Graduation Weekend

This Saturday, my second child will graduate from high school. It's an exciting time in our house! We are so busy with everything that goes on day by day that this will probably put us over the top.

The next few days, we will be doing quite a bit of cleaning and straightening so that we can host a congratulations party as well as an open house. I've got to cut down a couple of trees as well. Not sure how many people we should expect, but there should be plenty of room for parking. Hope folks can get over the lack of driveway and abundance of bugs. lol!

We still haven't been able to find a buyer for our other house. Lots of lookers, but no offers. It really is a buyer's market, but from what I understand, there aren't that many houses selling at all. Our agent keeps asking us to lower the price. It's only been officially on the market for 5 weeks or so. I don't see the need to panic and drop the price just yet. We've already offered $3000 in settlement help. I think our price is fair. Especially when you consider all the work and new stuff we put into renovations.

I'm considering putting the other house on the market too. My agent has called the house where we are living now a "contractors paradise". Lots of room, huge garage, and acreage to develop or store stuff. If we were to sell this place, I could put an addition on the old house and we could move back up there. The only loss would be the acres. Our fuel cost would drop down by close to 70%. I'd hate to have to move all that stuff again, but I think we could stand to throw another ton or so out in the trash.

In the mean time... I just bought a new washer and dryer. It was time to move into the 21st century. Front load and stackable. These are nice units that should last us a long time. They use a lot less water and detergent and the cycles are much quicker. Not the top of the line, but not too shabby either.

Tour of "Mecca"

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to tour the plant where my Pontiac Solstice was built. This tour was a major event. General Motors does not open it's doors to the general public - what with all the secret processes and proprietary information.

Planning for the day started about 4 months ago and was very involved. I'm a member of a forum of owners that are very enthusiastic about this car and one of the things we've always wanted to do was return to the place where they were built and learn about the process and pay respect to the craftsmen who put our car together.

I guess you could say that I'm a bit fanatical when it comes to driving this car. It is so much fun to drive that sometimes it's hard to ever take the short way home. Any back road is a good detour. The more twists and turns, the better! This car was designed and built to hug the road in the tight turns and it is a pleasure to drive.

We had over 100 cars (both Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters) turn out for the tour. GM rolled out the red carpet and really went above and beyond in hosting our event. We were able to tour in groups of 6 or 7 which made for easy question and answer sessions. They plant manager was there and so were some corporate engineers. They gave presentations and had Q & A sessions with the group. Two tractor trailers with specialized racing versions of the cars were there as well. Prizes were raffled off with proceeds benefitting an area veterans group. GM even put together a goodie bag for each participant which included posters, key chains and a great book which details the history of the Solstice from concept to delivery.

I took my oldest son with me on the tour and he had a blast too. After lunch at the plant, about 25 of us took our cars on a run of the local "twisties". It was something to see, this line of beautiful cars rolling through the countryside. Lots of fun on the drive and great fellowship with folks who love their cars.

Hopefully we can make this an annual event!

More Going On Than I Thought

House is still on the market. We have decided to offer $3000 in settlement help to increase the traffic. The change also gets the house back up to the top of the list.

We've had lots of folks visit, but no offers yet. The extra payments are really starting to stretch the budget. Hope it sells soon!

I bought a used car from my brother. Well... I haven't paid him yet. He is letting me pay as I am able. It's an old Lumina that his in laws had. 1990 with only 29900 miles on it. The air conditioner didn't work - no freon. That cost close to $350 to get fixed. They don't use the same refrigerant anymore due to environmental issues, so they put a retrofit kit on it for the new refrigerant (R134). Also had to get the injectors cleaned. My brother had already replaced the tires and most of the rubber hoses and belts. The only problem with the car now is a few trim pieces that are severely weathered. I'm hoping he accepts $1500 for the car.

