Youth For Christ Board

It has been apparent to me for awhile now that I need to cut some things back from my schedule. Besides trying to live life, we are also making plans and getting ready to move to Tennessee. A few weeks ago I submitted by letter of resignation to the local Director of YFC. I have been on the Shasta Region YFC board for about four years. With our background in youth ministry and living in Red Bluff, it was a good fit. New work crews and a big move have made it necessary to resign. One less thing to fit into an already tight schedule and that feels good.
This weekend was fun. Tina's Aunt Teri came up from Modesto. We all love her and tried to spend as much time as we could of with her. On Thursday Tina worked for Chef Paul. She really enjoys this and it is great experience. We joined her for dinner. It was excellent! I am so proud of her. She put in alot of hours and we all benefited from her labor. Friday we all went an saw Happy Feet. It was a pretty good flick. Yesterday was spent mowing the lawn at the church and raking leaves there. Hope was in the Holiday Parade last night. She plays clarinet with her Middle School and they marched with the local high school band. They were great!
Today we spent a good portion of the day with the family. Church and lunch. Aunt Teri left today. We just got home from the Greers. We love them too!
Tomorrow I must be to work at 7:00 Am. I am in charge and the CRP for the day. It should be fun. Tennessee is looking better everyday.

Weather today: The HIGH was 47!! Can you believe that? The high was 47!!! It was cold here today boys and girls, C-O-L-D, cold. There's a pretty good chance of showers (maybe even snow) on the valley floor tomorrow. That should be fun
F-U-N, fun. I will be driving the car. Smile.

-Norm

Happy Thanksgiving

This thanksgiving is going to be alittle different this year. Tina is working at The Experience with Chef Paul Trout. It is interesting and will probably be the way things will go from now on. We are in a life that revolves partially around food. Tina is really enjoying this! I think Chef really like having her there. She is increasing her skills with one of the best Chefs anywhere.
Today, I am reflecting on T-Days gone by. I remember big meals at Grandma's house. Aunts, uncles, cousins all gathered there. We would get huge cardboard boxes from the appliance/heating store next door and create tunnels in her backyard. Most of the time we would spend the night and the next morning wake to the smell of eggs and bacon. Grandma made the best! Grandma's house was always the host house. There was always a feeling of belonging and family. Our family suffered a big loss when she died.
This year Rachael and her family are living in New York (Toronto-this weekend) and we spending the day at home, later at Steve and Linda's. We will meet Tina this evening for dinner to have our own Thanksgiving Experience. That is the part I'm looking forward to the most. We are going to see if Aunt Teri would like to join us. I picked her up from the bus stop last night. She is up from Modesto for the weekend.
I am kinda on call all weekend long. We have people working at the Rest Areas and no one else is in town. That leaves me and my pager. It would be a pretty drive up there. This is one of the busiest traveling weekends of the year. I will be interested to hear how many rolls of toliet paper they go through. Maybe I'll ask if I go up. I hope they ordered enough.................

Happy Thanksgiving. We do have alot to be thankful for. We are blessed.

Weather: It is windy and pretty chilly. The sun is shining which is always a good thing.

-Norm

New Sound System

This weekend I helped to install a new sound system at Grace's school. Dave and I installed eight Yorkville speakers and are preparing to install the amp. Besides the speakers,PTA purchased a Colisium 70 volt mixer, six Samson mics, two Johnson monitors, a Berhinger 12 channel mixer, Audio Technics wireless lapel mic, and 6 tri-pod boom stands. We are set! When everything is in place it will be an awesome system. Last year PTA purchased a video projector, movie screen and a dvd player. We will hook all these things together as part of the updating of the multi-purpose room. I can't wait to have it all in.
Hope went to the Revolve Tour at ARCO this weekend. She said she really enjoyed it. Her favorites were Natalie Grant and KJ-52. She likes rap.
Weather today: It's raining right now and has been overcast and cold all day. Yesterday it rained in the morning and then cleared off to a beautiful day. I like this time of year, but Summer is still my favorite.

-Norm

New Air Filter

My K&N Air filter came in at Cycle Gear. I picked it up today. Tomorrow I will install it and then take it for a ride. There are mixed reviews about this air filter. I can't wait to see how it affects my bike. I really like the Cycle Gear store. I have purchased new gloves, oil, and other items from this store.
We have a three day weekend. It is Veteran's Day. I am going to install the new P.A. system in the multi-purpose room at Grace's school. It has been along time coming and all the components are in. I am also going to install Hope's closet doors and work on the doorway transitions at our home. Hope will be attending a girl's conference Friday and Saturday.

Weather today: Chilly and about 65 degrees. It ws a cold ride to work this morning. Rain is coming later on Friday.

New Sparkplugs and An Oil Change

Hope to had stay home from school due to pink eye. Her medicine had been ordered but needed to be picked up. I stayed home with her. While here I got a couple projects done. The first was changing the sparkplugs in the Aurora. I hadn't changed them since we've had it. I thought this wouldn't take long. Four hours later I was done. I learned that this car does not have spark plug wires. Instead it has a plastic cover that go down to where the plugs are. It took alot of work but it does run smoother. I also changed the oil in the scooter. It has needed to be done for sometime now and I finally had the chance. Following this Hope's medicine was ready, so after I had picked Grace up from school, we went to pick it up. Grace had been asking for a couple weeks if I could pick her up from school on the scooter. Today was that day. It was beautiful today.

Weather today: It was a beautiful day. This morning started out cloudy and a chance of showers. That decreased as the day went on. It did get windy and is still somewhat gusty.

WellI have hot dogs that are screaming to be BBQed.

-Norm

The Spin Has Spun

Friday at work was hobo chili day. Everyone brought a couple cans of chili, we mixed them all together and had lunch! The County CAO, several department heads and city council members came to serve my clients. It was awesome and went very smoothly. Prior to the chili feed we had the dedication of the memorial area for Corinne. When I got home it was time to get ready for Family Movie Night at Grace's School. We all watched "Over The Hedge". Once the movie was started it felt good to slow down.
Saturday was spent looking at Tennessee houses on the internet and doing a little work on our house. I also had to go to the church to pick up leaves and mow. The girls also took a few last rides on the gyro before it is sold.
Speaking of the gyro is no longer in our possession. It has headed south to a good home. I borrowed Pastor Paul's cherry picker to help load it on the truck. It always amazes me how these things work out. It loaded very easily. We needed to get this done while there was a break in the weather. Following the sale of the gyro we went for lunch at Hal's Eat'm Up and then on to Chico. We stopped at Family Christian Store and purchased Tina an Emery Cd. Then it was off to the evening service at Matthew's Cafe. It was very good. Following church we went to Kmart. Tina wanted a band type ring to wear while she is cooking and working at school. The jewelry dept. was having a 70% off sale. I also got a new watch. My old watch died. You know, I never realized how much I used the date feature on my watch until I didn't have it. It was dinner at Taco Bell and then home.
When we arrived home there was an empty place in the driveway were the gyro had been. We all had mixed emotions. I am looking forward to paying some bills and have a little bit of a cushion. I am also going to purchase spark plugs for the Aurora, a air filter for the Reflex, get a haircut, the Disney movie CARS and a coffee card for Tina.
Weather today: sunny but abit cloudy. It should be nice for the next couple days and then comes the rain.
Enjoy!
-Norm