

We flew in to Orlando Sanford Airport and that is where the enjoyable part of our trip ended. We rented a car from Alamo rent a car. We had to walk a LONG way to the rental desk and then we had to deal with a very rude customer service rep. Had to tell him our name three times for him to find our reservation. We prepaid for our car online for the whole week, but we had to pay for the taxes when we got to the car. That didn't make any sense to us, but when you they have your money already, what are you going to do. We rented an SUV for our trip. When I got the contract, the customer service rep. (I use that term lightly) pointed out the door and said "The SUV's are to the left, pick one." HUH????? Seems that all the cars out there had the keys in them, just pick the car you want and off you go. Not sure that is the best way to rent cars. Ours had some damage to the rear bumper but no one around to check it out, but we made sure that the girl at the booth leaving the parking lot was aware of it. Not sure it will make any difference, but we did what we could.

We got to Daytona and the fun just kept on rolling. We stopped at a "Popeye's" chicken for a quick bite to eat. Wish we hadn't done that after we saw the bathroom. I won't go into great detail, but lets say if the health department had stopped in, they would have been shut down in 5 minutes. So, we make it to our hotel. The Hilton Beach Front. HIlton. A good name in the hotel business right? We thought so when we booked the place. It took us 45 minutes (yes, I said 45 minutes) to check in. The person at the front desk could not speak english very well at all. He seemed to have a problem running a gift card we got for our trip. You know, a $100 gift card from Visa or American Express that is prepaid. We got those as apposed to using cash on this trip. Much safer and easier to replace if something happens.

So, anyway, after 45 minutes we get assigned out room. AT THE OTHER END OF THE COUNTY!!!! It took us almost 25 minutes to walk from one end of the hotel to the other, up 4 floors on a stuffy elevator, then down a long, LONG hallway to our room. A nice room, but backwards. We got a king room with a sleeper sofa for Katie. The king bed was in the front part of the room right when you walked in the room and the sofa sleeper was in the back part of the room near the balcony. It should have been the other way around. The air condition worked on Katie's side, but for her to sleep, we had to close the doors and that made out side very hot. Not to mention the bed was hard as a rock and I never sleep very good in a hotel the first night. Never mind the fact that I worked a wedding the night before until 11:30pm and got up for our flight at 6:30am the next morning. I was tired.

But, we did go out to the beach for a few minutes and Katie, Leeann and I had a great time playing in the surf. Katie loves the waves crashing down on her. It never got old for her. This is the view from our room the next morning:

We were going to stay in Daytona for two days, but after a very bad dinner and the fact we could not make phone call from our cells phone from our room, we decided to head on up to St. Augustine Beach and spend some time with Leeann's dad. The drive up A1A was wonderful. Right along the coast line, lots of beach and ocean views. We have spent nearly every day at the beach so far this week. Katie is loving playing in the waves and had learned to use a boogie board to ride the waves in. So has Leeann and they both have been having a blast. Her are a couple of pics from today:

Well, one more day at the beach and then it is back home Saturday for us. Hard to believe but Katie starts school on Monday.

I will tell you about our trip home when we get there.

Much Needed Break

2008-07-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

We have just gotten back from a much needed trip out of town. I have been so busy with weddings and editing, Lee has been up to her neck in work and Katie has been trying to have as much fun as possible. We all needed some time as a family, so we loaded up the truck and made a quick trip to NC to see Lee's mom and grandmother. Katie so loves being over there, she has a great time with "grandmom" and "MomMom". They always have books for her to read, some videos to watch plus a huge backyard that she can run around in.

The first part of the trip was a bit stressful. We were going east on I-40, having a good time until we hit mile marker 7 in North Carolina. Traffic came to a complete STOP! It took us almost an hour to go 4 miles. The problem was a large tractor trailer flipped over and they had one lane closed so they could clean up the accident. I can tell you this, there was not much left of that truck from what we saw. We got a little bit up the road and noticed some road construction on the west bound side of 40 and traffic there was backed up for about 8 miles. We decided at that point to make it a long trip home by taking as many back roads as possible on the way home.

Katie wanted to spend the night at Grandmom's house so that gave Lee and I some much needed time alone at the hotel. We have to stay at a hotel when we go over there because there is just not enough room for all of us to sleep there. I did have a bit of work I had to do on this trip but that was not a big deal.

Katie got to spend some good time with Lee's Aunt Linda as well. Linda spoils Katie to no end. She always brings little presents to Katie when we visit and Katie loves the little toys that she gets. We also went to a ranch near by called The Lazy 5, they have a huge collections of animals in a safari type setting. You stay in your car and drive through. Katie enjoyed being able to feed the animals right out the window of the truck.

Saturday night Lee and I went out to dinner with Lee's cousin and his wife. It was a lot of fun to just sit and chat with them over a very nice dinner.

Since we knew the highway was going to be bad with traffic, we decided to take back roads to go home. We really enjoyed the trip home. We drove through the mountains, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, through the Smokey Mountain National Park along the way. It was very relaxing and comfortable way to come home. I was not as tired as I normally would be after driving along the interstate. Our trip would normally take 4 to 4.5 hours but taking our time and enjoying the ride took us 5+ hours. It was a fun trip.

I have back to back weddings the next two weeks but, we are taking a trip to St. Augustine to see Lee's dad. He is doing well with his cancer battle. He just completed a month long treatment of chemotherapy. He is doing very well and I was very impressed with the fact he completed the entire treatment. He was very sick for a number of days but, he stuck it out.

We finally have Gran's condo up on the market. It took us a little over a month to get it cleaned out and all the things sold that we could sell. It came down to the last item being left was a beautiful organ that she played all the time. We could not sell that organ for anything, we finally had to give it away. No one wanted it. I thought that would have been one of the first things to go, but it was the last item to leave the house. We ended up paying for a painter to come in and put a coat of paint on the walls to freshen up the place. The thing that amazed me the most was the fact that they lived in that condo for almost 25 years and they didn't do anything to the condo. It has the same carpet, the same flooring, the same stove, dishwasher, the same everything. The thing that was not original was the water heater and two toilets.

I hope everyone has a great week.

I Miss...........

2008-07-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was helping Leeann with a photo shoot of a couple of kids. Leeann has really done a great job with her photography and it shows in her work and her style. I am so proud of her and the work she has put into this. She is going to be a great photographer.

After the photo shoot we went to one of our favorite restaurants for a nice dinner and to look over her pictures. We got to talking about a few things with one of them being when and where we grew up. I started thinking back to my childhood and all the things I used to do and all the things I miss. Things like:

Being able to ride my bike anywhere in town, without my parents right behind me.
Playing in the yard with my friends.
Kick Ball with the neighbors by the street lamp light.
Friends that you grow up with.
Simple summer road trips.
Picnic's under the tree at my grandmothers house.
Saturday Morning Cartoons.
Drive-In Movies.
Sidewalks. (We have none here)
Spending all day at the swimming pool for a $1
.25 cent Cokes
.65 cent a gallon gas
Penny candy (that was really a penny).
Staying up all night with your friends reading comic books.
Toilet papering a house just for fun.
No Cell phones
No pagers
No answering machines
Writing Letters.
Records. (the vinyl one with grooves that popped and hissed when you played them)
Sleeping late on Sunday mornings.
Snow Days
Snow.
Tackle football with no pads or helmets (that may explain a lot to some friends of mine)
Walking home from school with your best friend.
Watching football with my dad
Small town living
Knowing your neighbors.

Those are just some of the things I miss, the list would run for pages. I grew up in the 70's/80's. Went to the roller rink on Friday and Saturday nights, played baseball everyday. Jumped on my bike at first light and had be home before the street lights came on at night. Knowing that no matter where I went, or what I did, my parents knew about it before I got home.

Why can't we go back to those days?

Missed milestones

2008-06-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

Katie never ceases to amaze me with the things she does that she should be able to do. When we first brought her home we set her up with several doctors because we knew that there were medical issues that we had to deal with. One of the first doctors we saw was an eye specialist. This doctor told us that "if she walks, it will be with a walker and at about the age of 3 or 4". Well, needless to say, she doesn't use a walker and she took her first steps at 13 months. A little later than most, but still walking on her own.

A couple of months later her primary care physician asked us if she was walking backwards yet. Leeann and I looked at each other and said "should she?". Later that same night Katie right on cue took her first steps backwards. Those are just a couple of the many milestones she has reached either a little late or right on time. Mostly a little late.

This past weekend she did something I thought she would never do much less attempt. This past weekend Katie went to the community swimming pool with her two friends and their family. While she was there, Katie saw the diving board and decided that she wanted to try it out. She asked the dad that was with them if she could. She pleaded her way into trying it. The dad told the lifeguard what they wanted to do. So, he swam out to just under the board, splashed some water so she could see where the water was and off Katie went. SPLASH! Right into the water. From what I was told, she loved it. In fact, she loved it so much that she did it 5 more times.

I was floored that she even tried it much less that she did it. It just goes to show that Katie is not afraid to try new things or take that big step to a new milestone. I am so proud of her for doing such a great job and pushing herself to new levels.

A Break and 3G YEA!!!!

2008-06-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

I have my last wedding behind me for two weeks. I finished the wedding this past weekend in Etowah with the reception in Athens. It was a fun wedding but, it was also the wedding I was most worried about. The mother was worried I would not get the prelude music on the video. She had scheduled 30 minutes of music and I got it all. Everything went well so now I have a two week break so I am hoping to get a lot of the weddings I have already shoot finished. I have high hopes that I can.

Today, my Sunny girl is at STAR. We approached them a couple of weeks ago about taking Sunny as part of their therapy program. They came out and looked at her a week ago and they were thrilled by her. The loaded her up today and took her to the STAR stables today and she is already a hit.

Now, for the best part. Apple announced today that they are going to release a new iPhone in July. It is going to be 3G (twice as fast) starting at $199 (half the price). I have missed my iPhone so much and I was even looking at getting an iPhone this past week, but held off. Now I am glad I did.

I am tired, but will be writing more tomorrow

What's UP

2008-06-05T18:16:00.001-07:00

I know it has been a long time since my last blog and I wanted take a few lines to update you all as to what is progressing in my life:

Work has me swamped right now. I have the rough cut for the May 3rd wedding, almost finished the rough cut on the May 17th wedding, all the footage of the May 24th wedding downloaded. I also have the spring concert downloaded and ready to cut so I hope to get to that in the next couple of days. I have a wedding this weekend down in Etowah, TN (that is an hour and half from here for those not in the know). This is the last wedding I have before I get a two weekend break but, that time is going to be filled with trying to get as much editing done as possible. I am happy that I have not gotten behind on anything to this point considering all that has been going on.

Leeann's grandmother is doing very well in her new apartment. She seems really happy, but she won't admit that to anyone. It's a pride thing with her. Leeann and I had to go the facility this past Monday to do some forms so we made a surprise visit to her. She looked so good, had good color in her face, looked like she may have put on some weight which is really good for her. They say she is eating really well and getting along with everyone there. She is just getting a little lost walking around the hallways, but that is to be expected when you are in a new place.

The past week, in addition to editing video, I have also been helping Leeann clean out her grandmothers condo. We got a small dumpster (18x12x4) and filled it up. It is unreal how much trash can build up in a 1400 sq ft condo. It took us 5 full days to go through the place and try to clean it out for a sale we want to have this weekend. It seemed like that every time we were making progress we would find another drawer with more stuff and feel like we were starting all over again. We got it all done and ready for the big sale this weekend. We are hoping it goes well.

I have found that you find out who your friends really are when you are in the deep end of the pool. Rick & Lisa, and our friend Sheila have really been there for us. Thank you are not near enough words to express how we feel for all your help.

Katie is doing really well with her summer camp. Her second grade teacher has her son in the same summer camp as Katie and she is just so thrilled see Mrs Crawford almost every day. She is doing a reading class three times a week to help her with her reading for next year. She is so into a book she got in school, "Where the Wild Things Are". She takes it with her everywhere and she has read the book to me about 3 times now. There is nothing in this world like hearing Katie read to me. We are so proud of her.

Well, it is an early wake up in the morning so we will call it a night and see how things go.

Holiday Weekend?????

2008-05-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Back in the day when I used to work in a corporate office I really looked forward to Memorial Day weekend. It was the first long weekend after a long winter of work. It was a great chance to get out, have some fun with the family and enjoy an extra day off. And, if you planned it right, you could make a nice little vacation out of it as well. In fact, for years, Leeann and I would make this out vacation week to go to the beach. Well, those days are gone. I didn't even notice that it was a holiday weekend.

I had a wedding on Saturday in Morristown, an hour away mind you. Most times, the bride has a rehearsal on Friday night before the wedding, but this bride could not have it on Friday and had it on Thursday night instead. That messed me up on Friday. I got up and felt strange not going to a wedding, but I had lots to do anyway.

Friday was Katie's first day of summer vacation and we did a few things together to help me get ready for the wedding. She also enjoyed sleeping a bit late as did all of us. We then went to Gran's condo to get some of her stuff ready to move. OH YEA, we were also moving Leeann's grandmother to an assisted living facility on Sunday. I took her bed apart, got a dresser and a few of the big things ready to go. While I was at my wedding on Saturday, Leeann and Katie were getting Gran packed and ready to go. The wedding was a nice and short wedding (YEA). I was home by 7pm which was really weird for me, most wedding receptions don't get going until 7pm. But, it was nice to get home a little early. I actually got part of the wedding downloaded to the computer Saturday night.

Sunday came and we got Gran all moved in without much problems. I have to say that Leeann picked out a really nice place. I was very surprised at how big her room is. I have seen efficiencies in Washington DC that were smaller than her room. She seemed like she was ok with everything when we left. We had to go back Sunday to take a few things we forgot and a few things that didn't fit in the truck. She was asleep when we got there but seemed to be ok otherwise. Leeann and I hung pictures and arraigned things in her room. Katie just sat and kept her company. She even ate a good dinner for once. I just know that it has to be a bit scary and lonely being someplace new. She lived in her condo for 28 years. She has so much stuff that we have to go through.

I think the thing that makes me most sad is looking at her new room and thinking that over your whole life, can be reduced to a small room in an assisted living facility. It just proves the old saying, "Who ever has the most stuff at the end, doesn't always win".

Disney Ends

2008-05-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

Please read this and the proceeding blog entry, they tie together:

I hate to say it, but our Disney trip ended with a big THUD! We decided to leave a day early simply because it was way too hot and WAY TOO CROWDED. We went down there about the same time last year and it was great, but Leeann and I figured that the weak dollar overseas means a lot of Europeans were coming here for "holiday" (and it showed). We ran into people from France, England, Germany and a few Asian countries as well. As Leeann says, we had serious "people overload" but, we still had a great time.

Things at home are slowly getting back to normal (if our life has any sense of normalcy to it). We went to Katie's school yesterday to plan where she was going to be placed next year. We could have chosen to put her in a CDC classroom (think Special Ed) with her being in a mainstream 3rd grade class for social time or leave her in a 3rd grade class and increase her Resource time. We chose the latter of the two. We just feel that Katie does her best when she is pushed to preform and she wants to do well. In CDC we didn't feel like she would have been challenged at all. We both felt better after the meeting, but it showed us how lucky we really are. The school Katie goes to has some of the best people in it. Everyone from the teachers to the office staff all the way down to the janitorial staff knows Katie. There hasn't been a day when we are out and about with Katie that we hear in the distance, "Hi Katie", or "Mom, that's Katie from my school". And it never fails that when we ask her who they are, she looks at us with a straight face and says "I don't know". But, I have seen them at the school and know that is where they know her from.

The teachers have been the best. Each one has fallen in love with Katie and has said on a number of occasions how sweet and kind Katie is. How caring she is. Her teacher last year got a little weepy on the last day of school when Katie left the room. We see her from time to time and she always ask how Katie is doing. I can't leave out our wonderful principal. He stops Katie in the hall and talks to her to see how things are going, tells her a joke or just walks with her. He cares so much, we couldn't have hand picked better people if we tried.

My business is going well. So well in fact, that I have that overwhelmed feeling right now. Here is my schedule for the next month just to give you an idea: Wedding rehearsal this Friday, wedding on Saturday, spring concert on Monday, rehearsal on Thursday in Morristown, wedding on Saturday in Morristown, work on 3 different wedding through the week including a school concert, another rehearsal on Friday followed by a wedding on Saturday, now work on 4 different weddings and a concert, need to get the pool ready for the summer, find some time in there to mow the yard (OH Lawn Mower Fairy, PLEASE COME BACK) and that just gets me up to the first of June. WHEW!!!!!!!

Can't wait for a beach trip, I will need it.

You will need a tissue

2008-05-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

If you ever wondered why we love Disney so much, you have to read this story. It is posted on allearsnet.com in their review section:

On our first day this trip, we ended up in the Downtown Disney store, As we were walking around, we noticed that there is a 'little girl spa' in the back called Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. It is a place where young girls go and get their hair, makeup, nails etc done and dress up like one of the Disney Princesses. I guess in the under 10 demographic, it is a pretty important place.

So… alone, I walk up to the girl at the 'completely overrun with young girls and their family' front desk and ask if they have just nail polish services. She says no, they only do full packages of hair, nails, makeup. I explain to her
that my daughter Haidyn has no hair. She replies that they can work with fine or thin hair. So I point over to Haidyn (age 4), the girl looks, and then… the Magic begins….. You see, Haidyn has Leukemia and has lost her hair from the chemo.

The girl at the check in desk looks at the girl next to her and says "I need room for a special little girl." Then she waves to Haidyn and brings us back into the fancy salon area.

