What's Been Going On...

To update everyone on our accredidation. On Monday I had the honor to taking one of the surveyors around to the various crews we have. Her name was Anita. She is from Illinois. We had a very nice time. I so enjoy showing off the crews and our program. On Tuesday we visited people who are in indiviual placement. That was fun. On Wednesday morning we visited a couple more crews we weeren't able to visit earlier. We were joined by the other surveyor, Larry. He was from Kentucky. As the morning went on we discussed Tennessee and our moving there. It sounded like our idea is a good one. Later that afternoon we received our Exit Review, it was very positive. The CARF surveyors can not tell you the final outcome. We must wait until we receive the report from the home office in 4-6 weeks. I am sure we will get the maximum 3 years. I really enjoyed these days, but boy were they exhausting! It felt very good on Thursday to be totally done with CARF.
On Thursday evening Grace had her first band concert. She is playing percussion. She did a great job! I am so very proud of her.
Friday evening was Family Movie Night at Grace's school. We watched CARS. It was the first night we used the new sound system. Everything went great and there was less things to set-up. That alone is a major benefit.
Yesterday was spent working on the house. We are turning in the water damage to our homeowner's insurance. It is just to bad to do ourselves. We repainted all the heating vents. They look brand new! I also had to fix the leaky toliet. The stopper was leaking causing it to run all the time. It is alot quieter now. I also screwed down the 8x8 planks that border our deck. It looks so good now.
Today I put new framing/molding around a door in the playroom. It definately looks much cleaner. Just needs paint.
The list of stuff to do is getting alot smaller, only a couple more things.

Busy, busy busy.

Also today our church voted to purchase a house next door. The is a home that has been landlocked. All surrounding property is owned by the church. It is a good deal and I cannot wait to see these fences come down.

I was speaking to my friend Dave (a fellow Volvo owner) about the fuel problems. He thought it might be a fuel sensor. The same thing happened to him and that was the culpret. It's about a $40.00 part. Let's hope that's all it is.

In case you haven't noticed I've added a few new links to the right. A couple are disability links and some coffee links. Enjoy.....

Weather today had been 60+ and beautiful. The ride to church was in the low 30's. Chillyyyyyyy.

-Norm

12 Hour Day!!!

Today I worked a twelve hour day. Most of the day was spent restriping the work areas. I also spent some time getting caught up on paperwork. We are in CARF mode. Commission for the Accredidation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) awards programs a certificate of accredidation. The maxium is a three certificate. We have an excellent program and I am excited to show it off. I will be a tour guide of sorts for one of the surveyors. It should be fun!
Back to today, I had one instructor call in sick so we had to cover his crew. Another instructor called me at about 11:00 Am to let me know her father had passed away and she needed to leave. It was an interesting day. I am thankful to be home. I am battling a cold. It will feel good to take some medicine and go to bed. I get to sleep in tomorrow. I need it.
The house battle also continues. I will be taking the carpet out tomorrow and probably going to replace the foam pad. That should be fun.........

Weather today was excellent 60 degrees and not as cold at night. Suppose to be windy tomorrow.

-Norm

Water, Floors, Crawlspaces and Stress

Most of the day today was spent under the house repairing a waterline. The waterline I cut yesterday was the wrong one. It was the coldwater line to the sink in the front bathroom. I thought I was cutting the line to the swamp cooler. That line is attached to the sink line, only it is in the wall. I capped the swamp line up in the ceiling. A place I didn't want to cap it. I will be watching this. To repair the line I cut, I purchased a techtite coupler and a techtite cap for the swamp cooler line. Once I got everything in order, it was not that diificult. It just required a few trips in and out from underneath the house. It feels good the be done that that part.
It looks like we are going to have to take a drive to Sacramento. The laminate flooring in the hallway took the brunt of the abuse. It is swelled at the joints. The flooring is still available through Lumber Liquidators. Add this to the list of things still left to do before we sell the house.

Weather today-very, very, very cold. I am beginning to doubt this whole global warming thing.

