Vinnie’s Vlog

This holiday season has been screwy – I think it’s because the Eves have been on a Sunday.  I can’t seem to get a grip on what day it is or what the date is.  So, let’s just assume it’s Friday and it’s December.  After that, I have to try counting backwards from my birthday June 20th which in 2007 is on a Wednesday.

I don’t see much in the news worth commenting on save for the Gerald Ford funeral.  I like the ceremony afforded the Presidents even in death.  Very patriotic.  The Ford years were tough ones for me – 1st grade was brutal what with all the girlfriends I had.  And don’t even get me started on the 76 election.  Let’s just say I was on the wrong side of a certain city council campaign…ugly.

As usual, when I expect to work to be slow, it isn’t.  Kind of a busy day today, just adding to a very busy week next week.

Lily is napping (finally) and Diane has a friend (who knew?) coming to visit later this afternoon.

It’s a gorgeous December day in Central Florida – nice breeze out of the east, about 75 degrees out – all the windows are open.  Actually feels like a good day to take a nap!

You can tell Christmas is over around town.  The retailers have taken down everything – that was the case by Tuesday actually.  The big sign today is all the Christmas trees dumped in the median on the road.  I know for a fact that the Waste Management folks will take your tree – who are these people that have to dump their trees on the roadway?  I’ll bet they have something to do with the kind of people who lose one shoe on the road too.

Not much blogging today as our internet is down. Sorry!

And all through the house, Lily was sleeping; Quiet as a mouse.

Mama and Daddy had plenty to do, planning Christmas morning for you-know-who.

Now Weezy, Now Skeeter, and all cats – don’t you care?

Out of the way – we haven’t much time to spare.

I heard Diane exclaim as I brought out present number ten,

We went over board this year – we can’t do this again!

It’s almost that time. Lily is actually being very good…we’ll see how church goes.

The weather has held most of the day. A lot of clouds, no rain and even somr blue skies. Pretty much the weather guys missed this one.

Most Christmas letters brag about their families, their accomplishments, blah, blah, blah.

We’ve received about 5 such letters, so I assume you’ve received your fair share.  If you want to know what we’ve done this year, you can read Lily’s Journal or talk to us once a week or so.  Or, you can take any of the letters you’ve received and cross out the names and replace them with ours.

You know what would be interesting?  A letter about what we DIDN’T accomplish this year.  What didn’t happen?

Dear Friend/Family/Acquaintance,

2006 didn’t see a lot things for our family.  Lily hasn’t mastered the finer talents of eating at the table without needing hosed off afterwards.  I seriously doubt by the end of 2007 she’ll know which fork to start with – we are just hoping to improve the “food on the floor  - to – food in her belly” ratio.

We failed to find a way to afford live in help.  Nope, no built in babysitter, cook, maid or lawnboy for us.  We are thankful the mail comes directly to the house – UPS even comes all the way to the door for no extra charge.  Home repairs and improvements are still Vinnie’s responsibility – perhaps next year we’ll get to some of those dripping faucets and broken fence slats.  The drip in the master bedroom isn’t too bad and we didn’t have to move the bed too far to one side to keep dry.

We didn’t see the Grand Canyon, we didn’t visit
Europe.  We did use a coupon for ice cream one day and we made several visits to the library.

I am happy to say none of us experienced any major medical setbacks.  Lily still incurs the occasional wound to her fingers while she eats (food in, fingers out, THEN chew) and Diane’s pulled hamstring suffered vacuuming the stairs hampers her just when she vacuums – so just once a month.  Vinnie has assumed cooking duties and he continues to expand his knowledge of what the expiration dates on products mean.  It is agreed that “Use By” and “Sell By” dates can be confusing and it is fortunate PeptoBismol has no such date.

We have a lot to look forward to in 2007.  Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone.  We would have included a photo with this Christmas letter but Lily still has stitches on her forehead and Diane’s black eye is still noticeable.  Maybe next year!

We are off to Grandma’s house this morning.  We don’t have to hit the road until after 10am.

The weather is clearing after a stormy night.  Almost an inch of rain overnight, but blue skies this morning.

Lily is playing nicely, still in her pajamas while Diane and I bustle about getting ready for the road trip.  Hope you watched Breakfast CAM this morning.  Might leave it on while we are gone.

Our Christmas tree is a dud this year.  Crooked trunk, drying out real fast now, looking like it’s been inside for almost 4 weeks.  Lily hung candy canes on it yesterday.  Three days before Christmas and I could barely find candy canes in the store – the grocery stores, Lowes, Home Depot have already un-decorated.  That’s what they get for starting Christmas before Halloween this year.

Made another foray into town this morning, stopped by the office and ran an errand or two.  It’s kind of frantic out, but not too bad.  I was surprised at the mood of some folks I came across.  I saw a car window that someone had painted a message on to the car’s owner…”Learn how 2 park”.  Nice.

I had to wait in line at the Honey Baked Ham Company for our Christmas ham.  The line was about 40 minutes long – lots of people waiting.  I had my phone (which rang 6 times – all work related! – what’s up with that?) so I was entertained a little.  I had a guy behind me – maybe 6′ tall, easily 350lbs and to make matters worse, he didn’t have very good queueing etiquette.  He was breathing down my back the entire time!  Come on buddy – take a step back – you’ll get your ham.