This place is packed with young girls in various stage of princess-ification. Two of the Fairy Godmothers instantly sweep up Haidyn and she is now the star of the whole place. (I feel a little bad for the other little girls - everyone that
works there wants to be part of Haidyn's experience. I counted 5 beauticians and 2 photographers elbowing their way in.)

With her salon cape on, she selects her nail polish, all kinds of makeup, and of course jewelry. After a good 30-40 minutes of princess-ification they apply her sash, a fair amount of pixie dust to her head and spin her towards the mirror to show her the results.

Of the 30 or so people in the spa, there wasn't anyone with a dry eye. In all her glory – Haidyn is now officially a Disney Princess. They had taken a girl with no hair and made her the fairest princess of them all.

Disney is the only place I know that makes every kid feel special and one of a kind no matter what is going on in their life. Katie loves this place and so do we. We will be going back again soon.

3 more times?!?!?!?!

2008-05-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

Today was a slow day for us. Slow getting up. Slow getting going and slow moving around Animal Kingdom. Not sure if it is people overload or Disney overload but either way, we were moving very slow today. We didn't get to Animal Kingdom until about 11am. We went for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. Katie really likes that one because of all the animals. Well, we go on the truck and drove about 100 yards and came to a complete stop. We remained that way for almost 25 minutes. We never did get a good reason for the stop, they just said it was an animal in the road. I felt so bad for the girl driving, she had to keep us entertained the whole time. She told us about the park, the safari, the animals we might see, it got so bad she had to resort to "So, where is everyone from?". Thank goodness we were in the shade or it would have been very bad. I did feel bad for Katie though. When we did get moving again, she had a hard time seeing things because the animals would blend into the background so well, I don't know if she ever really did see them or not.

We then went to lunch at a place called Tusker House. Good food and very nice on the inside. Katie got a nice surprise however, the waitress brought Katie a plate full of deserts, browines, cookies, tarts, you name it, it was on the plate. She also got Katie a birthday card signed by the likes of Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and even Pluto. She got a kick out of that for sure.

We then took a short trek through one of the jungle walks. We got to see a tiger up close (through a window of course). Katie loved that and so did we until a VERY rude woman from England decided that it was more important for her to get a picture than for my little girl to see a tiger. She was so rude that she even put her camera right in front of Katie's face to get her little picture. I almost grabbed her hand and pushed her back. The final straw for us was when Leeann had a great shot of tiger and was just about to take the picture when the British Chick's kid jumped into the shot!!!

We all were tired and decided it was time to go so we gave Katie a choice, Everest or Dinosaur? She at first choose Dinosaur but as we walked there we passed Everest and Katie could not pass it up. So, for the 6th, 7th and yes 8th time we made the trip to battle the Yeti. This kid can not get enough of that ride. I have never seen her love to do something as much as this ride (except maybe being around animals).

To say we are tired is an understatement at the very least. We plan to take it easy tomorrow and maybe go to the Magic Kingdom for the fireworks, we will see.

2008-05-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

This was truly a magical day for all of us. We decided to just take it easy and not be in a big hurry for anything. We made lunch reservations at the Liberty Tree Tavern, but other than that, we were on no timetable for anything. We hit TomorrowLand first since there were a couple of things that Katie wanted ride again that she remembered from last year. We did the rocket cars (think the Dumbo ride only with rocket type cars). Then Katie could not wait to drive the racecars with Leeann as the unlucky passenger. With our pass for Katie’s handicap, we were able to ride some ride twice in a row with the racecars being one of them. Katie just loved being able to do that. We then went to the “Laugh Floor”, “Buzz Lightyear”, and “Stitch’s Escape”. They all were fun and Katie really enjoyed them all.
We then headed over to Liberty Square for lunch, which was very good, but you would think for a good size restaurant would have had a bigger bathroom. I had to make a little break for the bathroom and when I got there, I could not believe how small it was, ONE stall, oh well, it worked for me.
After lunch we did the Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, first off, I have not seen any of the movies and nor do I have a desire to see them. So, that said, I really did not know what to expect with this ride, but I was surprised at how fun it was and how much Katie really took it in. She was like a sponge on some of the rides today, just looking around and taking it all in. When we got off that ride, she wanted to do the Big Thunder Mountain. Now let me tell you, this kid loves her roller costars. The faster the better (see yesterday’s blog about Expiation Everest). She rode that thing two times as well.
Then it was off to Fantasy Land for a few more rides, things like Dumbo, “It’s A Small World” (which I have never been on, but it was fun), and what surprised me was that Katie knew all the countries we went by.
We were worn out by the end of today, so we just swam for a bit and called it a day. We took things easy today and really took a lot of breaks and lots of water, so we lasted a lot longer than we have before, so it was a great day.
Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom again. ROAR!!!!

5 times in a row!!

2008-05-07T18:43:00.001-07:00

Today was Animal Kingdom. Last year this was Katie’s favorite park and she could not wait to get there. She kept asking all morning “are we going to miss the bus?” and I kept telling her that we had plenty of time and we would not miss the bus. Once we got to the park, her face lit up and she headed straight for the Dinosaur ride. Leeann and Katie had a great time on the ride side by side. We got off the ride the first time and Katie was already saying, “can we ride it again, can we ride it again”. So, you guessed it, we rode it again. She couldn’t get enough.

We then went to a really fun ride called “Primal Twirl”. This is a ride that spins you around and around while going on a small roller coaster. Katie, who loves to do anything that spins anyway, really loved it. She loved it so much we rode it 3, yes 3 times.

Then it was off to the main thing Katie wanted to do most of all. Now you all know that she loves animals more than just about anything, but when it comes to “Expiation Everest”, even animals take a back seat. She could not wait to get on that ride. When she saw it, she almost ran to get in line. We got in line and she could not wait. We rode it not once, not twice, not even four times, but 5 times in a row. The people running the ride kept saying hi to Katie and asking if she was having fun.
We did lunch at the Rainforest Café, again. I will say that the one at Downtown Disney is much better than the one at Animal Kingdom, but we still had fun and Katie was still taking it all in. Sorry Outback Steakhouse, Katie now has a new favorite place to eat.

We ended the day by doing a little swimming, which Katie just loved. She wore herself out. After dinner, she climbed into bed and said, “Can I go to bed now?” We said sure and before we could turn around, she was asleep.
We are hitting the Magic Kingdom tomorrow; we are having so much fun here. We love this place.

A Little Good, A Little Bad and A Lot of FUN

2008-05-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

It has been a long day. it started at 6:15 this morning when Kate climbed into our bed and asked if it was time to go to Disney. Well, not really but since we were up and going we got ready anyway. We had a lot of time to spare which was very nice and a lot different then most times we leave on a trip. We usually are trying to get out the door by a certain time and feel rushed all day. Not today, we had A WHOLE LOT OF TIME.

The trip down here was pretty simple and very uneventful. I like trips like that. Well, let me correct myself, there was one little, or should I say BIG bump. We landed in Atlanta and we were getting ready to get off the plane. Leeann was on her Blackberry doing something for one of her clients and I was rushing her to get out of her seat and get moving. I thought she was just texting someone for fun. I was very wrong and needed to slow myself down. So anyway, she got a little upset and jumped up and WHAM. She hit her head on the celling above her. She said she saw stars and had a pretty good headache for a while, but she is much better tonight.

We got to our hotel and we must be very luck or blessed because we have two rooms for the price of one. You see, since Katie takes medicine daily we need a way to keep some applesauce cold for her (she takes about 8 or 9 meds at one time and the apple sauce helps get them all down). So we ask for a handicap accessible room that way we get a fridge to keep her stuff cold. Katie's Dr. gives us a not for this when we travel. Well, we get here and they don't have any of those rooms available so they gave us, at NO ADDITIONAL COST mind you, two adjoining rooms. One room with a King bed and the other with two double beds. How sweet is that. I love Disney.

We decided that we would go down to Downtown Disney for a little shopping (Leeann & Katie's favorite past time) and get some dinner. We went to the RainForest Cafe. If you have never been it is a theme restaurant, but to me, it is the best theme restaurant out there. We had never been and didn't know what to expect. We only had to wait about 20 minutes for a table, not bad since it was 6pm. While we waited, they have this gift shop you can look through, Katie was in HEAVAN. Everywhere you looked, ANIMALS of every shape, size, type, and color. Think of a jungle animal and they had it. She was picking up everything, looking at it all.

Our table was ready and we sat right next to some very life like elephants. Katie's head was turning around as fast as she could trying to see what was all there. She kept petting the elephants and then would point out a new animal she found. She just could not take it all in fast enough. I think she has a new favorite restaurant (sorry Outback). Our waiter was so nice, he rushed mine and Leeann's dinner when Katie's came out so fast. I don't know why we worried about it, Leeann and I, for the first time ever, finished our dinner before Katie did. The wait staff then brought out a HUGE ice cream, brownie, chocolate cake, diabetic coma of a desert. They sang happy birthday to her and she just beamed. Then her eyes got big when she saw the desert thinking she was going to eat the whole thing (it was almost as big she she is).

We left and checked out a couple of shops, Leeann of course found a scrapbooking store to look though. It started to get late and we headed back to the hotel. If you have never stayed on the park at Disney, let me tell you something. The transportation system here is great. You get on a bus and they take you anywhere you want. No driving hassles, no parking hassles, no hassles at all.

Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom, this should be fun.

DISNEY HERE WE COME!!!!!

2008-05-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

It is late and I am going to make this a shot blog. We have been so busy today getting ready for our trip to Disney. We don't leave until Tuesday, but we have a VERY full day on Monday so we packed everything today (and tonight) so that we will be ready to go come Tuesday morning.

I did my first Catholic wedding yesterday. It was very nice, but it was also a bit long. The reception was very nice and what I downloaded so far looks really great.

I have a very long day tomorrow, I will write more from the land of the big mouse.

Lawn Mower Fairies

2008-05-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

Most every one has heard of fairies. We all know about the tooth fairy, fairy godmothers, fairies in the forrest. Heck, some guys even believe that there is a booby fairy that visits pregnant women. But has anyone ever heard of a lawn mower fairy? Let me fill you in:

We are getting ready for Disney and trying to get all of our errands done on top of all the regular everyday things we have to do. Then add a wedding I am working this weekend and I was thinking that a few things were going to have to get left until we got home next Sunday and one of those things was going to be mowing the yard. I was going to try and get it squeezed in this Sunday if possible. Anyway, Leeann and I went out and did our errands today, then I went to the rehearsal for the wedding I am doing this weekend.

I met up with Leeann and Katie at the mall to get Katie's birthday build-a-bear. We had a blast and Katie picked out a new bear for her collection. I got home before Leeann did and when I got out of the truck with Katie I was looking in the front yard and noticed that something seemed strange. The yard was mowed, the edges were trimmed and the grass trimmings were blown out of the driveway. I thought "WOW, what a great wife I have, she jumped outside and mowed the yard to help me out. What a great wife I have!!".

So I asked Katie when mommy mowed the yard? Katie looked at me like I was from another planet. She said that Leeann was inside all day and that no one mowed the yard that she knew of. When Leeann got home I asked her and she had not a clue how the yard got mowed either. I even went to the neighbors and asked them if they saw anyone in our yard. "Nope, no one that we saw.". What a puzzlement.

The only thing I can think of (other than a lawn mower fairy) is the house on the opposite end of our street who has the same house number we have (there is an east ******** and a west *********. Same numbers on both the east end and west end) hired a lawn service and the service got the wrong end of the street. It has happened before with package deliveries and things like that, so I look at it as a blessing.

Do we have tickets?

2008-04-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Most of you I am sure know that this time next week, we will be in Disney for Katie's birthday. If you didn't know before, you know now. We are really looking forward to going. Katie is getting more excited by the day. Leeann and I are both looking forward to getting away for a couple of days and we know that this may be our only vacation out of state this year. Oh well.

We had a great weekend with Leeann's dad and step mother. On Saturday we all jumped into my truck as it was the only vehicle large enough to carry all 6 of us (Leeann, Katie, Leeann's dad, step-mother, Leeann's grandmother and myself) and headed up to Cades Cove. If you have never been to the Great Smoky Mountains, then you don't know what Cades Cove is. It is a small area of the park that you can drive through (11 mile loop) and see what the area kinda looked like back when the park was first founded 75 years ago. Along the drive you can go to some of the old cabins and churches that are still standing from old pioneer days. If you ever watched a short lived show called "Christly" about a young teacher in pioneer days, this show was shot in Cades Cove. Sevierville

We all laughed and enjoyed the beauty of the area and just spending time with each other. We stopped in at "Logan's Road House" for a early dinner. Since Katie's birthday is this Saturday, we though we would make last Saturday her pretend birthday since they were with us. We told the waitress that it was Katie's birthday and like most places, they may a big deal of it. The waitress got up on a chair and announced to the whole place that it was Katie's birthday and they did a big "Yah Who". Katie loved it, she had the biggest smile on her face.

Well, today I took Katie to STAR for her riding lesson. We told the instructor that Katie would not be there next week because of the Disney trip. Then on the way home Katie was quite for a bit then she looked at me and said, "dad, do we have tickets for the airplane?" I looked at her and said "What?". She said, "you have to have a ticket to get on the plane when we go to Disney. You know that if want to get on the plane you have to have a ticket. If you don't have a ticket they won't let you on the plane." I told her we had out tickets for the plane, then she wanted to know where did we get the tickets and was the bus we had last year (when she was little) going to take us to the Disney. (Last year we took the Magical Express to the park and the hotel, great service and very recommended) I told her that yes, we are taking the bus to Disney and she was happy.

Katie never ceases to amaze me with the things she says and does. DISNEY OR BUST.........

I am Charlie

2008-04-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 4 years, I am sure you have heard about the TV show LOST. In case you have been under the rock, I will give you a brief history: Flight 815 from Sydney to LA crashes on a island, losties (as they are called) want to get off, but lots of strange things happen. Smoke monster, time travel, polar bears on topical islands, flashbacks, flash-forwards, basically, expect the unexpected.

Anyway, I have been a LOST junkie from the first show, I have not missed an episode. Leeann and I make a night of it when it's on. Don't call, we aren't home. Computers are off. With all that said, I have attached a link to see which LOST cast member you are. I am Charlie, who are you??

Which Lost Character Are You?

More on Lost. Created by BuddyTV

By 9's

2008-04-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that our little wonder, Katie, is a very special little girl. She has a laundry list of special needs and one of them is learning. In a previous blog I talked about the fact that we now know she has auditory processing problems and one of the symptoms is the fact that learning is harder for her. So that said, we celebrate the little victories whenever they come and tonight we had a victory.

Wednesday's are gymnastics days for Katie. She loves to be able to run and bounce (mostly bounce) and have fun with the other girls in her class. Because of Leeann's class, I have been taking Katie to her gymnastics. By the time the class is done and we are on the way home Katie is pretty hungry so I have been stopping at fast food places to get her dinner on the way home (I know, I know, "Bad daddy, bad, bad, bad). Anyway, on the way home tonight we were talking about counting and how we count. She likes to count to 1,000 by 100's. She is so proud to be able to do that. She beams from ear to ear when she does it. I tried to challenge her a bit to see if she could count by 2's to 30. She did, but it was a bit of a struggle as she got higher up.

Then she surprised me, she said "dad, I can count to 90 by 9's." Now, I know some adults that have a problem doing that, but for Katie, this is like her Mount Everest. So, I said go ahead thinking in my mind that I will have to correct her and help her a bit. She went (without stopping mind you) "9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90." I almost drove off the road! I couldn't believe that she did it!! I was floored, I told her that I was so proud of her and that I was so impressed that she was able to do that. Katie climbed her Mount Everest!!!

I then suggested to her that we could surprise mom in the morning by counting by 9's to 90. She looked at me and asked, "do you think mommy will jump to the roof when I do it?" Well, she may not hit the roof, but I am sure she will jump for joy. She said not to tell mommy and she was going to just surprise her.

I will tell you how is goes.

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE

2008-04-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. I have been needing and wanting a new camera for my business. The two I have are great and do a wonderful job, but I wanted to step up to a much more professional camera. So, after much work and saving, we were able to order it this week. I have spent the day by the door looking for the UPS truck all day, and finally at about 5pm, Jimmy our UPS driver (yes, I know his name isn't that sad). Leeann saw him first and yelled "UPS is here, UPS is here!!!" I don't know who was more excited her or me. I ran out to meet him coming up the drive way. I took my time to open the box and take out each item one at a time making sure that everything was there. It was and I put it all together, looked over the owners manual (unlike a wonderful wife I have) and have been spending the evening setting it all up. Tomorrow Leeann and I are going down to Sweetwater, TN for the Special Olympics. Leeann is going to be taking pictures and I am going to use this time to get to know my new camera. This should be fun.

What happened today??????

2008-04-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

This has been a day to beat all days. The day started off very early. We had to be downtown at the county courthouse for this thing with Leeann's grandmother. Nothing bad, just trying to make her and Leeann's life a little better. The whole way downtown and back she (Leeann's grandmother) kept saying "Look at all the new buildings." They have not added any buildings in the past 20 or so years. She talked about how much they have changed the city/county building. It is the same building it has been since it was first built some 20 or so years ago. It is just her mind slowly slipping away. It is sad to see it happen.

After we got her home, we ran back to our house and changed out of our dress up clothes and into run around town clothes. It was nice to be able to spend part of the day with Leeann. We treat these days as if they were dates. We don't go out on weekends as much as we should, so we use the time during the day to do the things we would do at night. We even have reverse date nights. What we do is get Katie off to school, then we got to an early movie, then have lunch at a nice place, then run a few errands or who know what. Saves tons of money on babysitters.