-Norm

Our Own Series Of Unfortunate Events

Yesterday I had to work. It was an interesting day. The O.C. is only open on weekdays, but yesterday I had to conduct a CPR training. I hate working on the weekend and so did just about everyone in my two classes. Yes, I did two CPR classes training twenty people all together. I came back into town and headed to the church to play drums for a benefit concert to help Laurel go to the D.R. When I got home I was totally bushed.
This morning started out as usual Sunday morning. I got up took a shower and headed off the the church. After we got done with the music part of worship, Hope came in and said I needed to leave now. When we got in the car Hope said that there was water in the back bathroom. I had driven about 1/4 mile and the car stopped. We pushed the car. I thought it might be out of gas so I ran across the street and bought a gas can and gas. I put gas in the car but still it wouldn't start, all this time I wasn't sure what was happening at home. I ran across the srteet and called Tina to tell her I couldn't get home but was trying. I tried to explain how to turn off the water at the street, but she couldn't get it. I asked her to go to the neighbor's house next door to ask Mark if he would shut it off. Next time I called Grace said mom was coming to pick me up. Tina explained to me what was happening while we were behind the world's slowest drivers. They apparently were not trying to get home to a flooding house. By the time we arrived home the water was off. Poor Grace was handling everything like a trooper. I scanned the house to discover it was a copper pipe in the attic. This was the line to the swamp cooler. I headed back to the church to see if I could borrow Bill's wet/dry vacuum and picked it up at his home. We cleaned things up and put a blower on the carpet.
Steve and I headed to check out what was happening with the car. It was discovered that the there was something going on with the timing. Possibly the belt or chain. We had to rent a tow dolly to get it home. We rented one from UHAUL.
The car is now home. Tina and I head off to Home Depot to get a cap to cap off the copper pipe. Home Depot didn't have any the size I needed so we bought a coupler to cap it with. We got home, I changed clothes and headed under the house. I cut the line and discovered the coupler was the wrong size. I headed back to HD to discover they were closed. The perfect ending to crappy day.
There is nothing I can do until morning. Home Depot opens at 7:00 Am. Hopefully tomorrow will be a tad bit better.

Current weather-It has been cold. 25 degrees at night. This is the reason for the broken pipe. It has been about 55-60 degrees during the day.

-Norm

Paying Bills

I hate paying bills! I mean I really hate paying bills! It seems that money goes away quickly. Sometimes there just isn't enough to go around. It does feel good to them paid and know where your standing. Sometimes it means I do without. Sometimes that can be a shakey place, other times it's a good feelin'. The mortgage is paid, the car payments made. We do have food to eat and the house is warm. I have come to also realize that I don't like money either. I know we need it to get by, but I don't like it.
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Whew glad to get that out!


Tonight our family took communion. It was a time of scripture reading, prayer, wine and crackers. We all shared what we are thankful for and a wish. It was really special.

Weather today: a mixed bag. Rained alittle. Fog happened. Clear sky. It is cold tonight. The next few days are to be clear and sunny. My plans are to powerwash the deck and stain it while the sun is shining.

-Norm

Current Flix

We have watched a number of movies lately. Some on dvd and a couple at the theater.

Recent views include:

Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest- not only are both of these are on the list due to Tina being a fan of Mr. Depp but I really enjoyed them. We watched Curse on New Year's Eve. I think it interesting how the writers can mold a story around a ride at Disneyland.

Little Miss Sunshine-This was an incredible film, but be prepared for some strong language. It was funny. I think I might have lived parts of this movie! The shooting style reminds me alot of Napolean Dynamite.

Lady In The Water-I am struck by this movie. It takes a community and confession to complete this task. M. Night always puts together a good movie. There is always so much written into them, you almost have to watch them a few times.

Talladega Nights-Funny in parts. I think Will Ferrell is better in skits(i.e. Saturday Night Live)

Night At The Museum-History does come alive. It was great to see Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Roonie on the big screen again. Great movie!

