Burning the candle at both ends is the only way to have it.

Hey blog readers...this post is coming to you from the firehouse. Yes, the firehouse. It has been awhile since I made a post from work. Mostly because while at work there are work things to do. Today I have a few minutes to update on here, so I am going to take it.

The title of this blog just came to me. I was sitting here on this warm summer night(in the comforts of the air conditioned office)thinking about what I had to do this week and planning what was a priority and what could slip through the cracks should something need to be axed. I realized that my life is pretty busy. I am by no means complaining. I actually think of my life as blessing after blessing that I work my ass for. I know there are people out there that don't have work or just plain choose not to work, but I love the fact that I have work. I also love the fact that I have a very active life outside of work. All these things added together make for a very happy me.

This week holds many things, football practice for Sharkboy Mon, Tues, Thurs for 2 hours each night. Possible doctors appt. for Sharkboy, he has been feeling icky and spiking fevers now and then. Oil change in the truck. Helping L.A. and F.i.L. with their basement project. Continue progress in potty training Stella. Overtime at the firehouse. Yard work and work around the house on little projects that need my attention. Dinner out with great friends for a birthday. A road trip to Michigan for the race. That is just the surface...but those are the things that add into this life that I love. I have, for the most part, lived up to my New Years resolution this year too. I have made time to stop and enjoy friends and family and just do stuff because it sounded like fun. So burn the candle at both ends...not such a bad thing.

Thought I would take a second and wish Athena the best of luck on her travels to Ireland. I hope she has a great time, drinks lots of Irish Ales and consumes many delightful traditional Irish foods. Safe travels friend, and I can't wait to see pictures and hear about your trip.

That is about all I have time for on this post...so I better wrap this up. Here is a rundown of things important.

Jenny...doing great. She is still everyday my rock and my companion in life. She keeps me "between the lines" and loves me with all of her heart. Without her support I wouldn't be who I am today.

Sharkboy...absolutely the coolest kid in the world. He is loving his new adventure into football and I can't wait to see him play. School is right around the corner and he seems to be ready.

Stella...adorable. She is growing more and more comfortable with our family everyday. She is catching onto house training quite well. She is a great little puppy and I can't wait for her to grow up and be the great dog I know she will be.

There are so many more that I would love to mention, but for now, I will bid you the fondest "See you later" that I can conjure up.

Be kind, Be Safe...

Shalom my Peeps.

The "Dog" days of life...

Hey blog readers...this is going to be a quick post, Stella just woke up from a nap and she is in a playful mood. So she needs to be supervised.

Well this is day 3 with Stella. So far her acclimation to our little pack is going well. She is learning her role in our little world. It is great to have a little 4-legged friend walking around and as she grows, I am sure this family will grow to Cherish every moment with her.

Sleeping arrangements are going well. She had a rough night her first night, but she had never slept inside, let alone on a bed. We are letting her sleep with us. Daisy slept almost every night with us, and we loved every minute of it. We decided that is the life she will experience as well. last night (night 2) was much smoother. She chose to cuddle with me, and slept quite well. We had to wake her up for her potty trips outside.

Potty training is in the very early stages. We are bell training...for those of you that aren't familiar, we have a bell on our patio door and every time we take her out to potty, we have her ring the bell. Associating the bell with going out to go potty. Well, she has had a couple of accidents, but she is a little baby still, so we aren't expecting perfection.

Sharkboy is taking to the quite nicely...he is taking his role as big brother very seriously. He is helping with walking around the yard for potty breaks. He is a playmate when she is awake. His hopes is to have her sleep with him once she is potty trained and ready for all nighters in bed. We can't get him to wake up at night to go potty himself....so we can't expect him to do the same for her.

Well that is all I have for now...more updates later, and I hope they will include more than just puppy updates, but we will see.

Be Kind, Be Safe...

Shalom my Peeps!

Hell Week!

Hey blog readers...hope this blog finds you all well rested and ready to take on the world. Myself, well that is another story. I managed to schedule myself for 2 back to back 36 hour shifts and then a 24. For those of you scoring at home, that is 24 hours at home this week(all at night). Not really ideal, but it is what it is...

To make matters worse for me this weekend we go pick up Stella and Sharkboy starts his football practices. Time is and will be so crazy for the next few days.