Anyway, we were running around and were at the Home Depot looking at some edging for the back yard when we rounded the corner there was a lady pushing a buggie with a little dog that looked just like Maggie. Leeann broke down a little. I kinda did as well. We both miss Maggie so much, it just doesn't seem like the same house with out her here. Leeann really started to feel that empty space in her and wanted to fill it. I can understand that.

When Katie got home, Leeann started to look at some cats and small dogs online. HUH OHHH!!!! If you read my blog on when we lost Maggie you know what is coming next :)

Let's just say we made a trip up to Oliver Springs and came home with a little ..............

White.......

What for it...........

CAT!!!!!

I am not sure of the name yet, I think it will be Gizmo, but who knows. Katie is in heaven. She has promised me that she will clean the little box each and every day (I will keep you informed on that). Katie has been wanting a cat for several weeks now. Ever since we lost Maggie, I think that there was a empty space inside Katie for Maggie as well.

I think this was Leeann needed. She has always liked animals and loves to take care of them and spoil them (Hogan sleeps on the pillows between Leeann and I at night) to no end, but it give her so much joy and happiness, how can I ever say no to her when I know how happy she is going to be.

So what started out as an early morning at the city/county building with Leeann's grandmother ended up on a curvy back road in Anderson County with a 6 week old kitten on Leeann's lap. What Happened Today???????

2008-04-14T08:24:00.000-07:00

I now have a little down time before the big May rush hits. In May I have a wedding every weekend except one and that is the weekend we are off to Disney. I am going to be so tired come the end of June, but I am loving every minute of it. I have a job that I love and is so much fun. I get to spend weekends shooting weddings and then the rest of the week putting them together, I love it!!!!

This past weekend Leeann and I went with our best friends Rick and Lisa to see Sugarland with Little Big Town. We had a great time. We were on the top row of the Civic Coliseum but, it is not a big place so it was not that bad, in fact, I liked the seats very much. We danced and sang at the top of our lungs. Plus, being with friends is always fun.

I had heard several of Little Big Town's songs when I worked at Scripps, so I knew some of their songs and I told Leeann and Lisa that they had a "Fleetwood Mac" sound to them. They were great and Leeann downloaded most of their song yesterday from iTunes.

I had a strange thing happen to me Saturday night. It happened to me a couple of time when I was stationed in Germany with the Army. In Europe, when you go to concerts and events where there are large crowds, it is not uncommon for there to be unisex bathrooms. I was not aware of that the first time I walked into a large trailer looking building and there were both males and females going to the bathroom side by side. So, I got used to it.

Well, Saturday night, I had to excuse myself for a few moments during the Little Big Town set and walked down to the mens room. While in the stall, I heard a couple of female voices come in and then a few more, then more. When I exited the stall there stood, much to my surprise, were 4 or 5 ladies waiting to use the bathrooms. They said the line for the ladies room was too long, which it usually is, (what are you all doing in there anyway???) so I just said hello and went on my way.

It is a cold rainy day and a Monday at that. Leeann reminded me of a old Carpenters song that describes me today, "Rainy days and Mondays always bring me down".

A tough couple of weeks

2008-04-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

I knew things would be busy the last couple of weeks, but I had no idea that it would be this crazy. I keep thinking of a saying I heard in a movie a long time ago, "the hits just keep on coming". We just get over the passing of our little Maggie then you throw on top of that Leeann's dads battle with cancer and that roller coster ride it has become, with a little Gran thrown in on the side and you can just image what it can be like. It's hard to deal with each one, but stack them all together and put it all on Leeann's back and I have to say, I am truly amazed at just how strong she is. She deals with all that plus still takes care of our special little girl, keeps up with her work with her special client and all his tax work, take on three classes at UT and still run this house, she is just too amazing for words.

My schedule has been crazy to say the least. I have had two weddings the past two weekends. I have not had back to back weddings before so I have been a bit nervous taking on two wedding in a row, but I am really happy so far with how well it is going. I have put myself on a schedule of working on one video in mornings and one in the evenings. I try really hard to take the afternoons off to be with Katie and Leeann if at all possible.

I did have one set back with one wedding. Let me start off with this, I love the weddings and the brides I work with. It is a joy to watch two people start a new life together and to be able to make something for them that they can watch for years to come is such a thrill. Working with other wedding professionals is great for the most part. As a professional, I know they have a job they have to do just like I do, so I try really hard to work with them and help them as much as possible without hurting myself or my product. But, on two occasions, one just within the past two weeks, I have worked with a photographer that has been less than professional. I worked with someone that only had his interest in mind.

I have a set list of shots that I want to get, a set list of "must have" shots that I have learned work well in a video, but I also watch for that special moment that only happen once. That happened a couple of times in a recent wedding and this photographer either got right in my way or pushed me out of the way. He crossed the line when just before the wedding was to start, he jumped right in front of me and announced that this was going to be his spot and the fact that he was going to be in MY shot was not his concern and I just had to move. I then politely told him that I had a job to do just like he did and that I had already set up in this spot so he was going to have to move to a different location. He put his camera, left the alter area only to return a couple of minutes later to tell me that "the mother of the bride said he was just fine where he was". Did he just go and tell "mommie" that I was being mean?

Well, I got even. I know this was wrong to do, as a professional I should be above doing this, but I have to say that it felt good and it worked. I was beside him during the ceremony and I could see the picture he was trying to take, I waited until he was just about to take the picture and then "OOOPPPPSSSS" I bumped him really "hard". Needless to say, the rest of the day and during the reception, he was always watching where he was in relation to where I was.

How fast are you?

2008-03-20T21:00:00.001-07:00

The hardest thing I have ever had to do.....

2008-03-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

When Leeann and I moved to Knoxville in July of '94, we didn't know what was in store for us. We didn't know to adventures to come our way. We had been here for about 4 or 5 months and Leeann was having tough time finding a job she wanted. She was so over-qualified for everything she went out on. She was getting so down and so blue. I came home from work one day to find her in a great mood so I was happy for her. She told me she found an ad in the paper that day for a little Maltese puppy and she went to see her that day. I could tell right away that we were getting a dog. She, of course, asked if it would be ok if we got the dog and there was no way on this earth I could tell her no. So, into our lives came Maggie.

Maggie was one of the best dogs you could ask for. She did not shed hair, she was small and for the most part pretty quite. Maggie was a traveler to say the least. I have lost count of how many trips she made with us. Trips to the beach, to Leeann's mothers house, just about any place we went, Maggie tagged along.

We used to say that Maggie was a lap waiting to happen and it was true. If you sat in a chair in our house, you had better be ready for Maggie to jump up in it. People told us not to let her sleep in the bed with us, but anyone who knows us, knows we didn't listen to that. Maggie took over the bed, she was just nice enough to let us sleep in it at night.

Maggie ran this home from the day she arrived. When Brinkley became a part of our family, she put him in his place. I have never in my life seen a 70 pound dog sit and wait for food like Brinkley did when Maggie was eating. She would just look at him and he would sit or lay down until she was finished.

When Katie came home with us the very first night, Maggie was there, tail just a wagging. But, as we added to our home, Hogan and Sophie, we could tell that Maggie was more and more unhappy with us. She still loved us and still ran the house, but she was not happy about all the additions to the home.

For the past couple of weeks, Maggie has not been doing well. She has been eating less and less each day. She averaged between 10 and 12 pounds in weight depending on what food she snuck from us. Anyway, two weeks ago, she was down to 6 pounds. We tried everything we could think of, hand feeding, baby food even forced feeding, but she just kept loosing weight.

Over the weekend, we could tell that Maggie was just not herself anymore, she didn't do anything but just lay around the house, she could hardly walk and even doing the forced feeding, she didn't put up the fight she used to. So today, we made the decision, along with our vet, to put Maggie to sleep.

I held her in my arms as she went to sleep and I kissed her one last time. I know that she is in a much better place. My dad loved dogs and I know that he is there waiting on her to get there. I will miss that little white fur ball.

Honey Do's and Milestones

2008-03-04T20:22:00.000-08:00

What is it about spring that makes people want to clean? This past weekend Leeann and I did some serious cleaning and de-cluttering. We have plans to de-clutter the entire house this spring but plan on doing it one section at a time. The living, dining and rec room were up first. The couch in the living room left, we got a new entertainment center for the living room, new dining room table and then got rid of a few things in the rec room.

Knoxville Rescue Ministries was the recipient of all this purging. I think that it helps every one all the way around. For every $1.70 they make at their store, they can feed someone a meal. We get a tax break, someone in need gets a meal and our house gets cleaner. Sounds great to me.

I hit a milestone this week in my business. I have hired a part time person to help me with some up coming weddings. I have never hired anyone before as the owner of a business. This was kinda cool in a way. I had to place the ad, review all the responses (I got 5 just from the craigslist ad alone) and pick who I thought would work out best. I will keep you updated on how it goes.

Katie is getting ready for a big milestone her self. She is getting ready for a camp this weekend. This is a camp for kids with vision problems. She went last year, but just for one night. She did great and she had such a good time that when we went to pick her up, she didn't want to leave. So this year we are letting her spend both nights there. Needless to say, mom and dad are planning a few nights out. I don't know who is more nervous about this weekend, Katie or Leeann?

Ever wonder what I do??

2008-02-28T06:53:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what it is I do as a wedding videographer? I know people may think it is really easy, but it is a lot of work, work I really have a great passion for. It all starts about a month before the wedding is scheduled, I send out a short questionnaire to the bride and groom. This gives me a chance to get to know them a bit better, who they are and how their video should reflect them. I start thinking about how I want the shoot to go, how I want the video to look and what kind of shots I need to make it look that way. I make a list of all the shots I want, what I will need equipment wise to get that shot. I also make a list of everything I will need that day, equipment, any food or drink I need for myself and the person working with me, if I need someone with me. I start checking the weather for the day to see if I need any special weather gear or not.

The week of the wedding, I try to contact the bride to go over any last minute changes I need to be aware of, what time is the rehearsal, and do they need anything from me. I start going over my equipment making sure everything is working correctly. I calculate how many video tapes I will need, charge all my batteries and that everything on my list is ready to go.

The day of the wedding is usually a long day. I try to get to the venue about 2 1/2 hours before the bride gets there, this gives me a chance to set up my equipment in an out of the way area, go over my shot list with my assistant if I have one with me. I get some establishing shots of the venue, prep of the location, meet with the location coordinator about any restrictions they might have in place. Once the bride arrives, things really kicks into high gear. I start going down my shot list to start getting the 22 must have shots, keeping an eye out for both the special moment shots and B-roll shots. I then get the groom, go over a few things with him, mic either him or the officiant up, then go and get the equipment set for the wedding ceremony itself.

After the ceremony is done, I continue to stay with the bride and groom while they are doing the family photos. This is when some of the most emotional and romantic shots come from. Then its time to head to the reception, still keeping an eye open for anything and everything that goes on. I get a short break during dinner as no one wants to see their friends and family eating on their video. I am there at the reception until the bride and groom leave for the night.

When the reception ends, my work is just starting. Now I have to download the video onto my computer, go through all the video to look for any problems that my be present and fix it. Start to put the clips together in a way that tells the story of the day, add the music, sync the audio to the video, do the titles, go over the video any where from 30 to 50 times looking for anything and everything. It all has to look and feel just right. Once the video is done, then I have to put it on a DVD, create the menus, put any motion to those menus, add any music and/or photos, go over the DVD 15 to 30 more times, make any additional changes to give it just the right feel so that the bride and groom can relive that emotional day. Then I do all the authoring of the DVD, etch the label and then deliver the finished DVD to the bride.

When all that is done, it starts all over again for the next wedding. So the next time you wonder what I do and why it may be a long time between blog posting, now you know.

My Dad

2008-02-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago I made mention of my dad and a few friends have asked me to blog some information about my dad. I was not sure I really wanted to do this, it is hard to go back over time and try to remember things that happened in the past and get them right, but I think it is good for me to go over those things again.

My dad's name was Cary D. (Danny) Samples. He was a hard working man. He always put his family first in everything he did. I grew up in east central Indiana in a small town. One of my earliest memories of my dad is of him putting up a swing set in a back yard. I remember watching him put it up and how I could not wait to swing on that thing. He had a white Ford Galaxy that he loved so much. In fact, he kept that car until the rust ate through the floor board of that old car. He was a Ford man forever.

My dad worked in a die casting factory making parts for cars, things like the grills, outside mirror brackets and things like that, before it all went plastic. He worked as much as he could, days, nights, weekends, you name it and he worked it. Like I said, he always put his family first. He always made sure his kids had all the things we wanted, whatever it was. I remember one night he went out of his way for me. I used to stay up late and wait for him to come home, that may be why I still enjoy staying up late. Anyway, I would stay up late every Friday night and wait for him. Most everyone of those nights he would order a pizza and bring it home. Mainly because he wanted dinner, but I enjoyed it because it was time I got to spend with him. Well, I called and ordered the pizza before he got home and he had to go back out and get the pizza. He didn't really have the money for the pizza that night, but he went for it anyway.

He taught me how to ride a bike but, he didn't teach me how to stop the bike when I was done. So, I just rode my bike into a tree. It worked, it hurt, but it worked. Well, one day I was on my bike riding around the street in front of my house. My dad had a rule that we were not to ride over the hill out of sight of our house. I decided to see what was on the other side of the hill one day. When I did I knew I did something very wrong and knew that I was going to be in big trouble when I got home. Sure enough, as I toped the hill, there he was in the front yard waiting for me. I started crying (I was maybe 3 or 4 at the time) before I ever got home. He didn't punish me when I got home, he said I had punished myself enough. I learned a great lesson that day, dad was always right.

He also taught me to drive, he taught me to work hard and to put my family first. He taught me to value my friends, to be a good friend to others. He helped me through many a broken heart, took me and my then girlfriend on my first date. He taught me to keep pushing myself and to never settle for what I was. He stood by my side when I struggled, he stood proud when I succeeded. He knew when it was time to let go, and when to reel me in. But, most of all, he taught me to make decisions for my self. He never told me what to do, he told me the good and bad of what ever decision I was facing. The choice was mine. When I signed up for the Army, I was trying to choose a career choice, I wanted to have him there with me to tell me what I should choose, but I heard him in my head telling me that I had to make the decision my self. I did and I could tell it hurt him to know that his son was stepping out on his own. But, I think he was very proud as well.

I remember the last time I talked to him. I had moved to Maryland and was living with my mom at the time. I wanted to spread my wings a bit and grow. My last face to face time I had with him was a very, and I do me VERY, heated argument. I can't remember what it was about, but I know that I said some things I wish I wouldn't have said. Anyway, I called him on a Thursday afternoon and asked him to do a favor for me. He said he would the next day and get back to me. His last words to me were "I love you son". My last words to him were "yea, me too." The next day I got a phone call from my dad's wife. He was gone. I could not believe it. The one person who guided me for my entire life was gone.

I know he is still with me, he is still watching over me. I really wish he could have meet Leeann and gotten to meet Katie. He would have loved her I have no doubt. But, I know that he is up there looking down on me. I just hope that he is standing proud, not standing beside me.

I was not ready for this

2008-01-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

My last post talked about how things would really get started for my business after the wedding show. I did not know it would take off like this. I have been getting phone calls almost daily wanting prices, quotes, questions answered and weddings booked. To date I have 4 weddings booked for sure (contract signed, money in bank), two more meetings this week will bring me to six and the list keeps growing. I have had, for the first time in my life, to get a day timer note book to keep track of calls, call backs, weddings, and the family schedule. I really LOVE it!!!!!

I was taking some time to look at other videographers tonight to see what they do and to get some ideas for future videos. Anyway, I ran across this site for a wedding videographer in Maryland and he had an article on his site about how to choose a videographer. I read it and really liked what he had to say, He has the same values I do when it comes to my customers. I put them first. I don't want to do high volume/low quality videos. Anyone can do that, I want my videos to have feeling, emotion. I want it to truly capture special moments from a special day. But the one thing that got to me, was what he said at the end. He said that he really loved what he does and he wants that love of his work to show in his videos. I really love what I do. I love the freedom it has given me, I love that I get to spend time with Leeann and Katie, I love working with people on a one on one basis. But most of all, I love the fact that I am creating something that will last for years and years to come. Knowing that in 20 years, a family is going to sit down one evening and put in a DVD (or what ever format they will use 20 years from now) and watch something that I created just for them. That is such a thrill for me.

I have even started networking with other wedding vendors for more business. I work with Brenda from One Enchanted Evening and she has kept me very busy with more things planned. I hear from her about once or twice a week with information about a bride or two. I also have started working with a photographer that got her start a lot like I did. She has a link to my website from hers and I have hers on mine.

On the personal side, we have a been a pretty sick family here lately. Leeann got a very bad case of Strep Throat last Monday, then Katie got it on Wednesday, and I was at the doctors today with some type of stomach bug. We are all on medication to fight this. We are getting better a little at a time. Oh, and my doctor told me today that I need to loose 10 to 15 pounds in the next 3 months, this should be fun.

Now it really gets started

2008-01-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was the Bridal Show. What a show it was, there were over 1,000 people there with the majority of those folks being brides. I had the worst case of butterflies this weekend. I was obsessing about everything, just ask Leeann if you don't believe me. I was making her nuts worrying about every little thing there was to worry about.

Leeann was going to help me at the show, but Katie was not feeling too well and Leeann had to stay at home with her and I was left to working the show on my own. I really wish Leeann would have been there, I was so busy. I got there at about 10:45am and did not get done and sit down until about 7pm last night. But, I have to say, even though I was swamped it was a lot of fun.