The weather is a changin’…cloudy and a little more breezy today.  Seventy (70%) chance of rain tomorrow and Sunday.  Starting to clear out by Monday and nice again on Tuesday.  Could be worse – it could be cold!

I love this time of year…Electric bill for December is the lowest since last February AND 10% lower than last December!

PLEASE!!! Let’s get adult Underoos in the stores! I’ll take two pairs of every superhero offered! And I’ll buy countless more for gifts! Looks like there is a lot of talk about it on the internet going back several years – how about it?

Vince Belcher

 Reply received 12/21/2006:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding adult size Underoos.

We appreciate your interest and our company is considering adding adult size Underoos to our line but it is only in the planning stages; no definite date has been set for their release.

Thank you again for writing.

Teresa Sikes
Consumer Services
Fruit of the Loom, Inc.

Yes, I’m at the office.  The mail is piling up, things need to be shipped…yada, yada, yada.

One quick thing… Rule #17 for Vinnie’s Vlog – No Hollywood gossip.  I get to approve any and all comments made to my Vlog before they get posted.  Sorry Bill – your comments violated Rule #17.

I decided I have a Favorite Strip Mall.  It has everything I like – a cellphone store, a Starbucks, drycleaner and Crispers (it’s a deli).  The parking is terrible – in fact, Diane won’t drive there at all.  But I love this Strip Mall.

Lily uttered a new phrase this morning.  I only heard it once and I don’t really remember what it was said in response to as it was still early this morning….”What’s up with that?”  Depending on how she uses it, I’ll bet that wears out its welcome. 

Quiet Sunday around here today.  Lily is napping, as is her mother.

I’m waiting for football to start, and working on my webpage a little.  Bucs are at Chicago – one of the NFL’s worst versus one of the NFL best.  I’ll watch a little, although I’m inclined to turn it off as soon as they remind us what the Buc’s record is when playing in temps below 40 degrees which usually happens right after they remind us that the Bucs have NEVER returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

Of course, I don’t remember when a Buc spit at another player.  Click here for story

The sun is finally out today after more than a week of clouds.  After clouds for a week, it seems so bright outside.

Just a week until Christmas!

We’ve made it to the 15th of the month.  10 days to Christmas.

Had a few errands to run this morning, had lunch and now I’m thinking about getting the heck out of dodge.

I don’t think I’m coming in next week except to check mail and make sure I have no incoming UPS.  Nice thing about being the only one in the office this Christmas – no one to share the presents I get from some suppliers.  I got a package from Hershey’s that you wouldn’t believe – probably more chocolate than my house can eat in a year.  And that was from one company!

I’m going to leave now – stop and vacuum my car out and probably head home.

Have a happy Friday!!!

Oooo, fancy.  Like the new look?  I can change the colors as I want.  Maybe the Vlog colors will reflect my mood.  Maybe the season.  Maybe they’ll reflect my frustrations, my true feelings, my satisfaction with life.  Or maybe I’ll just use the default colors.  I mean, you don’t come here to hear about my frustrations or my feelings.  You come here for the occassional Lily story, maybe a picture or two.  You come here to see what I’ve posted and to see if it’s something I’ll get in trouble for when Diane reads it.  That’s got to be it.  I don’t get into politics and I don’t use this as a forum to speak my mind on anything remotely personal  (although, some of you have picked up on my subtle and cryptic references to such). 

No, you come here for your own reasons and that’s fine.  In fact, I’ve had almost 5,000 hits since I started this Vlog back in October!

Why am I seeing people with fake bullet hole stickers on their cars?  Do they want me to think that they live in a worse section of town than I do?  Maybe they just left a bank holdup?  I’ve seen fake bullet holes, fake baseballs crashing through windshields.  And what’s next…fake flat tires?  Or for those with Volvo’s in New Jersey, maybe a fake deer wrapped around the fender?

Not much going on today.

Kind of slow at work.

Lily is in a good mood.  I’ve heard reports of her singing at the top of her lungs during yet another trip to the mall.  When I went home for lunch today, she told me she bought me a green shirt (probably the one I told her to tell Mommy I wanted for Christmas)  Note to self:  explain the concept of “keeping a secret” to Lily.

It’s quite mild today – mid 70’s, nice breeze, a few puffy white clouds.   Except for a chance of rain on Thursday, that’s the forecast through Monday it seems.  I got an email from my Alaskan friend, Darrell.  He writes….

Just wanted to make sure you knew how I was suffering this holiday season, my first winter in Alaska. Our hights have been in the 20’s with snow almost everyday.   I haven’t seen the sun since before Thanksgiving and I haven’t been outside, at all, since November 30th.   We have no Christmas tree, no decorations outside – even if I could get out, the 45mph wind would blow them down.

Anyways – you get the idea.  If you ask me, sounds like Darrell (who moved to Alaska voluntarily I might add and passed on an opportunity to spend the winter in Texas) is a bit of a wuss.  Nice picture though – thanks Darrell!