Saturday Stella comes home. In the morning we will go to Petsmart or some other commercial pet care needs store and stock up on puppy needs. We can't wait for her to come into our lives. So if you have a few minutes just stop and pray for our sanity and that Stella potty trains quick and catches on to the "The Leonard" lifestyle.

Sharkboy starts football practice this weekend. Yup, I said football practice. He will be playing Pop Warner football as a mini Might. I can't wait. He is so excited. Last weekend he and I took the voyage to Dick's sporting goods to pick up some equipment. He needed some cleats and a cup. Now the cleats went really smooth. Sized him, bought some socks, since he was wearing his sandals and got some sweet little Reebok cleats for him. The cup on the other hand was a bit more complicated. Most of the confusion came on his part. He wasn't really sure what it was for and I was a bit perplexed on how to explain it to him. So in my normal manner of dealing with these situations I just told him like it was...this is about how it went.

Sharkboy: Dad what is a cup and why do I need one?
Dad: Well, it is a piece of equipment that protects you?
Sharkboy: How does it protect me?
Dad: Well it protects your "junk".
Sharkboy: How?
Dad: Well you wear it and if someone kicks you there or a helmet hits you there, you "junk" will be safe.
Sharkboy: oh, ok...

So we picked out the appropriate size and proceeded to the check out. That is when all of the above conversation became awkward. Sharkboy proceeded to tell the cashier (a cute high school girl, that had no idea what was coming) that he was going to be playing Pop Warner and that he needed a cup to protect his "Junk". I laughed so hard when I got in the truck and the girl turned about 35 shades of Red when it happened. She was speechless. He didn't even notice or think anything of the whole thing.

Well that is about all I have time to update for now...more later.

Until next time...

Be Kind, Be Safe.

Shalom my peeps!

Stella and Sharkboy meet...

Hey blog readers...had a great day today. Mowed the church out in New Carlisle, and Sharkboy got to visit with my parents and Uncle Michael. I got it out of the way early enough so not to melt in the 90 degree sun.

After mowing my Mom and Dad made homemade pizza and invited Sharkboy and I to stay. It was yummy and it was nice to visit with them for a while. I don't get to do that all that often, some time by design and sometimes because I am just plain to busy. But it was a very nice visit.

We headed to Mimi and Papa's after my Mom and Dad's. Jenny's Grandpa is in town and we thought we would stop and say hello. We will be there tomorrow night for a cookout, but it is always nice to get some one on one face time. We didn't stay long, it looked like he was thinking about taking a nap, and I am not one to stop that activity.

Tonight we got to go visit our little girl again. She is growing quite nicely. Her tail is all healed up and looks great. Sharkboy got to meet her for the first time. He was super excited and was not disappointed. I think he really want to take her home, but she is not ready. Momma is still providing most of her nourishment, however she is going to start being offered puppy food tonight. We have set a tentative pick up date for her of July 31st. We are really ready for this...she is coming into a home where there is more love than any puppy could ever expect. We played, took pictures and just enjoyed her a little tonight. It was a great visit.

Well busy weekend kickin' off tomorrow night. Cook out at L.A.'s and F.i.L.'s, Friday may be a date night, and then Saturday Sharkboy is marching in the College Football Hall of Fame's Enshrinement Parade with his Pop Warner team. Then I go back to work for 3 nights in a row. So I will hopefully have some updates this weekend. I am going to try and put some pictures up on here of the little girl. I am on the deck right now enjoying a cigar, so it will have to wait for another time...

So until next time, Be Kind, Be Safe...

Shalom my Peeps!

Hello...is there anybody in there?

Hey blog readers...I am betting that most of you are figuring I have given up on this thing, been hurt in an unfortunate accident, been kidnapped by aliens, been rendered unable to use a computer or just plain dead. I assure you, none of those things have happened to me. I have simply been putting 100% effort into my "New Years Resolution". You may remember that is to have fun at all opportunities and enjoy family and friends. I must say, I have been quite successful at this "Resolution" this year. However...it has been time consuming and somewhat exhausting at times.

Here is a little catch up since my last post(May 11th).