I was not able to talk to everyone who came by because there were times I was talking to two or three brides at a time and more were stopping by to get info. Some of the things I heard were "your video is so much clearer than any I have seen", "I love your style", "I love your video". That was most of what I heard, I hope there were more good things as well.

I was able to book 5 weddings yesterday and I had about 6 emails last night when I got home wanting to know about dates. I have been doing emails all day today and answering phone calls all day. Best part of the day had to be seeing my ad in the new Premier Bride Magazine, I am the first ad listed in the videography section of the magazine. I am on the top left of the page, which is great when you think about it, you read from left to right, top to bottom, so top left page is the place to be.

I also had a great location at the show, right in the middle, of the show where everyone had to walk to get anywhere. I could not have asked for it to have been better, I have added a photo of the booth, maybe next year it will look better with more color.

Wedding Show

2008-01-10T19:31:00.001-08:00

Many of you know that I have a wedding video business that I run. I have a blast doing so and love shooting the weddings. There is nothing like watching two people start their new life together. On top of that, I am doing something that they will be able to cherish for years to come. I look at this as an art form and what other art form will be people be able to look at years and years later to remember a special day in their life. It gives me such pride to know that I am creating something that 20 or 30 years from now, some kids are going to be able to watch and ask their parents what they thought about that day.

That being said, I have been very busy the past few weeks getting ready for a bridal show this weekend. Since I am a one man operation, I have to do pretty much all the marketing work my self for this. Oh, I get lots of help from Leeann, she is my best source of information when it comes to how things should look and what would work best, but as far as putting it together, well, its just me. Just to give you an idea of what I have been doing, I have had to put together about 500 folders with information about me and my business, I have burned and labeled over 600 DVD's to hand out. I have put a half page ad in the bridal magazine that comes out at the show. This magazine is the bible in this area for brides to be.

I have also been doing a lot more research into marketing my business, I have ordered DVD's from well established wedding videographers to get ideas to help me improve my business. I can only hope that it works well for me.

An old friend of mine stopped by tonight to borrow some equipment for a wedding he is going to shoot for a family member of his. He works for a local TV station that I tired to get a job at this past summer. I did not get the job even though the guy I interviewed with told me he wanted me and was going to hire me. I had a feeling why I didn't get the job but, I did not have a way to prove it. Well, tonight I was told I was right in my thinking. Seems that my old boss at the large cable network did not like the fact that anyone would want to leave any job that involves working with her to go someplace else. Seems as if she went to someone she knew at this local station and spoke poorly of me. Now, I can't positively prove this, but if I could.......

I am not mad about this, it has worked out for the best for me. I am happy where I am and feel good about the direction I am taking. But, if I could only prove this,

Where Have You Been -- It's Christmas

2007-12-25T19:07:00.000-08:00

OK, OK, I know it has been a long time since my last post. October in fact, that is too long a span to try and make up here in this posting, but let's just say I have been busy with life, Thanksgiving, mine and Leeann's birthday, Katie.

But, enough about that, lets talk about Christmas. We had a great one to say the least. The past several weeks I have been putting together things I wanted to get Leeann. Since she has lost so much weight, it is almost like she is a new person. She is still the same person, but she is in a way a new person. She has gotten into wearing P.J.'s. She looks so cute in them that I went out for the first time since we have been married and got her some new PJ's from Victoria's Secret. I was not too sure she would like them. I knew they would fit, but I was not sure she would like them. SHE DID!! I was so happy.

This was one of the best Christmas we have had with Katie in a long time. In Christmas past she has either rushed through the gifts so fast that she did not know what she had or she didn't care what she got. Today, she smiled so big at each gift, she looked at each one with joy and happiness. She opened one gift, a blanket that was very soft to the touch and could be heated up in the microwave oven to warm her up. Anyway, she touched the blanket and said in the biggest "Princess" voice, "So Impressive" with a bit of attitude thrown in for good measure. You just had to laugh.

We let her play the rest of the day and just have some fun. Now, in the years past, she played with a few things, but moved on to her favorite toys she had before Christmas. This year was so different. When we finished with the gifts, she went up to her room and got her iPod on a danced around like she does most any other day. "Oh well," we thought, same as every year. But, much to our amazement and joy, she went to her new dress up trunk, played with her new cat and talking parrot. (Not a real one mind you, but you would think it was real the way it talks back) It was so much fun to listen to her play with her toys, to be a little girl and just to hear her have some fun.

I did a bit blue tonight as we were winding things down tonight. I made a garbage run with some of the big boxes and wrapping paper. There were not many people out and I was taking the long way home to look at some lights. I went by a house near our home and there in the window was a small, and i do mean small, Christmas tree with a few lights on it. It was the only sign of any Christmas in the house as the rest of the house was dark. It made me think back to my dad and one very special Christmas we had:

I had been out of the Army since March and i was living with my dad and two brothers. We didn't have a lot of money, but we did OK. It was late November or early December, I can't remember, and my dad and I were talking about what we were going to do for Christmas. I told him that I didn't want to do much of anything for Christmas, I wasn't in the Christmas mood, didn't want to go through all the trouble and such. I said, "Dad, I don't even want a tree to put up, it is too much hassle. Besides, who would notice?" He got so mad at me when I said that. He jumped up and said, "As long as I am alive, have a roof over my head and a dollar in my pocket, we WILL have a tree in this house!" With that, he went out the door and came back about 20 minutes later with a small tree, about 2 feet tall with a few lights on it. He stuck in on top of the TV we had in the living room. He looked at me, smiled at me and said, "There will always be a tree in this house no matter how small the tree or the house."

I miss my dad sometimes, I miss being able to talk to him about things. I miss the fact that he never got to meet Leeann or to see his first grandchild, Katie, or that he missed being able to play with her. Most of all, I miss him being in my life. I know that he is with me, but sometimes I wish I had one more day with him.

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas.

What a week!!!

2007-10-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

We are home from our nice trip to the beach. We had a great time but, there were a few things that could have been better. I enjoyed the trip down there, but coming home was a bit tough. But, why start at the end, lets go back in time to Monday and out day at the beach.

We rented bikes and tried to ride down to the beach. Katie had not been one to ride bikes which I don't understand, she has great balance on a horse. She sits up and has great control of her core muscels, but when it comes to a bike, she just has no control. Well, we got her a bike with some training wheels and off we went. She did great for the most part. It just took a bit to get her to understand that she needed to use the brake. There was one time when she was going down a very slight hill and she forgot to break and ran off the sidewalk and into a bush. I just had to laugh. Of course, Katie didn't think it was too funny, but I was proud of her for getting back up on the bike. It took a bit of talking to get her back on the bike, but she did it and made it to the beach and back in one piece. A bit scraped up, but in one piece.

We made it to the beach agian the next day and spent most of the day there. There were a couple of tidal pools on the beach and we found some very small crabs in them. Well, that was Katie's day. She spent the best part of the day playing with the crabs while Leeann and I sat on the beach, reading. You could not have asked for a better day. Well, it was not as good as that, Leeann, Katie and I all got a bit of sun burn. mine on my right side, mostly my shoulder. Leeann on her right side as well, but also on her EAR?!?!?!!?!? How do you get a sun burn on your ear??? Leave it to her. Katie got her sunburn on her back since she spent the day bent over playing with the crabs.

We decided to hed off to Savahana and do some sightseeing. We also wanted to do Paula Deens' place. First off, I have seen a lot of her TV shows because of where I used to work. Leeann and Katie have loved watching her shows and it seems like she is a great cook. Well, you have to wait in line to get a reseveration, then wait in line for your table. The food is not the great. Think of a cafeteria type resturant and get the type and style of food.

I am tired, so I am going to wrap up for the night and tell you more tormrrow.

Fall Break

2007-10-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

We are here in Hilton Head. We made the trip down here without any problems. It was kinda fun to make a road tirp after all the plane trips we have made latley. We got Katie a new game for her Leapster and that was all she wanted to do all the way down here.

We got here at about sundown and went to the beach real quick. MAN, it was wonderful!!! the sun sitting, the crimson sky, the cool ocean wind, Katie running around the beach in her bare feet looking for shells. it was so nice. We went to the South Beach area and had fun dinner at the Salty Dog Cafe. We are all beat. I will post a photo we took at the beach tomorrow, I am too tired tonight.

Bye

43!!!!! OH MY

2007-10-14T12:23:00.001-07:00

Well, my birthday has come and gone. I am now 43 years old. Middle aged. On the the down side to 50. But, like Leeann says every time I complain about being old, I am just happy to be this old and to have the chance to see this age. She gets that from her great Aunt Gladys. When we first moved to Knoxville we meet Gladys Cantrell and we spent the next few years helping take care of her. I did things like little change light bulbs, fix a thing here or there. Leeann helped her with her day to day things and her bookkeeping. The great thing about here was she loved everyday she was alive. She never complained about a wrinkle, a stiff joint or much of anything for that matter. We may all need to be that way, just be happy for each day we have and enjoy that day what ever it may bring.

We had dinner with our really good friends Rick and Lisa. They are such good friends to have, I can't tell you how many times they have helped us with things. We are really lucky to have them as part of our lives.

Spent part of Saturday at the farm taking the horses for a walk. Yes, you read that right, we took the horses for a walk. We want to start riding trails with the guys and we want to get them used to walking in the woods with twigs breaking and such. Well, they did great. Sunny never flinched, or acted like she was in the least bit afraid to go through the thick brush, low hanging trees and branches.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to Rick and Lisa for the iTunes cards, can never have too much music. To Lynn and Lillian (mom and mommom) for the Target card, something good will come from that I am sure. But most of all to my wonderful wife and daughter for keeping my birthday very low key. They know I am not a big fan of my own birthday, but they did give me Madden 08 and that will keep me busy for some time.

43, lets hope there are 43 more to come

What has happened to us??

2007-10-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

I am fast approaching my next birthday. I am not going to tell you the date, as I am not a big fan of birthdays. I don't hate my birthday; I just don't like to make a big deal of it. I tell Leeann to just kiss me in the morning, tell me "Happy Birthday" and that is it. Anyway, I have been thinking of my age a lot the past month, as I have been very sore the past month with the workouts I have been doing in "Boot Camp". So, I have been much more aware of my age the past couple of days. I have been thinking about what I have seen, where I have been and what I have done. I can tell you, I am very happy with my life up to this point. I have a loving wife and daughter, both very supportive of my dreams and hopes. But, something this week really made me question a few things
This week I have been a "door opener" at Katie's school. This is a volunteer service our school does to help traffic in the morning. There are about 4 of us each morning standing outside the school and we open the door of the cars dropping off the kids for school each day. These past couple of days have opened my eyes to a couple of things:

1. What happened to our excitement in life? I have been watching the kids coming to school and they have been running, laughing and skipping into the school. Do you remember being excited to get to school and seeing your friends, playing on the playground? I have been watching these kids laughing and having so much fun. Why don't we do that as adults? Why do we go off to work each day dragging our feet, head hung down looking forward to nothing more then the end of the day? Where is the excitement in our day? How much better would our day be if we went to work each day with the same laughter, joy and enthusiasm these kids have going to school? We each have chosen the path we are on and only we can choose to change that path or the direction of that path. We have the ability to be just as happy as these kids; we just choose to chase the dollar, and to see who can get the most toys. My only advice is this: There is no prize in heaven for having the most toys, only a prize for the heart for the most joy.

2. The other thing that has had me thinking is the fact that when I was Katie's age, 8, I
lived a greater distance from school than Katie does now. I walked or rode my bike to school each day, not once thinking about how far I had to walk, or if I was in any danger. Today, there is not enough money being printed in the world today to let me allow Katie to walk or ride a bike to school today. That makes me so very sad that we live in a world where a little girl has to be watched over to make sure nothing happens to her. We all read the stories in the newspaper about what happens to kids by people who are very sick. I would love to allow Katie to play outside more, or for her to go to the park down the street and play with other kids, but that is not going to happen

I saw a story in our local paper the other day where they are going to make a playground area bigger, but when I drive around town doing errands I never see kids playing at any playgrounds without either a lot of parents around, or teachers right near by. Why are our kids overweight and video game junkies? Simple, we can't allow them outside to play the way we used to play (kickball, football, baseball games, running in the park, playing tag) because we have some very sick and dangerous people in the world and we are trying to get the most toys.
One more thing since I mentioned tag. There have been several school systems across the country have banned the game of tag. They say it is not good for the kids to be chased after or to be scared from others running after them. The simplest game there is for kids to play is being taken away because some parents don't want their little darlings to get scared or feel like someone is after them. Why are our kids overweight???

This one last thing and I will get off my soapbox. We got a notice from school the other day about the grading system Knox County will be using for kids. They will be using letter grades as follows: A, B, C, D, & U. Do you notice anything???
That is right, there is no "F"s. So kids can't fail anymore. This has to be some over the top mom or dad who didn't want their kid to feel like a failure in life. I got a few "F"'s in my life. I am not a failure, I don't have low self-esteem, and I am a pretty normal person and pretty well adjusted. The "F" made me work harder (along with a belt from my dad, more about that later) to make sure I didn't get another one. I felt bad for making that grade. I knew each time that I could have done better, and I did.

My birthday is in a couple of days and I have to ask, what has happened to us???

Two Down and Two to GO!!!

2007-09-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

We are back from the big trip out west. We had a good time most of the time we were out there, but the last night there was not much fun. Understand that it was in the high 90's or 100+ every day we were there, Saturday being no exception. When we got done with the day we went back to our room and found it quite stuffy to say the least. We turned on the air and went out to the pool to cool off thinking this would give the room time to cool off. Well, while we were at the pool I found out something, while I have a heater for our pool here, because of the number of trees in our yard keeps the sun from hitting the pool most of the day, out there, they actually cool their pool water with a water cooling systems. We were told that if they did not do this, the water would be like bath water by the end of the day and you would not want to get in.

Anyway, we went back to our room to find it hotter than when we left. I called the front desk and after a 20 minute wait, the engineer came to the room and tried find the problem. He found it. The air unit was frozen. He had to turn the heat on to thaw it out. Took about 20 minutes and we were able to get the air going again. To make things a bit better, we had them send a fan out to the room to make it more comfortable.

I would not mind living out there, it was so nice. The roads were well done, smooth and new. The homes were very nice, and for the most part the people were nice. The sky was SO BLUE. Just a bit hotter than I would have liked. But the best part to me is that during football season, I would be in heaven. Since most games start at 12 noon on Saturday, that is 9am out there. They then go ALL DAY LONG. You get the east coast games, then you have the west coast teams that start around 6pm and go until 9 or 10 at night. It is like Thanksgiving every Saturday. You know, on Thanksgiving there seems like there are game all day long.

Then on Sunday's it starts all over again, NFL kicks off at 10 am, enough time to sleep a bit late, or hit the early service at church, then have brunch in front of the big screen watching games all day. Leeann may not like it out there for that reason, but for a football fan, it is the best place to be.

Everyone wants to know about Boot Camp. Well, I am two weeks in and have two more to go. The mornings are getting a bit better but that alarm clock going off at 5 am is still tough. The works outs change everyday so we don't get into a habit of doing the same thing everyday. I come home every day covered in sweat, sore, tired but feeling good for the most part. Some days are better than others. Like yesterday for example, we were using those rubber cords that offer strength training. But, man those things kill your arm if you use them the right way. And we are doing lots and lots of sit ups, push ups and running. I have hurt my knee so running has been limited, but walking is no picnic either. When walking, you have to keep your arms moving all the time, mainly over your head. I was talking to one of the other boot campers on Tuesday and he asked me if this was the same a basic training in the Army. I told him "Oh no, this is much different than Army basic training." He said "oh, so this is easier?" "OH NO, much harder, I would rather be back in the Army than do this." In basic training we did not do as much aerobic activity. It was mainly jumping jacks, sit ups, push ups, stretching, then off for a run of a mile or two.

My arms are hurting, my abs are hurting, my legs are hurting, my every part of my body is hurting. But I am having some fun. Would I do it again??? NO!! Is that simple enough for you.

MAN IT'S HOT!!!!!

2007-09-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty good trip yesterday (Thursday). The day was pretty crazy getting ready to leave, getting to dogs to the boarders was my job and it is was just that, A JOB. I took all 3 at one time and to say I had my hands full doesn't even come close to telling you the story. Sophie tried to escape on me but was caught after a short run on the lamb. But, we were able to get everything done and when the wheels went up on that jet, I know I let out a big sigh of relaxation.

We flew from Knoxville to Dallas for the first leg. I had not been in Texas for almost 20 years. The airport was HUGE and not laid out very well. We landed and got off the plane at gate B4 and had to go to C6. When we got off the plane we saw a sign, a BIG sign mind you, that said C & D -> So we went that way. WRONG, we were told by not less than 3 people to go the other way; surely they must be crazy, the sign said otherwise. But, the sign was wrong and we had to backtrack a long way to get to our gate. Made it with time to spare, but way too much walking.

Our flight to Palm Springs was nice, we had a bulk head seat and all of us sat together so we had lots of leg room and got on and off pretty quickly. The flight in was beautiful; the sun setting over the mountains was something else to see. When we got off the plane, the gate area and the baggage claim area were the only areas inside. The rest of the terminals and walkways were outdoors under cover. It was cool, but the air was hot.

I have to tell you what a great traveler Katie is. I know I have said that before in this blog, but to see her travel is just amazing. She goes through security without a hitch and talks to the TSA agents and thanks them for helping her. She goes right to her seat and knows when to turn on and off her iPod and game boy. She is just something else when we travel. She is what makes most of our trips the most fun.