Happy Feet-Good movie, but some of the musical selections chosen are not appropriate for children even though it is marketed as a children's movie.

I am getting the itch to watch The Matrix series. Don't be too suprised if I post something about that in the near future.

Weather today-chance of showers and a Winter Snow Warning. I drove the car today.

2007 A Year of Change

Here we are, it's 2007! We started the New Year with the Greers. It was a nice evening of talking and watching the Pirates of the Caribeean I. Yesterday was spent mowing the lawn and cleaning up the back yard. I woke up late and it sure felt good. We went to Tina's parent's in the afternoon, ate, payed games and watched Lady in the Water. That is such a great movie! If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it!

This year will bring about many changes for our family. Selling our house, a pending move to Knoxville, and a new job(somewhere). It is all so exciting! This month I will begin my job search. I have updated my resume and am getting new Letters of Recommendation. I am confident I will find a great job.

Last night Grace was praying before going to bed. She prayed for each member of our family and added a comment for each person. It was great to listen to her pray. I totally loved it and I'm sure the Father did too! I couldn't help but think her relationship with Jesus is real and she is willing to share her thoughts an concerns with Him. It was great to hear.

Weather today-65 degrees and a little cloudy. Yesterday was beautiful and a great way to begin a new year!

Happy New Year everyone!

-Norm

Bathroom Redo Done!

That's right, it's done! New paint, lino, mirror, sink, vanity and towel racks. It looks absolutely beautiful. It really feels good to have it all done. The most difficult part of this project was the sink. The new vanity makes the sink closer to the wall making it very difficult to line up the trap. It took two trips to Home Depot but I got it all together.
Our next and final room is our master bedroom. We will be repainting and installing window treatments.
For Christmas we purchased a wireless router for our dsl. Tonight I got it working correctly. I hooked it all up last night but something was screwy so the computer didn't recognize the wireless connection. It is all good now and we can go anywhere in our home to surf the net. What a great feeling!

Weather today was beautiful. It has been very windy for about a week. Today was about 60 degrees and very little wind.

-Norm

Bathroom Redo

Well I start redoing our master bathroom today. New paint, new sink and new linoleum. It is going to be beautiful. We are replacing the sink due to a rust spot that was in the current one since before we moved in. I am also replacing the ceiling fan in our playroom. The light fixture seems to have a mind of it's own. Turn on the switch and a little while later, out goes the light.
The master bedroom is the last room to paint and update before putting it on the market. It is all so exciting!! In January it is time to start scanning the job market in Knoxville. The will be fun.

Weather today: cold, cold and cold. There has been a pretty good breeze all day which is keeping a chill in the air.

Off to the remodel.

-Norm

Yesterday-A Day of Memories

I received two special visitors yesterday. The first was a man named Brian. He works in the printing industry. Brian and I both have the same former employer. Our former employer was a person who was able to play any role when needed. This person had a very explosive temper. I worked there for over four years just to provide for Tina and I. We had a number of press operators that were great. They made it bareable there. It was nice to reflect with Brian on those times, but mostly as a reference point about how times have gotten better and how we have improved over the years.

The second visitor was Michelle. She was our clerk when for the printshop at the O.C. years ago. Last week I told was telling my daughter about Michelle and her sail boat. It has been about 10 years since I had seen her and the week after my story, she appears. It was great to see her, meet her husband Jim and their five month old son, Jimmy. We went over and saw Marc at the City. I also had a chance to share with Michelle the improvements we have made at the Opportunity Center.

It was truely a great day that ended with Tina receiving a re-imbursement check. We now have money for Christmas!! We celebrated with a trip to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream.

Weather today: wet drizzly and I had to drive the car. Weather next week is suppose to be sunny and dry. Waitin' for it.........