Sadly I have to report the first big thing is that we had to put our beloved Daisy to sleep. After 7+ wonderful years of her providing much happiness and love to our family, we had to say goodbye. Many of my readers are dog/pet owners and hold their pets very near and dear to their hearts. They are truly a member of our family, and you don't realize quite how much until they are gone. Initially we were all pretty much a hot mess. Over time and with lots of "Daisy Stories" and sharing of fond memories it can be spoken about in our house without major tear shed, and trust me, that is no small accomplishment. But in the words of Sharkboy "She is up in Doggie Heaven with all the tennis balls she can chew up, all the soft comfy beds that she can snuggle on and there is plenty of fresh toilet water for her to drink". Where ever you are Daisy, we love you and miss you very much.

In June we ventured South to Florida for a little family vacation. We flew out June 12th to beautiful and sunny(and hot) Tarpon Springs, Fl. We visited with some very dear friends of ours and stayed with them for a couple of days/nights. Then we ventured over to Disney World. What a great, happy, awesome place. In the name of not rambling on and on about our Disney trip I can say this...We had a great time, we are definitely going back and Sharkboy cried when we left. Thank you Marcci for all your help and advice and know that we will be back to hang out with you and "The Mouse" again. On Thursday night of our trip we straggled back to Tarpon Springs and stayed another couple of days with our friends and toured the area. I absolutely love Florida and never before did I think it would be a nice place to retire, until now. I can see myself with a condo on the Gulf and a boat and summering on the Great Lakes(we will see).

Since then we have pretty much just been doing family things. We have some really great friends that have a Pontoon boat on Pine Lake and we all go out and hang out at the lake every chance we get. We have shared a lot of laughs, consumed many "adult beverages", and just generally relaxed in our time. We spent the 4th of July on the boat, and it was a fantastic day. This activity has placed a Pontoon of our own, on the 5(or less)year plan. It truely is very relaxing and we have such great times. I am somewhat of a water nut and Sharkboy and Jenny are seeming to be as well, so a boat is definitely in our future.

The last big thing to catch you up on is that we are expecting a new baby in our house. Now don't get all mushy...it isn't of the biped sort. We have placed a deposit on and are impatiently waiting on our next 4-legged friend. Her name is Stella Rose, she is about 3 weeks old. She is a silver Weimaraner that will be spoiled rotten and loved on more than she could ever imagine in our family. The greatest part (at least for me) is that she was born on my Birthday. In a week I will have some pictures to share, but trust me when I say she is "precious". Our family seems to be not firing on all cylinders and we think the biggest thing missing is a 4 legged purveyor of unconditional love, unending laughter and loyal companionship is just we are missing.

Well that is about all I have for updates as of now...so hopefully it won't be 2 months before my next update...but rest assured, I have not given up on my blog...

Be Kind, Be Safe...

Shalom my Peeps.

Lessons learned

Hey blog readers...I hope the rain we are currently in the Michiana area is not dampening any one's spirits. I luckily have been at work through most of it, so I am not looking outside thinking of all the things I should be doing in the yard.

So the title of this blog is "Lessons Learned"...well as you guessed I am going to throw some lessons that I have learned. Either through life experience or life learning(actually listening to other people and learning to no repeat their mistakes). So here we go...

Life at the fire station is not always running into burning buildings and saving people(however that would be pretty fun). It takes a lot of understanding of people and how to live with different personalities. I have recently been reassigned to a new station and have started this process all over. My new partner is pretty long in the tooth(so to speak). He isn't very talkative, and for anyone who knows me that can be frustrating...I do love a good chit chat. So I have a new personality to decipher.

Don't pee into the wind. Not really something you should test, unless of course you are into the wet pants look.

Never look at your Thumb/Finger when pounding nails...you will regret it.

Never underestimate the power of doing nice things. I am married to one of the greatest people in the world, and luckily she appreciates my attempts at being a good person(even though sometimes they fail miserably). People inherently want to feel appreciated and taking a few minutes to show that appreciation will pay huge dividends in the end.

Never forget to say Thank you when someone completes a task or does a nice thing. Doing so can cause that to become a habit and then it is harder and harder to show appreciation.

When you ask someone "How are you?" expect to get an answer. I ask this all the time...and I want to know. It tells me a lot about where a person is in their mind at the time. Even if they say "Fine" you can usually tell if they are or not. It truly is, the easiest question I ask, and it is the best way to size up the current situation.