Well, Katie helped me get the luggage while Leeann got the rental car and off we went into the night to find a hotel that we had no idea where it was. But, if you know me, you know I had the GPS loaded and had the address to the hotel already set. And, you would have been right. So, we just got to enjoy the drive to the hotel and look around a bit. It is very nice here; the roads are even, not bumps or potholes. Kind of makes me miss Tennessee (NOT!!!!)

We have a very nice room with an enclosed patio. Not that we have sat out there, but it is there nonetheless. Got up this morning and helped Leeann get to her class and took Katie to her kids camp. Man was it hot!!!! About what it feels like on a 92 or 93-degree day in Knoxville with high humidity. But it was 104 for a high today.

I did get my stuff set up last night for the stuff today. I was on my feet for at least 9 hours getting everything on tape. Then when class was over I had to get some B footage of the hotel grounds and such. I am doing an interview with the lady who runs these boot camps tomorrow, so that will make my day even longer. We have to get up really early and go garage saleing at 7am, yea, that will be fun. But, it will be some good video.

It is very nice out here, who knows, we may end up here?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!

Two days in and I'm hurting

2007-09-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

I am two days into my boot camp and I have to admit, it is kicking my ASS bad. I went through Army basic training and it was not this tough. I have to admit, that was more than 20 years ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was not sure what to expect, but now I know how tough this is going to be. We had to meet Monday morning at 5:30AM (yes, in the morning) and go over rules and such. I have a little log book I have to take with me everywhere I go, I have to keep track of all the food I eat and all the workouts I do. I don't get a day of rest even on the weekends. We have homework to do on those days.

Anyway, the first day was just a PT test. To see where we were physically and I have to admit, I am in not so good shape. The first thing we did after a warm up was run a mile. I ran, walked, ran, walked, ran, walked and finished the mile in 9:51 and was the last to cross the finish line. Then it was as many sit up and push ups you could do in one minute. Not good there either, only 20 push ups and 18 sit ups in one minute. When I left yesterday, I was a bit light headed and not feeling too good. I was also covered in sweat. I had not worked that hard in years.

Today was worse. We did wind sprints all morning. Running from one cone to another as fast as possible, doing push ups, sit ups and jumping jacks along the way. I didn't feel as bad today, but still pretty winded. But, I kept moving and that is going to be the key for me, keep moving and having a positive attitude in all this. I have to change the way I think and say things. Like "yes I can" instead of "I don't think I can do that" or "I will go just a bit farther" instead of "I can't go any farther". I know it is going to take time and I am going to push myself as hard as I can.

I am sore tonight as I write this. I went to get some dog food for the guys and had a hard time picking up the bags. Not that they were heavy, it is just my arms are so sore, it was hard to lift anything up.

Hope all are having a good day and remember, you can do anything you put your mind to, sometimes you just have to go a little bit farther to get there.

Katie is a hit at the Game

2007-09-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

We have been living in Knoxville now for just over 13 years. When we first moved here Leeann kept telling me that I would be a fan of the UT football team. I knew of UT football from my dad. He was a huge fan of UT football and talked about how great the tradition was and he would go on and on about it for hours. My dad was from the Kingsport area so he knew a lot about UT football. Well, Leeann had told me it would take just one game to make me a fan, we went to a game the first year we lived here and I do like the team and have become a fan. So we thought it would be fun to take Katie to a game, but could never find the right time to go. Well, we found the right time yesterday and it was a blast.

We got down to the campus area early so that Katie cold see the Vol walk and the band march to the stadium. We parked at Ft Sanders school where Katie used to go to school so we knew the money paid to park went to the school so that was great. Well, Leeann has been doing so great with her weight loss and work outs that she has become a very fast walker, we had to ask her 3 times to slow down and wait for us.

The first place we stopped was the parking garage at Ft. Sanders Hospital so we could so Katie an overview of the strip area and see all the fans there. Katie took it all in and was just amazed with it all. It was so hot yesterday that I was not sure how Katie would handle it. She kept drinking water and did not complain once the whole time we were walking around the campus. We made it down to the Vol walk area and got a good spot to stand and watch the team come by. We had to wait about 30 minutes, but I did a water run and we all did great. Katie kept asking how many minutes until it started, she was so excited to see all this start. When the team did come by, Katie took the pom-pom we got her and started shaking it. Well, she shook it a bit too hard and hit Coach Phil Fulmer in the head with her pom-pom. She yelled she was sorry, but he just kept going. I got a chance to do something I have always wanted to do. If you every watch a game there is a coach, Trooper Taylor the wide receivers coach, that gets so excited that he like to do a chest thump with his players. Well, I got that chance and did a chest thump with him. That was really cool for me.

We walked down to watch the band march to the stadium. She loved it. She said she could feel the band in her chest and was just amazed with the uniforms and the sounds and all that was going on. When the band went by, Katie and Leeann jumped right behind them and marched to the stadium. When the band played to the hill, I put Katie on my shoulders and what see saw was a sea of orange. 100 thousand plus people waiting for the band, waiting to go into the stadium. Leeann told me that she had a look of amazement on her face. She was just overwhelmed with all that was going on. She asked me where the stadium was; I turned her to the right a bit and said, "Right there, that big building right there". She said "wow, that is a big building".

We made our way into the stadium and to our seats. Leeann and Katie were in row 2 and Leeann's dad and I were in row 32 so I had to leave them down there alone. I went up to my seat and a I got a text message a few minutes later from Leeann asking me if I wanted to trade seats because Katie was asking for me to help explain things to her. So, I went down and sat with Katie. That was so much fun for me. Katie and I had a great time. She was asking me one question after another. "Who is that?" "What do they do?" "Why are out there?" "When is going to start?" it went on and on. I had fun telling her about who the refs were, about the national anthem, all the fun things that go on to start a football game.

When the other people sat down around us, Katie went into her "HI" mode. She was making friends with everyone around her. She was talking to the lady next to her and down to the right of her. She was giving them high fives, waving her hands in the air just having so much fun. Then these two BIG guys sat down in front of us, Katie just leaned down to them and said "Hi", they were putty in their hands. She just made these two big guys melt. She was something else. I didn't get to see much of the game because I was having so much fun with Katie and all the people around us. We left at half time and everyone around us was sad to see Katie leave. Katie could not stop talking about the game all the way back to the car to head home. She was so excited that she can't wait to go back to another game.

It is football Sunday and I am going to go downstairs and watch some games on High Def. Have a great day GO 'SKINS

Two Boot Camps, One Month, I must be NUTS

2007-09-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

I have to tell you, I am begging to wonder if my brain is writing checks my butt can't cash. I got my self into two boot camps this month. The first one starts on Monday. I have signed up for a work out boot camp. This is a 30-day camp that will get me back into working out and loosing weight. I have hit a point where I am not dropping any more weight the past few months, and I just can't seem to get my self in gear to work out like I know I should, so I was looking for something to get me going. I said something about a work out boot camp that I had seen and heard about a long time ago to Leeann on night, did some research online and found one here in Knoxville. I told Leeann about it and said that they meet everyday at 6am. She said that I could not do it. That was a challenge that I could not pass up. So, I put my money down and sign up. Woke up the next morning saying "WHAT THE HELL DID I DO LAST NIGHT!!!!" Too late now, I have paid and have to show up. Everyday at 5:45am. This should be fun.

The other Boot Camp is in Palm Springs, CA. Leeann is going to be a teachers assistant for the lady she took an eBay boot camp from in LA last October. She has done so well, the lady asked her back to be an assistant and in doing so, she asked and hired me to video the boot camp so that she can sell it to others who could not make it to this boot camp. She is also going to sell this on an infomercial she is working on to air in the spring. So there is going to be some very tough work coming my way.

I will keep you all updated as to how the boot camp goes. PRAY FOR ME!!!!!

Busy Week

2007-08-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy week so far. I have really gone into full swing with the wedding video business since the bridal fair is over. I put so much work into that event that I am still tired. But, I have to say it again and again, without Leeann and all the work she did, none of it would have come together or looked as good as it did. I am truly blessed to have such a loving and wonderful wife as Leeann. She is my rock and I could not do half the things I do were it not for her faith and belief in me. I am truly the luckiest man in the world to have such a wonderful wife.

The week started off really good with a couple of emails from brides wanting more information and prices. I was so happy and so proud of the work Leeann did on my price sheet. It looked so great and I was able to get it out to some folks and was able to book a wedding from that price sheet. I will get the contract signed this Saturday. That is in addition to a wedding I booked last night for a friend of a friend of ours (thanks Lisa). She signed the contract last night. I gave her a big discount, but it still ended up being the highest paid wedding to date I have done. I have really enjoyed doing this work, I feel the most comfortable and the happiest I have ever been working with weddings.

I thought that I would not be real busy during the day without the typical office job to keep me going. But, running my own business keeps me on my toes. I have to now monitor the web site daily, keep track of incoming emails, out going mail, bank statements and it just goes on and on. I am up every day between 6:30 and 7am. After Katie is off to school, Leeann and I have a set schedule we follow. Monday and Wednesdays are horse days, Tuesday and Thursday are edit days, and Friday, Saturday & Sunday are family and work time. I still edit some at night and help Leeann with eBay stuff as well, but we stay very busy now.

The best thing this past week was finding a great new babysitter to watch Katie. We have not had a babysitter for quite some time and as a result, have not had the time to go out with friends. Well, we are off on a fun evening out with our BEST Friends (I LOVE YOU, MAN) Rick and Lisa. We have so much fun with them. Leeann and Lisa are going to a scrapbook thing next weekend and I get to play daddy day care with Katie, we will have fun I know. I am thinking of taking her to Chuck E. Cheese maybe on Friday night (WHAT AM I THINKING!!!!) and we may go see a movie on Saturday afternoon. Just some good "daddy - daughter" time.

Here is a photo of my booth from the bridal fair, I am so proud of the work that went into it. THANKS TO EVERYONE that helped last weekend.

What a wild couple of weeks

2007-08-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I have gotten past that crazy rooster and have had a crazy couple of weeks. I have been in the planning stages of getting ready for a bridal fair that went off so well yesterday. I have been working so hard, going over every detail, every paper, every flyer, every DVD, you name it, I went over it with a fine tooth comb. I think I was making everyone around me crazy. Leeann was such a great help, she was right there with me the whole way telling me that everything would be just fine. She was right of course (when is she not right about things like this????). But, I was running things through my head so much wanting everything to be just right, just perfect. There is my problem, PERFECT. Nothing is ever perfect, there will always be something to go wrong, some litle bump in the road, but I did not want that to happen Sunday. You know what, it didn't. It was a great day.

I meet so many people Sunday, brides, wedding planners, other videographers, and there were a few grooms that looked liked they could be anywhere esle that day other than at a bridal fair. But, it was fun. I know that Katie is happy it is over with. I was such a meanie to her the past couple of days. She was only being an 8 year old, but then too, I was grumpy with everyone the last couple of days. But, she loves me and things are back to normal. Well, as normal as things can get around here.

Katie is doing great for the first couple of days in second grade. She loves her teacher, she is a lot like her first grade teacher which is great. She was able to do all of her spelling words tongiht so she got a crazy dance from dad which made her laugh. I love hearing her and Leeann laugh. I think that is the prettiest sound in the world, the two of them laughing together.

Well, I have a lot of video to download and get edited in the next couple of days, want to get this video done as soon as possible. I have a feeling I will be doing a lot more very soon.

CRAZY Rooster

2007-08-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

One thing I enjoy doing is going out to the farm and riding Sunny. I know I don't talk about it much on here, in fact, I don't think I have ever talked about it on here. I didn't think I would like riding a horse, but when Leeann started riding, I couldn't resist and just had to jump on and I have been hooked ever since. So hooked in fact, that we got another horse just for Leeann to ride and I just took over with Sunny. She responds to me so well (for the most part) but she is a typical female, has her moments and can be moody at times, but I love being on her.

Tonight and this past Tuesday night, I really enjoyed the ride. I got to ride out in the pasture and out of the arena where I have felt safe. We took a long ride tonight out into the biggest pasture they have out there. I even saw two deer standing at the edge of the woods. I stopped and just watched them, big eyes and all. I thought in that moment, how could anyone want to hurt or harm such a gentle animal? I used to work with someone who would have seen the same two deer and would have said "Give me a gun!" and he would have gone running into the woods to get them. I just thought what a beautiful sight - how can people shoot these creatures?

Anyway, the funniest thing happened to me the past two nights I was out there. There is this crazy rooster out at the farm. His name is Gremlin and he is just that, a little gremlin. Anyway, there must be something about my legs that rooster does not like because he is always attacking my legs when I am there. Well, I have had enough of this and Tuesday night was the last straw.

I was going out to the pasture to get Sunny for my lesson when this crazy rooster snuck up behind me and attacked my legs. I almost kicked him but he ran too fast. I thought that was the end of it. But NNNOOOOOOO!! This rooster just didn't get enough. He charged at me and I spun around and caught him with the halter and lead (rope) I had in my hand. I got him so that I flipped him up in the air, spun him around twice and he landed on his back. Shook him up a bit, but then he tried to charge me again. I will give him credit for persistence, but I was not going to let this little bird win. I stood my ground and did not back down, almost like the shoot out at the OK corral. Well, except it was ME against the crazy rooster!

Well, I won after about 10 minutes of staring him down, he finally backed down. I thought he would get the message, but tonight he proved me wrong. I went to get my saddle to ride and I will be dammed if that little bird was not laying in wait for me. As I went by one of the horse trailers, he came charging out and went after my legs again. I stood my ground and started to go after him. I think that did it. He started to back down and slowly move away. But he kept one eye on me and kept looking over his shoulder like he was going to jump at me at any second. The funniest part of all of this was one of the other roosters there - he started attacking Gremlin while Gremlin was trying to attack me. Seems the other rooster is more "human friendly" and does not like Gremlin attacking humans. Although, according to Mary - Gremlin only does this with me. "GREAT!!!"

Anyway, that has been my week so far. I have got a rough couple of weeks coming up - but potentially full of potential. I have a wedding this Saturday outside of Gatlinburg and then next weekend I have the wedding show - where the anticipated attendance is 1000. I'm one of three Videographers. So my mind is going about 300 mile an hour with all that is going on. I just hope I don't forget something this weekend.

Have a good week. I'm gonna try to.

I was really SCARED......

2007-07-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today Leeann and I took Katie and Leeann's best friend Lisa to Dollywood. We had a blast but man was it HOT up there today. I should really say, down there as Sevierville is south of us. We have been to Dollywood before, but then, anyone who lives in this area has been to Dollywood at least once. We have season passes and the way we figured it, if we go twice in the year we have paid for the passes. This is the third time we have gone to either Dollywood or to Splash Country, so we have more than got our monies worth.

But, we did have a lot of fun. We went to a part of the park I have not been to before, the part with all the good roller coasters. Now let me set the record straight before I tell you what happened. I love roller coasters. I love going to parks and riding roller coasters. Wooden, steel, loops, no loops, doesn't matter, I love roller coasters!!!! Today, not so much. We got there and went to Thunderhead Railroad. This is a wooden roller coaster. I love wooden roller coasters and I have loved them as far back as I can remember. My first wooden coaster was The Beast at Kings Island Ohio. I used to love to go to that park and spend all day riding that coaster. Today, we jumped on Thunderhead Railroad and for the first time in my roller coaster riding life, I was SCARED. This ride crosses over it self 32 times. Up, down, all around. I was actually pushed out of my seat for most of the ride. I was SCARED. Katie on the other hand, loved it. I don't get her sometimes, she loves to go fast, but I was SCARED.

Oh, it gets better. My lovely wife, her best friend and my sweet innocent daughter talked me into going on Mystery Mine. A steel coaster that will give me nightmares for weeks to come. I have never been on a coaster that went STRAIGHT up. I did not misspell, STRAIGHT up. Not once, but TWICE. The second time was STRAIGHT up in a DARK room. Fire, rocks, and a corkscrew and an inverted straight track that leaves you upside down for about 20 feet. My knees were so weak I had a hard time walking down the stairs.

But wait; there is more fear in store for me. We stopped for a drink, and then they (the women in this trip) talked me into riding Timber Tower. Let me see if I draw you a picture, you sit on a seat with others around this big pole painted to look like a log. Your seat, along with everyone else, goes up the pole and starts to spin around. Not that bad, but then the pole starts to swing back and forth while you spin on top of a pole. Now when I say swing, I mean it leans WAY far over. It was so far over that you could look straight down. This is the same ride that several month ago, the ride broke down with 50 people stuck on TOP of the ride for over 6 hours. So you could just picture my joy in getting on this thing in the first place knowing that I could get stuck on top of this thing, but then to see it lean and pitch back and forth so. I just couldn't wait.

We get off this oversized toothpick and I am thinking, maybe we can take it easy for the rest of the day. NOOOOO, it's back to Thunderhead Railroad for one last game of scare the pants off DON.

We did finally leave the park just as it started to rain and we drove to a mountain top area where I am video taping a wedding this weekend, But it was a fun day, a day that we all really needed. I will post some photos later when I get them scanned in. You won't have a hard time finding me in the photo; I am the one screaming my head off.

I WAS SCARED........

Not what I wanted, but.......

