Saturday Scavenger Hunt - Function

Wow. Just wow. Not much was functioning in regards to this weeks SCH.

I went to a pretty cool social FUNCTION on Saturday, fully planning on using that as my subject, but my brain failed to FUNCTION and I forgot my camera. The FUNCTION was Cheyenne Super Day, which is a Saturday of artsy-type booths, bounce houses, games, a car show and my fravorite, an evening outdoor concert featuring Blue Oyster Cult.

So I stole NoRegrets idea and took this picture of the window screen that will not FUNCTION to keep the mosquitos out. My dog was in the back yard when it started to hail and thunder. No one was home so she decided to make her own way in.

She didn't actually make it. The neighbors saw it and brought her into their house until the storm passed. They're very nice neighbors!

Thanks for the idea NoRegrets! As a reward, you get the distinguished honor of choosing next weeks word!

And on an entirely different note....Blogger really needs to work on their picture formatting FUNCTIONality. It stinks!

My first meme!

My first meme tagging! By none other than crazy4coens.

3 Obsessions:

This is very difficult for me. I'm not an obsessive person.

- My girls. I've learned to not worry about them so much during the day, but they're never far from my mind.

- My walk with God. I'm not saying I'm keeping up as much as I'd like, but I think about it a lot.

- My marriage has become more of an obsession lately. I certainly took it for granted up until about 8 months ago, but even now I think I'm letting myself slide away too much.


And that's all I got for now....so let's move on.

5 Dislikes:

- Dishonesty. Especially 'half-truths'. When they're not really lying, but they're not telling the full truth either. To all those people: Just be up front with me dangit!! Unless you screwed it up really really bad, I'm probably more likely to can you because you tried to hide something, rather than whatever it was you did wrong.

- My own frustration. I've learned a lot recently about how to set it aside, but through all that, I've learned how distracting and destructive it can be.

- Stupid TV shows. Which for me is around 98% of them. Especially reality shows. I'm here to be entertained, not to be reminded how uncomfortable life can be. Although I do like cooking shows... Are those considered reality?

- A dirty kitchen. I don't mind cleaning, I find it kind of relaxing, but having to clean everyone's dishes every single day is getting very old. This should probably be up in the obsessions list...

- The gut I'm developing. Too much bad food and not enough physical exertion.


Back to the Obsessions:



Yeah...I'll have to get back to you.

As for tags...you've already been tagged. I'll have to get back to you on that too.

Saturday Scavenger Hunt - FAIL!

I failed...miserably. I knew about it, knew what the word was (even if not the definition), but my mind and time were fully preoccupied.

And wouldn't you know it...I've been picked for the next word!

My word for y'all is FUNCTION.

The most mixed day ever...

What a freaky day!

We'll start off with the good:

- I had my annual review...6 months late. But it was all good. My boss rated me higher than I did, but that always happens. He "blessed" efforts for me to invest in myself and learn more about Lean Manufacturing. I think I've done quite a few small things that have added up to some big improvements. The shop is performing quite a bit better than it had under the previous production manager. I attribute it a lot to how I try to let my production guys know how well they're doing on a daily basis, as far as meeting production goals. Before I started that, they wouldn't know how they did until well after the month was over. And they would only get an update once for a month. Now they get that update twice a day.

So for any of you managers or team leaders struggling to get your team to meet goals, I highly recommend that strategy. Just let your people know how they're doing and let them know often. To begin with, I wouldn't even suggest how they could get better. Let them know how they're doing and if they need to be doing better. More than likely, they'll make the first big steps on their own.

Now the bad:

- I had to fire my production foreman and my lead sawyer. The 2 highest 'ranks' in my shop. One was clocking in for the other. Dumbasses. The real problem is that it leaves a gaping hole in how well we know our automated saw. Between the 2 of them, they're the only guys that have been involved in repairing it. But it's just a machine. And all machines can be fixed, one way or another.

- I didn't get a raise. I know there's a wage freeze, but I still hoped.

- And I have about 20 unread posts from my wonderful reader network. I feel kinda bad writing this without having read those. I'll get to them, I promise.