In addition to the car, my brother brought us a dog. She just wandered into his yard in Nashville a couple of weeks ago. They haven't been able to find anyone who lost a dog. She is a mutt and seems to like the kids alright. Very timid. May have been hit some. She is gentle and loving, though. The vet estimates her to be about 4 years old. She's a runner! She's gotten loose a few times and we've had to go chasing her down. Hopefully she'll settle down and not try to get away soon. She will be well loved in our home.

We will soon have another high school graduate in our home. My second daughter will finish her high school career on June 2nd. I'm very proud of her! She wants to have a party the following Saturday. I'll have to schedule a day of vacation, but I don't mind. The house and yard are a mess, but it will shape up quickly. It's funny how they are planning the parties this year. All the seniors are trying to coordinate all of the parties so that they can attend as many of them as is possible. We will invite a few of our other friends as well. Kind of an open house combined with the graduation party.

The next weekend after that I need to get her down to the University for orientation. June will be a busy month!

I've got to make some time to play with the kids...
The years are flying by.

Still Waiting For The Results

Nightline Face-Off

I don't think many folks had their minds changed.

I haven't found any summaries or results of the debate. I caught bits and pieces of it and it seemed to amount to both sides stating their beliefs and commenting on the falacies of each view. The atheists blasphemed and belittled as expected.

I would have liked to hear more of the question and answer session from the audience.

I am undecided about how I feel about the techniques used by The Way of the Master. I think "in your face" confrontation works well for some.

Variety of items...

Kind of a jumble flowing out of my mind tonight.

I've been driving my 2007 Pontiac Solstice a bit more now that the weather is better. I've actually crossed over the 2000 mile mark. One thing I'm noticing is that my gas mileage is improving with each tank. This is great news considering the price of gas now. Started out getting about 24 mpg. Last tank was 28.2 mpg! Hope this trend continues!
This is a fun car to drive, but there really isn't enough space for stuff. Gotta travel light...

Our old house hasn't sold yet. There are a couple of families interested, so hopefully we will have a couple of offers this week. I'm anxious to get it sold. I'm tired of telling my kids that we can't afford this or that. I sometimes wonder if I got out ahead of the Lord on this one. Maybe I wasn't supposed to make this move at this time.
After we settle on the house, I plan to refinance the loan on the log home and take some equity out to pay off a couple of other bills and then start the search for a property to flip. This will start the process of paying down the mortgage until it is gone. I'll also use the profits from flipping houses to pay for college for one of my kids. She is psyched about going away to school! I'm happy too. I'll miss her, but this will be a great move for her. She's ready (I think). I just wish she'd done a little scholarship hunting...

The property at the new home is really greening up this week. The leaves are all popping out and filling in. We are starting to be more isolated and private again. Can't see the neighbors house any more. I love the way it looks. Just need to get out there and pick up the dead wood and eliminate the weeds and briars and low-ground cover. I think we'll do well this Spring and Summer making the area look better. Lots of grass to cut as well. Still a lot of boxes to go through. I hope I can bring myself to get rid of a lot of the stuff. I really don't want to continue being such a packrat.

Work is still the same. I'm not a real social person and don't enjoy dealing with some of the people, but the pay is good and the work load is light. I think I'll try to keep this job for a while longer.

My brother and sister-out-law are up for the week. They brought a car up with them that I will buy for the kids to drive. The price is right and it's low miles. Belonged to my sister-out-laws parents. They also brought their kids (read: dogs). They have four dogs now. Two Great Pyrenees, and two mutts. The fourth one adopted them just a couple of weeks ago. She was really thin and scared. Not doing too bad now. I'm thinking of adopting her from them. She has short hair and seems to be disciplined fairly well. From what my brother says, she hasn't had any accidents in the house and is kennel trained.

This is what a Great Pyrenees looks like. I can't find any pictures of what the mutts look like.



















Well, that's about it for now. I'll be off work for a couple of days. Lots to do around the house and yard. Hopefully the weather will stay nice.

The Debate is on

Debate about God

Stay tuned. This should be good.