2007-07-23T18:15:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for a while to find out about a job I really wanted. It was a job that was overnight, not the best hours, but it would have opened some doors for me to get into some editing among other things. I found out today that I did not get it. I am a bit sad, but you know, after talking to Leeann over the past the couple of days, I am not that sad. We talked about the fact that if I did not get the job that there had to be a reason why I wouldn't get it. She is right. There are other things out there for me. I have been looking at a program to certify me as a Court Videographer, I have been working to get ready for a bridal show in a couple of weeks, I have a wedding to do in two weeks, and we are looking at adding a online store for me on eBay to do some freelance editing. So, there are things for me out there.

BUT, I did have a door open up today. At the same time I was finding out about not getting the job I wanted, the person was also offering me a different job. It is part time for right now, it could allow me to do other things and could lead to a full time position. The part time position would allow me to finish up the court videographer course, keep up with the wedding videos and get the eBay business going. But, on the flip side, it is part time, the pay is not great, and there would be no benefits. So, what would you do?

On to more pressing things. We had a long trip home yesterday from Leeann's mom's house. Katie woke up Sunday a bit cranky, but that is not unusual. As the morning wore on, she kept saying that her stomach hurt. We should have known that she was not feeling good when she did not eat any of her favorite breakfast, PANCAKES. We pushed on anyway and boy was that the wrong thing. We pulled into mom's drive way and was getting ready to get out of the truck when Katie just.... let's say "Let it fly". We got her and the truck cleaned up and headed home. The day before the truck started making a strange noise from the front left wheel. So, we hit the road, with a truck making funny noises and an 8-year-old getting sick every couple of hours or so. We were able to get her home and to Children’s Hospital. Found out she was the 38th child there with a stomach bug. They gave her some meds to make her feel better. We were there for a couple of hours, which was not bad.

We then took the truck to CarMax so they could have it first thing this morning. They got it in and found out the front wheel bearings were going bad. What is so funny is that about half way home yesterday Leeann looked at me and said she thought it could be the wheel bearings. I had a car a long time ago that had bad wheel bearing and I remember the noise they made, so I didn't think it could be the wheel bearings. BOY WAS I WROING. I have to give it to her, she can hear a sound in a car and can pretty much hit the nail on the hear as to what is wrong with the car. She is good.

More the come later.

LET IT FLY!!!!!!

2007-07-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

It has been over a month since my last post, but even that post was not really me. I wrote it, but there was so much I wanted to say, but was not able to. Now, I am able to open up and as they say, LET IT FLY!!!!!

If you did not know, I work for Scripps Networks (HGTV, DIY, Food Network, GAC) and was so unhappy that it was not even funny. I worked (HINT) in Network Operations. That ment I was responsible for putting the shows you watch on the air. There were some really good and fun days. I meet some very nice people, but the bad days far out weighed the good. The standards for the department were set so high that things were either 100% right or 100% wrong. Black or White, no gray area to work in. I always felt like I was walking on eggshells. I always did my best and gave my all. I have always done that, pay me some good money and I will work for you as hard as I can. But, I never felt that I was very welcomed in to the place. Most of the people I worked with were either young (mid 20's) or had been working in television for 10 or more years. I have only been working in TV for the past 4 years. Maybe people didn't like me, or maybe they didn't like the fact that I had the same job they had and they had worked longer to get to the same point. I don't know, but I will say this. They need some help there.

They have 4 supervisors that monitor each shift. 3 of them are great guys, really know what they are doing and are not afraid to jump in and help when help is needed. But, the one female supervisor they have has to be one of the worst people I have ever worked with. There is only one reason that this person is a supervisor, EEOC. She is a black female, looks good for your EEOC if you have a minorty in a position of supervison. One of the 3 guys who are supervisors is black and he does a great job and I really liked working for him. It was just her as a person that I did not like. She could have been white and been the same person and I still would not have liked her because I am not prejudice. No one there likes her, no one trust her, no one belives she knows what she is doing. She doesn't know what she is doing. I could go on for the better part of an hour just on her, but that will come later.

About 5 months ago, I started getting chest pains, stomach problems, an overall sense of panic. Leeann talked me into going to see our doctor and she put me on medical leave and suggested that i see a mental health specialist. I have been seeing a great clinical social worker, Susan. She has shown me that I have the power to make things better, that I could make it better if I wanted. Then this past Wed, I got a call from our so called Human Resources wanting me to come in for a meeting. To make a long story short, they fired me because i had run out of FMLA coverage and I had did not have a hard date for a return to work. I am not sad or upset. Not in the least. I am so Happy. I just wanted to end it on my terms and my way. I wanted to leave a letter with them telling them why I didn't want to come back to work. But I feel like a 3,000 pound weight is off my back. I am so happy. I have a couple of things lined up and I am waiting on a offer for a job that I think would be fun and could open some doors for me that I want to follow. I will just have to wait.

This weekend we are in NC to see Leeann's mother and grandmother. But, most of all we are here to see her cousin who is home from Kuwait for a couple of months. It is nice to see them again, but I will go into more later, It just feels good to be able open up again. So LET IT FLY!!!!!

Boy did I goof up today!!!!

2007-06-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

Had a good Saturday for the most part today. Leeann is a bit under the weather. I hope she gets to feeling better soon. I hate it when she is not feeling good. The only thing that helps her is lots and lots of sleep. That is just what she has done today, SLEPT. But, it has been good for her. The only thing is that leaves me in charge of taking care of things around the house, not that it is a big deal, but today, it was a big deal.

Saturdays are STAR days for Katie. That is the day we take her out to STAR and she does her riding therapy and she has been doing so well with it. So, I had to get Katie and my self ready for STAR, well, I was in a hurry because we were running late (as we always do on Saturday) and I had to give Katie her morning meds. Well, she got her nighttime meds instead. One of those meds is Melatonin (a sleep aid) and did it ever work! She was able to do her riding, but in the car on the way home, she was fighting hard to stay awake. I got her home; she went straight to the bedroom with Leeann (one of Katie's favorite places) and went straight to sleep for about 2 hours. I thought she was sick since the only time Katie will take a nap during the day is when she is sick (just like her mom). Well, I ran a few errands, and came home to a sleeping house. About 2pm Katie woke up and wanted to go swimming, I took her and we were in the pool for about 30 minutes when she said she was tired, so back to bed she went and back to sleep. I thought at this point, "Man, she is not going to be doing good tonight". I went on about my day and made dinner and got things ready for the night when I saw why Katie was so tired and sleeping so much, I had given her nighttime meds by mistake. One of those meds is Melatonin (a sleep aid) and did it ever work! OOOOPPPPPPSSSSS!!!!!!!

I may have to fire Coco for that one, he should know better.

I went to see Leeann's grandmother yesterday. Not a good thing. She has to be the maddest old lady I think I have ever seen. But the thing is she has no one to be angry with other than her self. She is into the "poor me" stage. We (Leeann, her dad, the doctors, the insurance co., the nurses, you name it) are all out to get her and make her think she is crazy. I tried to tell her that we only want to help her as much as possible. I mean, Leeann has spent so much time on the phone trying to get things set up for her for when she does come home. We had to sell her car since the doctor as said she should not be driving at all anymore and we don't want there to be an accident. Leeann's dad and step-mom spent 6 days in her condo cleaning up the place. The ended up filling two (2) LARGE dumpsters with garbage from her place. Doing nothing more than trying to help her, and she still is mad at everyone.

Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of my dad's death. It is always the week before Fathers Day. So you can image that I am not a big fan of Fathers Day. I have so many memories going through my head this time of year. You see, I spoke to my dad for the last time the night before he died. I called him to ask a favor of him. His last words to me were "I love you son". My last words to him were, "yea, ok. Let me know when you can do that, bye". I know he knows how much I loved him; I just wish he could be here now. He never got to meet my Leeann, he never got to meet his first grandchild, Katie, and I hope that he is proud of me. That is all I ever wanted from him, is to be proud of me.

30 pounds and still creeping along

2007-06-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

I jumped on the scale today, it is weigh in Wenesday after all, and I was down 30 pounds. Leeann is down over 100 pounds and I can't be more proud of her. Some things are really good right now, other things are not so good, so lets see, the good or the bad.....which should I share first???? Ok, the bad first.

I am out of work right now on short term disability due to HIGH STRESS. This is related to work mostly. My job is very stressfull to say the least. Making sure that the shows are right, that they air right, no black holes, no audio errors, no mistakes 100% correct all the time. So, you can see how stressful that can be. Leeann has been pushing me to see a doctor and get checked out. I kept telling her that I would be ok, just give me some time for things to cool off. Things kept building and building and building. I finally had to go when Leeann made me the time for me to go. After talking to my doctor and telling her what was going on with me, she told me to go home and relax for a bit, stay away from work and you need to see someone to talk to. She sent me to a physcologest (I know I misspelled that one). I have now been reffered to a physicarist (that one too, sorry Lisa) who thinks I may be bi-polor amongest other things. I have not been doing well the last several months that is for sure, trouble breathing, upset stomach, chest pains, and the list goes on. I have not been back to work since May 17th and as of today, will not be back until June 19th. I am not sure if I will be able to go back even then. Just talking about it makes my stomach go into knots.

The good news is that my last blood test came back really good and for me, that is good. My A3C (average blood sugar) was 6.9, my LDL was 109 and my blood sugar was 169. Those number are without fasting. Pretty good if you ask me. I have also had a stress test that came back really good and I had an Echo of my heart that looked good as well, so that is the good.

I just hope that things get better soon.

Should have stayed in Orlando

2007-05-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

Talk about getting a blow to the head. We come back from Orland and I head back to work this past Monday and get hit with a huge bomb. If you have been reading my Blog, than you know about Leeann's surgery this past winter. I took FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) to take care of her. That was at the end of December and I was going to go back to work in January. Well, Leeann had a complacation and I needed to take more time off. I spoke wth my HR person and she told me that since the leave was part of the same occorance I would not have to use any of my paid time off (PTO). If I came back to work for one day in January, I would have had to use 5 PTO days. I didn't go to work until Leeann was home and doing well. I asked my HR person if everything was OK and to confirm with me (on at least 3 phone calls) that I would not loose any PTO time. You see, I have to be careful of my PTO time as they take sick time and vacation time out of the same 13 days I get per year. So, you can understand, 5 days is a big hit. Anyway, I was told that I would not have to use any of those 5 days.

Well, I got an email on Monday saying that I was, in fact, being charged with those 5 days. Talk about being upset!!!! I have emailed my HR person 3 times and have asked her why the change, and not once has she given me an answer. Instead she is trying to push me off to someone else. I don't even know if they are going to pay me for those 5 days. I don't know what I am going to do about this. As it stands right now, I have only 1 day left for the rest of the year.

On top of all that, we are having to deal with Leeann's grandmother. She is 85 years old, is not in the best of health, has a very poor memory and is being a pain. She has been in the hospital for almost a month with a bad infection in her leg. She is not able to walk without the help of a walker, she cannot pick the walker up, she has to slide it accross the floor. She can't remember her own phone number, or our for that matter. She is not able to get herself off the floor with the help of a chair. So, living at home alone is not an option for her at this time. (If ever) She she is having to go to a nursing home and she is being a big pill about that. She enough pride to fill the state of Texas alone. She thinks she can do anything and that she is still in her 40's or 50's.

To make matters worse, Leeann's dad is not being much of a help, leaving most of the decision to Leeann. I am hoping that Leeann just throws her hands up with all of this and just tells her dad that he needs to deal with it. If someone callse about her grandmother, give them her dad's phone number and tell them to ask him. But, I know Leeann too well. She can't do that, it is not in her. She is geting better standing up for her self and being more self confident in what she is able to do.

I need to vent more on this blog, it is my only outlet.

Home Again :(

2007-05-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

Yep, we made it, back home after a great 6 day vacation to Disney World. The trip home was pretty un-eventful for the most part. We had a pretty good time getting home, just a few bumps, but fun for the most part. We got up at 6am so that we could finish packing and get the luggage down to the check-in area. I found out I could not check in unless I had the luggage with me, so I made the trip all the down there for nothing, such is life. Katie was a bit grumpy getting up this morning. I don't think she wanted to leave (guess what, neither did I). Well, we were able to get off and going without any problems.

Then we had to wait for the bus to take us to the airport. About a 10 minute wait, not too bad. The bus was mostly empty except for about 6 people that were already on the bus. Well, we filled the bus up at our stop. God Bless Leeann for not wanting to wait, she inched her way up to the front of the line and we were the fist ones on the bus. (we were not the first ones there, she we had waited the least amount of time, but if the they just wanted to stand there, we were going) We got on the bus and waited for the others to get on and such. While we were waiting, this guy who was on the bus when we arrived, became fustrated about having to wait for the rest of us to load. He got mad, jumped up and grabbed his wife and kid and got off the bus. Seems that he felt it was taking too long to get loaded up.

The airport was fine except: Orlando International Airport is not a very good airport. It is nice looking and all, but not marked very well as to where you are or how to get to where you want to be. It took us 10 minutes just to figure out which way we needed to go to get to our gate.

Well we made it and now we are back home and back to reality. And right now our biggest reality is Leeann's grandmother. She is still in the hospital, still waiting to see where and when they are going to move her. We were hoping it was going to happen while we were gone, but no such luck. The hardest part of all this is Gran is not going to handel the move that well. She still thinks in her mind that she is going to go home and jump in her car and just go on with her life the way is was before. I don't think that is going to happen for her. She is not able to get up off the floor if she fell down. she has a hard time walking without a walker among other things.

I just really think this unfair to Leeann. We are here and Leeann's dad is just shows up from time to time. Leeann is the one dealing with the daliy task of Gran. The complaining, the moaning about this and that. We are going to have to get her set up in a care facility, deal with the condo, the car, the insurance and so on. Her dad is going to be sitting in NC not having a clue what is going on. But what can you do.

Back to work tomorrow. yeeeppppiiiii (NOT)

Wet and Wild Day

2007-05-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

Today was a much better day than yesterday. We started the day off a bit better, took our time and got ready for a fun day of water fun. Since we were off to a water-park today, we didn’t get really dressed up or anything, we just put on bathing suits and sandals and off we went.

It was a beautiful day and much to our surprise not that many people were going to the Typhoon Lagoon. I am not complaining or anything, it was just a nice surprise. Since we are staying at a resort, we got into the park an hour earlier than non-guest. That made a huge difference in finding a nice spot to camp out at. I found a nice one; Leeann got us water shoes and locker key. We put our stuff up and hit the rides.

The only ride we went one was a water roller coaster. Not bad, but not the most fun things I have ever been on. The put Katie up front, which I was not, thrilled about, and then sent us shooting down the ride. Katie had her earplugs in and we told her to cover her ears at the end so she would not loose them. Well, she lost one on the way down. We got to the bottom and she told us she lost it I thought our day was done. I was looking all over the pool area trying to find it. I even asked a lifeguard, but didn’t see a thing. THEN Leeann saw it off to the side and we were able to have fun the rest of the day. If it had been mid day and a lot of people in the park, there is no way we would have found it, but lucky for us we were one of the first ones to ride.

We then jumped in the lazy river ride. This is like a slow moving waterway that you ride on in an inner tube. That was lots of fun and we spent most of the day doing that.

We went to an area called Shark Reef where you get to swim with fish and a few sharks. Not the dangerous ones, this is Disney after all, but small sharks that are harmless. Leeann and Katie jumped in and floated along, but I couldn’t do it. I have a hard time breathing with a snorkel and mask. I just panicked and jumped out and went around to where Leeann and Katie got out and meet them there. I felt so bad.

We then went to the wave pool. This thing shoots a 6-foot wave at the crowd about every 90 seconds. And I do mean a 6-FOOT WAVE. This thing was huge. But, it was lots of fun. We all went out a little too far at one point and got hit by a wave and it knocked Katie and me off our feet and under the water. Leeann was right behind us and when the wave hit, she ended up on top of us. I had a hold of Katie and was not going to let go no matter what. That was very scary to Katie, but she did really well with it. She did not want to go back into the waves for a while, but we didn’t want that to be her memory of waves since we like going to the beach some. So we took it easy, and worked our way back into the waves and she did great by the time we left.

Now for the worst part of our trip, PACKING UP. We are flying out tomorrow morning and I don’t want to go just yet. I have had a lot of fun this past week. We have gotten to see things through Katie’s eyes on so many things. She has been wide eyed and amazed with so many things. She has been on rides that I never thought she would have even tried before. She has meet princesses, characters and some of the nicest people around. But most of all, we have gotten to have time as a family. Time to play with one another, time to laugh at and with each other. Time to just be us and so many times it seems we are missing that the most, time to just be us. I know I said this yesterday, but I still see it, parents here with cell phones doing business back home. I saw a few people at the front desk yesterday getting or sending faxes. This was our vacation, a vacation away from stress, from problems, from the world. I do know this, when we land in Knoxville tomorrow, the world and the problems will still be there, but for now, they are a million miles away. I only hope they stay there when we get home. Here’s hoping.

Not so great day, but......

2007-05-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

This has not been the best day we have had so far. I don’t know if we are just tired, if we have done too much, if it is the heat (90+ today) or if it was just too many people but Epcot was not all that much fun. There is no shade in the park, lots of wide-open spaces, just no shade. And lots of rude people, I mean LOTS of rude people. If this is supposed to be the “Happiest Place on Earth”, why are there so many kids crying here???

I want to make a few observations about this “Happy Place”: Some of the parents here should not be parents or be here. They are here with the mentality of “we are here and your going have fun weather you like it or not!!!” I thought this was for the kids to begin with??? I have seen parents dragging their kids onto rides with the kids crying, “NOOOO, I don’t want to go”. Why do that to your kids?? There were several things I wanted to do here but didn’t because Katie either didn’t want to do it or would be a bit too scary for her. I am not going to drag her into something she doesn’t like.