-Norm

Last Weekend

This past weekend was great! Most of Saturday spent installing the molding around the doorjams. I also put filler in the places that needed it. I only had to pick up a little bit of leaves at the church. The sprinklers have been turned off, so the grass should stop growing.
On Sunday after church we went to lunch with the Greers at LaCorona. We really like that place! Later we went to Steve and Linda's for Matthew's birthday party. It was an enjoyable afternoon/evening. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean 2.
I took Monday off and we went to Medford with the Greers. We did the
Harry and David's factory tour. It is such a great tour. They make Moose-munch and different types of candies and treats. This is one of their busiest seasons. Following our visit to the Harry and David store we drove up to Central Point to the Rogue Creamery. I love their Oregonzola. It is a Blue Cheese. Next it was off to the Rogue Valley Mall. We looked in stores and had dinner in the food court. We went in Bill's utility truck so that all of us could ride together. It was a great day. On the way home we drove through areas of snow. It was beautiful.
Bill and Vicki are wonderful. We all love them. I am grateful to have them as friends.

Weather today is rainy and very wet. The high today was around 56. It is suppose to rain the remainder of the week.

-Norm

The Nativity Story

This seems to be the time of year when there is more focus placed on the birth of Jesus Christ. Gift giving and celebrations abound. This year a movie has been added to mix of activities available, The Nativity Story. We went a saw it tonight in Anderson. It was well done, although Tina and I agree the angels announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds were lacking. When the angels said "Fear Not" I believe the angels were created in such a way that they are to be feared. They are warriors! It was enjoyed by all of us. We went with Bill and Vikki. They have become our movie going buddies.
The rest of the day was pretty challenging. I don't think I stopped moving the entire day. Time was spent at Crown Motors and SRMC, instructing the crews. Our weekly Leadership Team meeting also took up a good portion of my morning. Such is the life of the Supervisor.

Weather today had a high of 67 degrees. It was beautiful but started out at about 31 degrees. I drove the car to work today.

-Norm

Closet Doors and A Job Search

Last night I installed new mirrored closet doors in Hope's room. They are Contractor's Wardrobe and were very easy to install. They really add depth to the room. No more asking "dad do you know where a mirror is?"
I have started monitoring the job market in Tennessee and have contacted an organization similiar to the Opportunity Center. They told me that when we get closer to contact them. I am not worried about finding a job there.
We are also planning to open our own drive-thru coffee business there. Regarding a place to live, we are planning to rent for awhile to get an idea about where to buy.
I have also been looking at church websites on the internet and there seem to be some great ones. We won't really know until we're there.
The girls are getting more excited as we get closer to summer. We are close to putting the house on the market. I just have a few more things to do. We are shooting for sometime in December but are still not sure who we get going to list with. It is all so exciting.

Weather today was 65. I worked at the church collecting leaves and mowing the lawn. Before that Tina went shopping and got her a coffee. She worked for Chef last night and again this evening. Tomorrow I will do some more work on the house.

-Norm

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

A Strange Monday That Has Ended Well

I had a rough morning. It actually started out last night. I ground up the coffee beans and set the timer on the coffee maker for 5:30. I awoke at 5:15 and later heard the coffee maker kickin' in. When it was done I got up to find that I had forgotten to put the coffee pot in the coffeemaker. I had a mess to clean up. I then started a new pot of coffee. I then went to the scooter only to find I had forgotten to put gas in it. By this time I did not have time to stop and get any so I drove Tina's car to work. Ridin' to work in style.

I went to work to find out that an instructor was going to be out again today. I had a early morning staffing at Mission Providers and then another meeting back at the office. I also had to help order supplies for the rest areas, and then another staffing in the afternoon.

I had to let a client go today for not following through with a behavior and attendance agreement. It should have worked out. I left early today. Calvary Chapel is using my sumo suits tonight so I had to drop them off. Tina and I just arrived home from a presentation of War of the Worlds. It was a production of the Barestage Theater in Red Bluff. It was excellently done and unlimited food and drink. What a great time we had. I really enjoyed this evening. Especially after such a rough day.

Weather today-beautiful and 80 + degrees. This morning was chilly. There was ice on the seat of the scooter. I love this time of year!!

-Norm