Dream weirdness

The latest post at Eclectic Spaghetti rang a bell for me. I meant to post about this, but forgot all about it.

I had a nightmare a few nights ago. First nightmare I've had in a very long time. It was the 'woke up in a sweat' kind of nightmare.

I wish I had written it down sooner, cause now it's a little hard to remember the details, but it ended with me failing to save my girls from drowning. They were in my arms and I couldn't save them.

It's frustrating that I can't remember all the details now, but I think we were in some kind of tube. There was events leading up to the end, but I can't remember any of it. At the end, my family was there. My wife was trying to help my oldest swim and I was holding my 2 youngest. It ended with me seeing my 2 girls under water, limp, and with their eyes closed. I just couldn't hold them above the water.

I'm not one to dwell on stuff like this. I don't put a lot of meaning into dreams, but this one really freaked me out. Even writing about it now is getting me worked up.

The last nightmare I remember involved me running over my dad. This was 11 or 12 years ago, when I was in high school. I was in a golf cart and my dad was really tiny. Barely half the height of the tire and I ran him over. If it didn't involve my dad dying, it would be kind of comical.

Sorry if I'm bumming you out, but these are the only dreams I remember for the longest. I can tell when my wife is dreaming because my dreams get really weird. No nightmares, but just very strange and vivid. When I have those dreams, the next morning I'll ask my wife what she dreamed about and she'll have a weird dream story of her own. I don't remember my own dreams, just that I had them and they were weird.

The only other dream I remember is another strange one. In reality, I was at a ski trip with some HS friends of mine. We were all staying in a cabin. I was sleeping on the floor next to my good friend, who was sleeping on a bed. In the dream, we were having a poker game and that friend was sitting next to me. In the dream, he dropped one of his cards on the floor. At that moment, I woke up and actually said to him, "There's your card" and in the dream I pointed to it. The thing that is really freaky, is that he woke up at that same moment and actually said, "Thanks" then in the dream picked the card up. In the morning I asked him about it and he remembered it just as I did, but from his perspective. Weird shit!

Thanks for reading.

Monday morning randomness

Movie Review: UP is a good movie. 4 out of 5 stars. It had funny parts, scary parts, sad parts, but had some pretty adult themes too. Not inappropriately adult, but the major premise behind the storyline is probably not something my 6 year old can fully comprehend. We did not see the 3d version, which probably would have been good. We took all our kids and proved that our 2 year old still can't sit through a movie.

We've had a good amount of rain here. The locals say they haven't seen this much for at least 8 years. But in spite of that, work is picking up and I finally have something to do. (In case you were wondering, I work in the new construction industry and weather plays a big part in how busy we might be.)

My wife and I are doing ok. She's still doing things that I don't think are healthy, but all I can do is pray about it and watch to see that it doesn't get out of hand. I haven't been as loving as I should be though. It's still hard for me to work through my bad thoughts about those unhealthy things she does and choose to do the loving thing for her.

The neighbors and I got a notice from our trailer park landlord about mowing our lawns. I appreciate that he wants to keep the place nice and presentable, but to threaten a $50 fine on the first warning, a $150 on the second and $300+eviction on the third is a little stiff, I think. We won't have a problem, as I mow every weekend it's not raining, but so does everyone else! This is a new landlord and rather than give people the benefit of doubt, he's putting his foot down before anyone argues. Not a great way to win friends. Actually, we suspect he wants trailer owners to sell out to him so he can own the whole park, trailers and all. There's a stipulation in the lease that requires them to give him notification before they put their trailers on the market. We actually already rent from him and he's pretty good at getting stuff fixed, so it's a mixed bag I guess.

I wish you all a great week! Remember to set others above yourself and don't worry about what others think when you do the right thing. If you can master those 2 things, you'll be on your way to being content. Learning what 'the right thing' is, is the next step. :)

Photohunt: Play!

My girls love to PLAY at PLAYing the piano. I haven't taught them much yet, so I'm not sure I would consider it actually "PLAYing" of the piano, but they like it.



They really like me to lift the front cover so they can see the hammers hit the strings while they PLAY.




Thanks for letting me PLAY in the Photohunt!