I have seen parents here at the hotel not paying attention to their kids. I watched a mother this morning read a book while her kid (not more than 3 years old) CLIMBING on a deck chair. I heard a mother tell her child to “go play with some kids, I need 10 minutes to my self”. I was walking back to the room tonight and I saw a man sitting on the steps with a cell phone up to his ear telling someone “I fell so out of touch, I don’t know what is going on back at the office, what is going on in the world?” YOU’ER ON VACATIOIN!!!!!! You are supposed to be OUT of touch with the office and IN touch with your family, your kids, your wife. Why spend thousands of dollars to go somewhere and complain about being out of touch????

The worse of all with the “Alpha Mom” standing in line with us at “Soarin” today. We used our pass for Katie and it still took about an hour to get to the ride. Standing in line in front of us was using her BlackBerry to send e-mails to people at work. She was riding the ride alone, I don’t get it. You are at Epcot and you are riding something alone while you send emails to work.

The only ride that I really liked today was Mission: Space. They have two versions, one that spins and produces G-Forces and one that doesn’t spin. We did the one that doesn’t spin first to see if Katie liked it. She loved it so we had to do the spinning one. It was great. Katie wanted to do it again and I wish we would have. We then did the GM Test Track. Not my favorite. The fast part of the track was great, but the rest of it was not that great.

Well, tomorrow we made a change of plans. We are going to Typhoon Lagoon Water Park. We are great about that; being flexible enough to change plans when we feel it is necessary. Katie is doing great, it is mom and dad that are wearing out. Anyway, we are excited about going to a water park for the day. This should be great.

No picture today, nothing really to remember from this day. Just glad it’s over.

See Ya…

Animal Kingdom Day

2007-05-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

Let me start off with an apology for all those who read my last blog. I was very tired last night and I wanted to get my thoughts down before I fell asleep and I did not do a spell check so…. SORRY!!!

Today was Animal Kingdom and it was a blast. Today is Katie’s real birthday so we woke her up singing happy birthday and she started smiling really big, what a way to start.

We had breakfast in Animal Kingdom at a character breakfast with Mickey, Donald, Pluto and my favorite, Goofy. It was so much fun, but the best part was when the staff sang happy birthday to Katie and she was laughing and smiling so much, she even clapped along with them when they say to her.

So after a great breakfast, it was off to Dinoland and rides some of the rides. The first ride up was Dinosaur, the ride. I was afraid it would be a bit too scary for her. WRONG!!! She was yelling “Yaaaahhhhh WWWWHHHHOOOO!!!” all the way through the ride. She loves dinosaurs and she got to see so many up close and a in some cases a bit personal. We got off the ride and got a few gifts, including a couple of photos of us on the ride. That will be a great memory for her. She surprised me by asking if she could ride it again. Well, we thought we would make it back, but were not able to. Anyway, we went off to ride a spinning roller coaster that Katie and Leeann just laughed so hard on, that we went back and rode it a second time and we laughed just that much harder.

Then it was on to much bigger things. Expedition Everest. This is a huge roller coaster that forward and backwards, in the dark, around quick turns, hits about 50 miles an hour and so on. I was not sure about this one after the whole Space Mountain thing from yesterday. Well again, SURPRISE!!! We rode that thing 3, yes 3 times in a row. She laughed and screamed harder each time. The last time, she rode it with her arms up in the air. Katie never ceases to amaze me with the things she does. She wanted to go again, but we wanted to do a few more things. We walked around the park the rest of the day and saw so many animals and birds, this place is just amazing.

We have this special pass we are able to use because of Katie’s handicaps. We have a letter from her doctor and Disney gave us a pass that helps us get to either the front of a show because of her vision problem or we can go thought the fast pass area because Katie is not good waiting for long period, so with that pass, we were able to get on Everest 3 times in a row without much of a wait.

Katie was taking it all in. The animals, the birds, the plants, she was looking around every corner wondering what was next, what was in the trees, what was behind the next bush. Leeann and I both know that Katie is going to do something with either animals or plant life.

I don’t know if any of you have ever seen this commercial, but there is one for the Orlando area that show a mother and daughter running around the park, at some point the mother turns into a little girl like her daughter and they play around the park like they are best of friends. Then at the end of the commercial, the mother turns back into an adult and meets up with her husband. That is what the past couple of days have been like with Katie and Leeann. They have just been having so much fun with each other.

Well, tomorrow we have made a change in plans, we are going to MGM Studios and ride the Rockin’ Roller Coaster with Aerosmith, then head off the Epcot in the late afternoon so we can stay and see the fireworks so there may be a blog tomorrow night, there may not be one, you will just have to check back and see.

This has been the best time of our lives.

MAGICAL DAY!!!!!!

2007-05-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

I don’t even know where to start. This has to have been one of the most Magical days I have ever had. But, really it was all for Katie, but there is just something about Disney that makes you a kid all over again. To see the things through her eyes, it just makes you feel so great. So let’s start the days recap:

We all got up early (one of us ---- Leeann ---- up at 4am, GO FIGURE) and headed off to breakfast which wasn’t too bad. We then caught the bus for the Magic Kingdom and got there right when they opened the park. They have this little song and dance show with a countdown at the end to open the park, that was kind of neat to see.

Then walking into the park was amazing. Seeing Cinderlla’s castle was just …… I can’t put it into words, it was fantastic for lack of a better word. We planed a treasure hunt for Katie so she could find a special birthday and since that did not start until 10:30, we hit a few rides. The first was Buzz Lightyear spin coaster something. Katie and I rode together and was just shooting the lights out of everything. I have never seen her smile so much. She was loving every minute of it. Then we headed off to see the Carsoul of Progress. This was neat, but Katie wanted EXCITEMENT and lots of it. So, we hit the Indy speed track where she got to drive a race car around a track with poor Leeann in the passanger seat. They were laughing so hard I could hear them 2 cars back.

Now it was time to head over to the castle and start the treasure hunt. This is where it gets really MAGICAL. We were supposed to go to the Wishing Well, but ended up at Cinderella’s Fountian. We meet a cast member there that saw Katie’s Birthday Button and let her make a wish using “Fairy Dust”, gave her a citerficate of signatures from all the Disney Princess. That was cool, but wait, it gets better. We found the Wishing Well and started the treasure hunt. The first clue took us to Pooh’s playland. While we were there, the cast member (Phillip) who gave signatures to Katie tracked us down and asked if we could be back at the fountain in about 10 minutes. We looked at each other and said “Sure???” We didn’t know what to expect. When we got there, we had to wait a few minutes and then he took us into the back part of the castle. At this point Leeann and I both thought Katie would get to meet one of the Princesses from Disney, but as you can see by the photo, she got to meet ALL of the princesses and Peter Pan and Wendy, and a few Princes as well. Leeann and I just looked at each other and both shead a tear or two.

Katie was in shock. She was surrounded by reality at it’s best. We were with them for about 30 minutes. Phillip said this was his way of making a wish come true. He did just that. I can not even begain to tell you how special this was to us and to Katie. She got autographs from all of them, hugs and all the attention a special little girl could every want. We were able to take a group photo at the end, but nothing will ever come close to the feeling we had when we walked through that door and there stood 3 princess that every little girl dreams of.

We were able to finish our treasure hunt and Katie got two stuff lions from Lion King (her favorite movie ever). She was so thrilled to get those since they came from Simba (wink, wink). She is asleep as I write this with both her arms wrapped around them dreaming about Simba and the whole gang.

Then it was ride time. Our little girl rode Big Thunder Mountian and loved it. She wanted to ride it again (go figure). Then we took a spin on the tea cups that I thought was going to make Leeann sick. This was followed by one of the scarest moments we have ever had. We rode Space Mountian. This is a roller coster that is all indoors, in the dark, in single cars. That means we could not sit beside Katie and we should have known at that point, time to leave. But NNNNNNOOOOOOOOO! Off we went and I think Katie almost cried. I was sitting in front of her and I heard say “Dad, I don’t think I want to be on this ride!!!!” When we got off, Leeann was almost in tears, and I felt so bad for putting her on that ride, but Katie just shook it off and wanted to go on some other things.

We did Mickey’s Philharmagic. That was so much fun. It is in 3-D and Katie sat on my lap so she could see. And did she ever see, she reached out several times to try and grab a hold of something, a gem stone, Donald’s feet, a part of a magic carpet, she just had a blast.

We ended the day there and came back to the resort and swam a bit, wound down a lot. Katie and I went to the video arcade to end the day and we had a blast.

It is now 9PM and we have a full day on tap tomorrow, but let me say this, I could have to pack my bags tomorrow and fly home after just one day here and I would be just as happy and thrilled. Seeing the look on her face today, the smiles that just would not stop made this trip all worth wile for me.

More tomorrow, but how will it ever compare to today????????

2007-05-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

e are here in Disney. We had a great trip down here once we were able to leave. Our flight from Knoxville was delayed an hour. No big deal, we just ate a lazy lunch that allowed Leeann and I just spend some time talking to each other. That is one of the things I love about taking trips with her, we are always able to just spend quality time talking to each other. Katie always joins in on the conversation too.

We were able to board the plane about an hour past our departure time, and we had a huge milestone on Leeann’s weight loss journey. We have made many trips by plane and almost every time she has either hid the seatbelt or had to ask for an extension, as the standard seatbelt did not fit her. Well, not anymore, the belt fit and had a little extra to spare.

When we got to the Orlando airport and started to get off the plane, Katie gave the fight attendant a big hug and said thank you. That is just like Katie. Part of this trip that I have been looking forward to is using the Magical Express, this is where they take care of your luggage for you, take you to your resort hotel and all you have to do is just ride along. Well, it sort of worked. We got the resort pretty well, but our luggage is still not here (9:21pm as I write this, and we checked in at 5:30 pm AAAARRRRRGGGG). When we got off the bus at the resort, Katie even gave the bus driver a hug and said thank you.

As we were checking in to the hotel we were telling the desk person that this was for Katie’s birthday. She looked over the desk and asked Katie how old she was and Katie said “I will be 8, but I am still 7 right now”

We have a room that over looks the pool area, so of course as soon as Katie saw the pool you can guess where she wanted to go. This worked out great as it allowed her to blow off some of that pent up energy she had. She blew off so much energy that as soon as we got back to the room after having dinner, she fell straight to sleep. In fact, so has Leeann. I think they both got wore out playing in the pool.

Well, I am going to go that way my self, more later

I Love Mac's

2007-04-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

He we are, 2 days from our trip to Disney. I don't know who is more excited, me or Leeann. We were able to wrap up most of our packing tonight. I know it is 2 days out, but we both have to work on Monday and we are off on Tuesday afternoon, so we wanted to get as much done as we can tonight so we are not rushed Monday night.

You know the worse part of taking off on a vacation....the last few days of work. The days just go by so slow, they just seem to drag along. It doesn't help that weekends are slow at work anyway. I don't mind the weekends, it is just on Sunday, we pretty much have most everything done, we just have to spend 10 hours making sure nothing bad happens.

I do all my computer work on Mac's. I love this machine. It is so easy to use, I can do anything I want on a Mac and it does the things I want. I edit my videos on my Mac, music, photos, you name it, I can do it on my Mac. I say this because Leeannn has had to go back to using a PC. I got her hooked on Mac's a few months ago. I even got one of her clients to switch to Mac's. He did, but he wants his computers to read his mind and work the way he works, but I don't know of any computer that will do that. So now, he wants to go back to PC and Leeann has had to move back to PC as well. She has been having the worse time with the new PC she got, It is not working well and she got so use to how the Mac worked, that it is hard to work witht he PC. I am a Mac Junkie and proud of it.

Next post will come from Disney!!!!!

This is getting old

2007-04-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

This has been a very long two weeks for me. I have been some overtime at work this week covering for a couple of folks at work. This is not so bad of itslef, what was bad was the way is feel. I work 4 days a week and get 3 days off. I love that schedule. I feel like I get a longer break and get more things done on those days off. We rotate this schedule every month so that everyone gets weekend off. As a result, every month I have to work 6 days in a row to make the roation either to off weekends or on weekends. Anyway, I had just gotten off working 6 days, was off on Monday, worked Tuesday, off Wed, then worked 4 days, off Monday, worked Tuesday, off Wed, then worked 4 days. Needless to say, I am tired and ready for a break.

That is not the worst part. The worst part of this past weekend has been a problem with a co-worker. This person is not a well liked person and has been known to be a bit demanding. Well, this weekend, this person pused all of us over the edge. They were asking us to change how we do things at work. We, like most people, don't like change. What makes this worse, the changes they want to make is not something that is workable. I want to vent more but, I don't to revel too much and get my self in trouble. So, I will just have to leave you in suspense.

Leeann and I are getting ready to take Katie to Disney for her birthday. I thnik we are just as excited about all the plans as we are about being at Disney. We have made plans for her to get a special birthday surprise We are taking her to a charcter breakfast on her birthday in Animal Kingdom, we are seting up a treasure hunt with a letter from Simba from the Lion King, her favorite movie. I just have to make it through the next week to get there.

Katie has been doing so well with her training at STAR. She is so good working with horses, she is so good with them. More on that later.

Where have I been????/

2007-04-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

So, just where have I been and why has it been so long since my last post? LIFE. I have been so very busy with stuff. Work is keeping me busy, both professional and personaly. My video business is doing well, I have decided to kinda keep things on a low key this year because of Leeann's surgery. I will work a little harder next year, I just really feel like I need to spend time with Leeann this year. I have a couple of weddings planed, but nothing big.

Leeann is doing much better, but it has been a bumpy road for her. She is eating much better now and we have just gotten back to walking so I know we both are going to feel better here very soon. I am proud of her for how well she has been doing and the weight she has lost.

Katie is doing so well too. She is doing better in school and she seems much happier about life.

I will try to blog some more when I can tell you more with whats going on with me.

I just wanted to let the world out there know I was still here.

What a week or two it has been

2007-02-13T19:08:00.000-08:00

The past two weeks has been a whirwind. It all goes back to my loving bride sitting in a chair on Super Bowl Sunday (Go COLTS !!!) trying to do a little laundry to help get us caught up and to make herself feel like Leeann again. Well, she reached a little too far and pulled a muscle in her stomach. It really hurt and I think more than anything, it scared her. A LOT !!!! What with what she went through in Jan. and all, I would have been a bit scared too. Anyway, I kept telling her it was a pulled muscle, but her mind was going a thousand miles an hour and if you have every pulled a muscle in your abdoman, you know that it is very painful and very hard to heal.

Well, it kept getting worse and worse until we went to our family Dr. and they did an x-ray. Everything looked good, but, they poked her so much it hurt worse. By last Friday, she was in tears when I came home for lunch from work. So, we called the surgen and he got her in for a CT scan later Friday afternoon. The CT scan was clean so, I took the rest of the weekend off and put her in bed with a heating pad and a wet wash cloth to give her some moist heat and told her to stay there. So, I took the weekend to do laundry (two weeks worth), clean house a bit, take care of Katie and the dogs. All the while keeping Leeann in bed the whole time.

Well, it must have worked, because today, she went off to work and has been doing a lot better. I on the other hand of pulled a muscle in my back that really hurts when I raise my right leg. Like when I sit in a char and try to put my foot on a footstool, PAIN. Raise my leg to tie my shoe, PAIN. You get the idea. It is getiting better, but still hurts.

I think I did well this year for Valantines Day. I got her an iPod nano, with a pair of custom made Nike+ shoes with her name on the side. Best of all, I got them all in her favorite color, PINK. But, best of all today Feb. 13, 2007 is the 17th anniversery of when Leeann and I first met. We met at Hamburger Hamlet (a nice little restruant) in Bethesda MD. I had never seen her until that night at 7:30pm. we had talked on the phone a few times, but had never seen each other face to face. When she walked in the door, I knew who she was and also knew at that moment, that she was going to be the one I was going to marry. I know that sounds korny, but it is true. So there a little romance for Valentines Day.

ENJOY.

Dad, Can I help???

2007-02-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

Man, has it been cold. i am not a big fan of cold weather which is strange since I grew up in Indiana. It gets cold up there, but I have just never been a fan of cold weather. I don't want to be outside in the cold, I just want to be wrapped up in a blanket, in bed next to my wife. We went out to the farm this past Monday to put a blanket on Belle. We wanted to put one on her since she is so young and needs to gain some weight. Anyway, it was about 11am and about 21 degrees. The wind was blowing which made it feel like about 12 degrees, my hands and toes were so cold. I had on a long sleeve shirt, hoodie sweat shirt and a heavy coat. I also had on a pair of sweat pants under my jeans (that was a first for me, could not have done that 3 months ago) and I was still cold with all that on. Leeann was enjoying being out at the farm, I was just cold.

Katie has been doing much better, but she still has her days. We get notes from her teacher each Friday about what happened that week. This past week was not a good week for her. Seems that Katie broke her ruler, not a big deal mind you, but she lied about it to her teacher. I have this thing with her about telling lies, I have told her I never be mad at her for telling the truth no matter what it is about, but if she lies to me she is be in twice the trouble. But, it got worse. Seems as though they were working on money and working on making change(I have a hard tiime with that). This little girl was having a hard time getting an answer when my blue eyed sweetie said out loud "Oh my God". She went back and told the little girl she was sorry but she was still in trouble when she got home on Friday. Anyway, she has been working really hard trying to make things better. She has been trying to help around the house and with little things, so today I was moppin and waxing the floors in the upstairs when Katie came up behind me and said "Dad, can I help, please????" How do I say no to that? So, I had her hold the bottle of wax I was using. She was so proud and had the biggest smile and I just had to laugh.