Now...onto some curious things that I have noticed.

Why is it that the Women's bathroom is so sacred? The firehouse that I am at has one. I have noticed that during the after hours portion of the day(when there is rarely a Female in the building) that room is off limits. I have actually witnessed someone do the "Potty Dance" waiting for the men's bathroom. It is right across the hall from the women's. I think I will try and break down this "social barrier" next time I have to pee...wish me luck.

Why do some people feel that it is important to story trump? Around the firehouse I would say it is very similar to a fish camp. Everyone sitting around when there is down time telling "fishing stories". But there is the occasional story trumper. You know what I mean...they have done things stranger, bigger and more embarrassing than anything you could ever hope to do. Why???

Ok...onto some updates.

Daisy is improving everyday...still some caution in our hearts, but it is great to see her up and moving around and doing "Daisy things" again.

Sharkboy is having some really great days at school. He is growing up everyday and becoming quite the little man. I am so honored to be his Dad and can't wait to continue to watch him grow..

Jenny, had a great Mother's Day. She started with Breakfast that I made. Belgian waffles, Sausage patties and homemade whipped cream. She got a bunch(and I mean bunch) of wild flowers. We have wildflowers in vases all around our house. Then she did some shopping while Sharkboy and I got the front yard in order for the spring time. We made the trek to New Carlisle and spent some time with her parents and dropped a plant off to my Mom(they weren't home or I would have visited there too). Then we finished it off with Homemade Schnitzel. It was a great day for me to honor the Mother of my child and my best friend in the whole world.

That is about all I have for now...

So until next time,

Be Kind, Be Safe...

Shalom my Peeps.

Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking...into the future.

Hey blog readers...hope everyone in the North West Indiana area is staying warm and dry today. It is not pretty outside...but at least it isn't snowing(said with fingers crossed!)

Not a lot of happening right now...yeah right. Daisy came home last night from her 2 night 2 day stay at the vet. It is our best guess(that is all we have right now) that she has Toxoplasmosis. She is responding to the antibiotics. The vet has cautioned us to proceed with cautious optimism, since we don't really know for sure how advanced it was able to get before figuring it out. The good news is she responding and we will take that. The even better news is that dogs respond very well as long as it has not infected/affected her neuro-muscular systems. Fingers again crossed.

I feel like I should add a plug here for our great and caring vetinary staff. The gang at Gilmer Park have been great. The Dr's are incredibly nice and easy to talk to and very caring. Daisy's vet called me today from his daughters soccer tournament...in Ft. Wayne to answer some questions we had. He is incredible and so is his wife, one of the other magnificent vets that are taking care our Daisy. If you are in need of a Vet in the South Bend area...I can't say enough possitive things about Gilmer Park Animal Hospital.

Sharkboy and I had a boys night out last night. He insisted on Hacienda even though we just had 2 night prior (it was Cinco De Mayo after all). He really had his heart set on Chips, Salsa and Ranch. It was really cute at dinner, he forgot Mommy wasn't with us and almost ordered a small green salsa for her. Then he looked at me and said..."man, I almost forgot this was a boys only night and Mommy isn't here". Good to know he takes care of her even when she isn't there.

Work for me is still kicking along. I am settling into my new assignment and getting used to the routines around here. The station I am at is nicknamed "The Nightmare". So if your curious about my Facebook status updates that reference that, well mystery solved. Lot's of new subdivisions and streets to learn, but if you are learning...your not getting anywhere.

Got a lot coming up this week...Mothers Day tomorrow! Then class during work Monday and then the 4-day, that will include an overtime shift on Tuesday.

I guess since I mentioned it...Happy Mother's Day tomorrow to all the Moms. Especially Jenny. I love that she is the Mother of my son and I Cherish every moment that I can share with her raising our son. She is a great mother, wife and friend. She truly is a blessing in my life. I can't forget my Mom...Thanks Mom for raising me to be a responsible adult and to appreciate the little things in life. Also LA...thank you for raising a great daughter, I have already said it, but she is a great person and I am lucky to have her and you in my life.

That is about all I have now, so until next time...

Be Kind, Be Safe...

Shalom my Peeps.