Leeann is doing better, I think she pulled a muscel when she leaned over to pick up some laundry, I got made at her for doing it, but she is doing more and more things, so I have to let her have a little more room everyday.

GO COLTS!!!!!! GO PEYTON!!!!!!! That was the best Super Bowl I have seen in a very long time.

Back to work

2007-01-30T17:54:00.000-08:00

Today was my frst day back to work after being off for a month taking care of Leeann. I love taking care of Leeann and being here for her. I wish I could just be a house husband for her. Does that make me a bad person??? I enjoy knowing that she is ok and that I can provide for her and get her the things she needs.

Anyway, I went back to work today and it was so weird. So many things have changed and so many new procedures. It was just weird to be back at work. I had to get up early and get ready, all of it just really weird. Think aobut being on vacation for a month and then going back to work.

We got a new addition to the family today. We got a new horse. Her name is Belle. We were able to sell Sam to a really nice farm in KY and got Belle as a replacement. She is a big beautiful horse, but not what we thought or were told she was. We were told she was a 6 year old Spotted Saddle horse, she is a 4 year old Tennessee Walking horse. I got the chance to ride her this past Saturday when we took a road trip to southers KY. I had fun, but was I need to get some more lessons before I get up on a horse and go trail riding. I tried to stear Belle around the pasture and realized that i have very little control over her. She did finally respond to me and we had a good ride for about 30 minutes. She is a great horse and is very broke so I know she will be great around both Leeann and Katie.

I am so proud of Leeann and how she is doing after her surgery. She is now eating soft foods, things like beans, cheese, and things like that. She is still loosing weight, we both just need to start walking and getting some exercise, but that will come in time.

Me and my Meds......

2007-01-23T18:49:00.000-08:00

I am a type II diabetic. That means I have a few meds I need to take every day. The problem is that I am not good about taking my meds. It's not that I don't like to take meds, it's only a few pills, they are not that big and I don't have any bad side effects. It's just I get so busy with other things and doing this and doing that, I just forget to take my meds. My wife is always asking me if I took my meds, "yes" I say knowing that I have not done so, but have every intention of do so in the next few minutes. But, just like always, I forget and move on to something else. I tell you this to help you understand a little tift I had with Leeann today. I took Maggie, our 14 year old Maltiees, to the vet today to have her teeth cleaned. As part of that process, she has to be put to sleep and they have to check her blood work before puting her sleep. She has been having problmes with her thyroid levels being very low and she was on meds for the past month. I forgot to give her the meds. As a result, her levels were still very low and we (Lee and I) had a bit of a fight about me not telling her the truth. She is righ about that, I should tell her the truth, but I have been so busy and had my hands so full with stuff, taking care of Katie, the house, the dogs, the in-laws who were helping me with Katie, making sure I was there for every step of Leeann's recovery. I just could not find an extra 15 minutes a day. But, I am making a commement to take better care of my self and our little ones.

Doing Better

2007-01-22T19:50:00.000-08:00

Things are getting much better. Leeann is getting better everyday. Getting in her Protien everyday was hard at first. She just did not want take anything that had any powder in it, it would make her sick. I can understand why, protien was the last thing she had just before she got sick and was put back in the hospital. There have been a few tears, but I am so proud of her for the progress she has made so far. She is up to 30 grams of protien a day, she has to have 60 grams a day, so it is a start. I have been adding a little protien to her eggs every night, she is getting better.

Katie and I are have a diffuclut time as of late. It seems that no matter what I say or do with her, it is a battle. Am I being too hard on her? Am I wanting too much from her? Problely yes to both questions, but I just want her to be a 7 year old. Katie is such a sweetie and I love her so very much. I can't see my life without her. All I want from her is to be the best little girl she can be. Don't get me wrong, there are times when she is so great and so sweet. Like this past Sunday. We were all out rning some errands and taking Katie to have a couple of medical test she has to have every few months. I droped Leeann off at a store and I took Katie with me to get a humidifer for the house. At the Walgreens, I had my mind focus on getting the humidifer and getting back to Leeann as soon as possible. Katie made me stop and smell the roses. She yelled, "Dad, dad, you have to come here, I need to show you something". I didn't want to take the time to look at it, But, Katie can be quite convincing. She was showing me a plastic heart filled with Skittles candies for Valentines Day. She looked at me and said, "We can give mom the heart and I can have the Skittles". I had to just laugh. She almost made me cry. She made me stop and just look at her. She is so beautiful and so sweet. That is what makes so made when she does the things she does. But, what makes me so crazy is that I know she can not control it. I just have to work a little harder to make things better.

This is my last week of being home with Leeann. I head back to work on Janurary 30th, I am a bit nervous leaving Leeann but, I now she wll be just fine.

The adventure continues........

Things are getting back

2007-01-16T17:54:00.000-08:00

My baby (Leeann) is getting back to her wonderful, normal self. She was able to get out and run some errands with me yesterday and she went with me to Katie's doctors visit today. She did really good both days. She did take a short nap yesterday when we got home, but today has been the best day yet. I am not going to tell you how much weight she has lost so far, but lets just say it is a about a the weight of a older toodler

I am not back at work yet, that is going to be at least another week. I want to make sure that Leeann is doing well and can handel the day to day living of life. The way she is going, it should not be much longer.

I am doing much better with my eating as well. I just find it really hard to eat anything that bad for me. Take tonight for instance. I had to get some prescriptions to the drug store for Katie and i was going to eat while I was out. Now, in that past that would have been me going to Burger King or some other fast food hell and geting a big burger, fries and a jumbo coke. Well, I was out tonight and could not even think of going to a fast food place. So I went to a little sub shop near the house and got a small Meatball sub, some baked chips and a diet coke. Everything was small. That is a huge leap for me. So, don't be looking for me in any BK, McD's or Wendy's any time soon.

Don

What has this been like.

2007-01-14T19:20:00.001-08:00

Well, since my last post, things have been very busy to say the least. Let me fill you in. Leeann was sent back to the hospital for a complication from her surgery. It all happened so fast, but I also got so angry about one thing most of all.

Lee started to have some very serious pains in her stomach. It was so bad it doubled her over. I had never seen her in so much pain We thought is was something she ate, or a pill that would not go down well. So, at 1:30pm I took her to the emergency room after calling in to her Dr. to let him know what was going on. I found out later that they called the ER to let them know we were on the way and to get her in as soon as possible (remember that). We got to the ER and we had to wait, wait while Leeann was in so much pain. I kept pushing the lady at the front desk to get Leeann in and quickly. Finaly after 50 minutes, they took her back and took her vital signs, the lady doing it pulled the blood pressure cuff off and hit Leeann in the stomach. Not that she hurt there enough already, but then she just said "Sorry" with this sarcastic tone to her voice. They finaly got her to a room at 3:30pm and then just left her there. She was dehydrated, I could tell, and we told the nurses that more than once. I also told them how much pain she was in, but not one person wanted to help. They took blood samples, and that was it. Finaly after 2 hours, we just left on our own. We never saw a doctor or much less a nurse. Leeann's doctor even called to make sure Leeann was there. We went home only to come back at 7:30pm by ambluance.

Well, it took until 11:15 to get any pain meds and liquids in her. Dr. Boyce decided to admit her at 1:30am and got to her room at 3am. Our great friend was a life saver by staying with Katie while I was with Leeann. Lisa has been such a great friend to Leeann. She has been so willing to help out when ever I called her. She spent several nights with Katie and many afternoos with Leeann at the hospital.

Leeann was in the hospital for 12 nights. I askd Leeanns mom and her aunt Linda to come over and help me through the weekend, they were so great and helped me out so much. I did not know how tired I was until they kicked me out and sent me home to get some rest. That was the hardest night of my life. Leaving my wife in a hospital room. My heart was breaking. But after a nights sleep, I knew it was the best thing to do. Leeann's mom and aunt were so great and did so much to help out. They did a great job taking care of Leean at night.

I was able to get Leeann home Friday night, I can not tell you how happy I was to get her home. Things are getting back to normal. Katie is happy to have us both home.

Things are getting better.

What has to be done.

2006-12-30T16:43:00.000-08:00

Let me fill you all in on what the past couple of days have been like. Leeann had her surgery and things went very well and she is doing so well. My job for the next couple of weeks is very simple. I have to monitor her intake. she has to get 64oz of liquid a day (or as much as possible), this can include Jello, popcycles, proten drinks, and so far she has been doing very well.

The first night at the hospital neither of us got much sleep. Leeann could not get comfortable, she wanted to lie down in the bed, then sit in the chair, then the bed. On top of that, add a nurse coming into the room every couple of hours to get this or do that and they just had to turn every light in the room on. Day two was a bit better for both of us, but night number two was the night of nurse cratched from Hell. Nothing I did was right for this woman. I didn't plug in the IV machine soon enough for her. I didn't use the wipe the right way. Did I give her the medican yet? Did I record the fluid intake? Yadda, yadda, yadda. It just wouldn't stop. I was so glad when the morning came and she was gone.

We were able to come home late Friday afternoon and I have been going non stop ever since. Keeping up with her intake and output, changing her dressing, draining her JP tube, taking care of Katie, doing laundry, and keeping Leeann with her water and stuff. I bet I have made about 80 or so trips up and down the stairs. I don't care, I would do it for her in a heart beat. You see. she is my life. She is the reason I do everything I do. I get up for her, I go to work for her, you name it and I would do it for her. You have no idea how very lucky I am to have someone like her in my life. She has belived in me, and stood beside me when I needed her the most. There is nothing I would not do for her. So doing things like changing her dressings, draining her JP tube, even helping her to go to the bathroom.

Katie has been great helping me take care of Leeann. For a 7 year old, she is really great. But I know she is just a kid, but there are times when she pushes me to the very edege, but she is the light of my eye.

More as things go along.

Don

Now the real fun starts

2006-12-29T19:50:00.000-08:00

Well, it's finally over. For Leeann that is. She had her surgery this past Wednesday. We got home just today and it was quite an expierence to say the least.

We got to the hospital Wednesday around 11am. They called us back, and I helped her get ready, and hung with her for as long as I could. They took her back around 12noon. That was the start of my long day waiting. I had to go out to the waiting room and do just that...... WAIT and WAIT and WAIT some more. It was about 1:30 that they told me she was in surgery. So I was able to finally go down and get somethig to eat. But, I was not real comfortable eating something knowing what Leeann was doing. I felt almost sick eating anything, even a salad.

I went back up to the waiting room and had our friend Lisa come and sit with me. We talked for a few hours. I took what seemed for hours for them to tell us that Leeann was out and doing well. I was getting worried as the time slowed to a crawl. Was she ok? Is everything going ok? Well, she was ok and most everything went well. Part of the process of gastric bypass is where they take the small intestine and cut it at the bottom of the stomach and bring it up and connect it to the bottom of the small pouch they have just made. Leeann's intestine had to be streched to meet the new pouch. It happens in a few cases, but it is not anything to worry about. We just had to keep a close eye on her fluid intake. I was able to relax for the first time that day. I just wanted her to be ok and for it to go well.

She went to her room around 5:30pm, so after 5 and half hours, I was able to be with her again. She was not a lot of pain, but she was very groggy and just kinda out of it. She was also very funny. She talked about George Bush, (and if you know Leeann, you know how she feels about George Bush). But, I was so proud of her, she wanted to get up and get moving. She was not fully awake, but she just could not wait to get up and moving. We had to hold her down for 2 hours to keep her from getting herself hurt. Well, after 2 hours, she took that first long walk and I could not belive how well she did. She almost ran down that hall way.

The rest of the night was not too bad, she slept a good part of the night, but had to get up a couple of times to go to the bathroom, but it was not tood bad. I on the other hand, I cold not get much sleep due to the very uncomfortable chair that they try to call a chair/bed. it didn't help much that the nurses had to come into her room every couple of hours to take this vital sign, get some blood, check this, test that and of course every time they came in, they had to turn the lights on.

Well, I want to tell you more, because there is more to tell, but I am finally able to relax a bit and get some sleep, so,,,,,, until tomorrow....

Don

The day before

2006-12-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

What a day!!! I got to sleep late today, thanks to my wonderful and ever so sweet 7 year old, Katie. It was so nice to sleep past 6am. I feel so much better and so much more awake.

I did have a very busy day however. After I woke up, Katie and I ran to the mall to return a few things for Leeann. Not as bad as I prepaird myself for. Went right into the store, made the return and back out all in under 10 minutes. That may be a new world record. Katie and I then walked to the other side of the mall and got a new scale for Leeann. I got her one for Christmas that will not only tell her what she weighs, but also her BMI (body mass index) among other things. With the surgery tomorrow, I wanted her to have it when she got home. AC kept Leeann a bit late to get as much work from her as he could, so we were not able to meet for lunch liked I had hoped. Katie was so great at the mall, she walked right be side me and carried her little purse. She was so cute. As we walked, she looked up at me and said, "Dad, this place is so busy today." What a girl.

When Leeann got done, we went down to Maryville for lunch, she wanted to go to Pizza Uno for her last lunch. What she really wanted was the deep dish sundae they have. If you have never had it, it is a MUST. Just when we orderd, Katie said her stomach hurt and she wanted to go home. We got the pizza's to go and off we went for home. Leeann did not get to get her sundae. I fell so bad. I know this is going to be tough on her, but I know she can do it.

Spend the rest of the day running some last minute errands for Leeann. Got a few things as the drug store and at Target. New TV stand for the living room and tired like hell to get TIVO hooked up, but to no avail. Tired every thing I knew, but could never get it to work. So I just ran the cable to the TV so Leeann's dad can watch while he is here.

Leeann is sleeping as I write this. She is scared, she won't admit she is scared, but I know she is. She is about to have a life changing surgery. It has to weigh on her mind. Oh, I almost forgot, the hospital called today, they changed her surgery time from 1:30 arrival to 11am arrival. She is first on the table for Dr. Boyce.

That is going to put me in rush mode tomorrow. I have to get the dogs (hogan and sophie) to the boarders, pick up dad by 8:45am and be back in time to get Leeann to the hospital by 11am. So, it may be a bit before I can write again, I will keep you updated.

Don

What is going on?????

2006-12-25T18:51:00.000-08:00

Let me explain. The first post you see, even though it is posted today, is acutaly from about 3 weeks ago. I tried to log on tonight and update my blog and for some unknow, strange, bizare reason, it would not let me log in. So I had to create a new blog, same name, same person, just a new web address. So, the one you just read, was really a re-post

Now, on to todays update.

It has been a few weeks since I filled you in on things. The main reason is I have just been so busy. Busy with work. Busy with home stuff. Busy getting ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas, you name it, and I have been busy with it. But, lets start with work. I amd working my weekend schedule this month. It is the hardest schedule to work. I have to work Thursday - Sunday. So my days off are Monday - Wednesday. I have to get up early to take Katie to school those days, so I don't get to sleep much later then on a day I have to go to work, add into that mix, having to get the house ready for Christmas, helping my girl with her eBay stuff, and such, make for very long days. I am so happy that Leeann has her eBay store, she works so hard at it. I just want her to take some time off, slow down a bit and relax a little here and there.

She is going to forced to relaxed here in the next couple of days She is going in on Wednesday for gastric bypass surgery. I am so proud of her for doing this. It takes a lot of courage to do this, more than most can know. Some people will say that the surgery is the "easy" way out. but that can not be further from the truth. Think about it. You could go on a diet today, stay with it for about a week or so and if you don't like it, you can quit. This surgery is for LIFE. If you don't like it, then you die. The first two weeks will be the hardest. I know she can make it.

Christmas for us today was quite fun. I was really surprised by what Lee got me this year. A PS3!!!! I was really blown away by that. We talked about it, but I didn't think she would get one. She never ends to amaze me with the things she does. I just wish I was better at buying her gifts. She always does such a better job at shopping than I do.

I will try to keep you filled in on Leeann's surgery, I know she is going to do so well.

Talk to you soon

Don

The Start of it All

2006-12-25T18:46:00.000-08:00

The Start of it All
This is the start of it all. The start of what I hope is something fun and something enjoyable for both me and you. I want to be able to tell you all about me, but we don't have enough space here to tell you everything, but as times goes on, you will all learn more about me and who I am.

I am in my early 40's. Very happly married to, without a doubt, the love of my life. In a couple of weeks, we will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversery. Every one of those days have better than the day before. We have been through so much together. Good times and bad, but through it all, we have been together. She never ends to amaze me with the things she does. Running her EBay business, taking care of our little girl, the house, the dogs and so on. All with a smile on her face (sometimes).

Anyway, this is about me, so onward. Like I said, I am in my early 40's. I work for a major cable network. I work as a broadcast operator. That means it is my job to make sure that the programs scheduled to air, goes out on the air at the right time. I like my job very much, but there are days. I got into this line of work as part of my mid life crisis. I used to wrok in advertising sales and just decided to end it. I have always had a love of television and working in it. Did I make more money in sales? Yea. Did I win all kinds of sales awards? Yes. I was well respected, but I just couldn't do it anymore. After a long talk with my wife, I went back to school and started taking classes in video production.

I have started my own business. Midnight Magic Video Productions. I mainly do wedding videos and enjoy it very much. I have done three weddings this year and a concert video for a choir group. Think I will stick to the wedding videos. I have a lot of fun doing the wedding videos. Working with the brides and their families is a blast. I hope to keep it going for a long while and I hope to someday make it a large business. I want to be able to work from home. I have worked so long for others, I want to do something for myself and my family. We will see how it goes.

Come back often to see how the business grows and how it works.

The Average Don