Letting Off Some Steam

     Most times when I do the blog I have a clear direction on what I am trying to say, but occasionally I use this medium to try to clear my head, and make sense of things.  Today is going to be one of those entries.  I got a call from my mother this afternoon (actually yesterday afternoon by the time you read this) wanting me to call the sheriff's office.  I asked her why, and she told me she thought she had her identity stolen.  I immediately went to her house and started trying to find out what was going on.
     She explained to me that she had received a call about a bill she owed, and had given her account information to the caller to pay the bill, but then she got to thinking about it and got nervous.  I asked her if she did indeed have an account with the company that called, and if she did was there money due.  She said yes.  This put me at ease a little, so I called the company to make sure everything was legitimate.
     After staying on the phone for about 20 minutes pressing this number and that number, I finally got to talk to a real person.  I explained the situation, and asked whether or not they had called.  She told me that they more than likely had.  Then she asked me why I was calling on my mothers behalf.  That's when I started getting upset again.  I told the lady that my mother was a senior, and that I was calling to make sure she wasn't being taken advantage of.  I asked her if I handed the phone to my mother, and she gave the okay, if I could speak on her behalf.  She said yes, and that was the last time I got to talk to her.
     A few minutes later my mom hung the phone up, and said that everything was okay.  Now, with what little I got to talk to the woman, I am sure the call was legitimate, but that's not what has my so upset.  The first thing that upsets me is the entire process of how my mom ended up owing this company money.  My mother ordered a CD from the company, thinking she got a good deal.  What she didn't realize was that after he first disk, she would keep on receiving them every month, at a not so great rate.  Sure enough, now my Mom has a bunch of crappy CD's and a huge bill.  Needless to say, the order got stopped.  I can't stand people that take advantage of others.
     I have done things in the past that if I hadn't been honest, I probably could have taken some people for a good deal of money, especially when I was selling cars.  I didn't last long in that profession, I always tried to help the people that were buying to get a good deal, which meant when I did sell a car, I normally didn't make anything.  I can live with that.  I have learned that the world is such now that honesty normally doesn't pay.  I don't mind not having a lot of money as far as myself, but I do feel sometimes that I have let my family down by not being in a profession that pays better.  I have a job that pays the bills, but not much more, and sometimes even that is a stretch.  I am home every evening, and off most weekends, and get to watch my children grow up and take part in their lives.  Maybe I should have looked more at the money, and gave them things instead of time.
     The more I think about it, the more I know that isn't right.  I do wish I could give my family more, but also know that when they get older, they won't remember the things so much, but will remember the times.  I guess I can take comfort in that.  Sometimes though it isn't much comfort.

Being The Biggest Loser

     The place where I work is going to do another biggest loser competition.  For that I am thankful.  In 2010 we did a Biggest Loser competition.  The first half of the year, people had liposuction, gastric bypass, all sorts of things, and some people had huge weight losses.  I lost a few pounds, but didn't really apply myself.  The second half of the year I dug in, and lost a fair amount of weight.  I didn't think much of it, and after the final weigh in I told my wife that I was going to eat what I wanted for a while, since it was the holidays and I wanted to splurge.  Imagine my surprise when I went in to work the next week, after eating a good breakfast of biscuits, sausage, and eggs, when I was informed I had made the finals and had to weigh in that morning.  I was in 4th place going into the final weigh in, and even though the third place person had also gained a few pounds, I had also and missed out on a Wii with a Wii fit bundle by about what I had for breakfast.  Not this time.
     I have struggled with my weight all of my life.  I have weighed anywhere from 212 pounds in college (when I was working out, running, and was in very good shape) up to over 300 pounds at my heaviest.  To be honest, I have no idea what my weight is now, nor do I care to know.  What I do know is that on March 1st, I have to weigh in again.  It will be my first time on the scales in over a year.
     What I plan to do is painful.  I am going to share my weight loss journey on the blog, including my weights.  I know that I will be ashamed at first, when I have to share what I actually weigh with the world.  I also know that to do things right, I need to be held accountable.  That is where you come in.  I am asking that you not be judgmental, as I am going to be tough enough on myself.  What I do ask is that when you see me you offer encouragement, and cheer me on as I go on this journey again.  The last time I set goals for myself and reached those goals, only to go back to my old habits.  This time I am determined not to let that happen.  I have three beautiful children, and a loving wife that deserve better.  I also deserve better than what I have let myself become.
     I have clothes in my closet that I have never worn, particularly an outfit that I got for Fathers Day a few years ago that I almost  got into, and a shirt and tie that I got for Christmas this past year that I stood no chance of fitting.  I will wear those clothes this time.  On march 1st the journey begins again, and I am taking you for the ride.

I Am The Cookie Monster

     This has been a fun time of year for me.  This is Girl Scout Cookie time in our family, and it is always exciting.  I am amazed at how excited people get over those little cookies, and this year they earned me a new nickname.
     I have had several nicknames in my life, some like Bear, Bear Bear, Woods, and Bear Man are all plays on my name that I have gotten at different time from different people, and others that are more out there.  I have been Big Daddy Cool, Gordo, Cool Breeze, and others that have escaped my memory.  The other day Girl Scout Cookies gave me a new moniker, Cookie Monster.

     I had taken an order where I work for the cookies, and when I took that order in, I had several people ask me if I had extras they could buy.  Of course, to help my girls, I told them yes, and the next day trudged in with another assortment of delicious cookies.  I had hoped to sell a few boxes, and get out unscathed.  What happened was totally different.  When I took the new order in, I also took in some extra boxes just in case the fever struck someone else when I was making my delivery.  To put it mildly, I got mobbed.
     Something must have gotten hold of the people when they spotted the cookies, it became a mad rush.  People were throwing money at me and going crazy over the cookies.  I quickly depleted my stock for the day, and said I would bring in more the next day.  When I went in the next day and said I had more, the announcement was made that the Cookie Monster was there.  I guess I will have to add that to my list now.
     I went with my daughter to a booth sale on a Saturday afternoon, and took time just to watch people's faces when they saw the girls selling the cookies.  It amazes me to see the joy in people's faces over Girl Scout Cookies.  What was funny to me was just how much business picked up when people saw the girls starting to take down their tables to leave.  It became a mad rush.  I guess people were afraid that if they didn't get their cookies they would miss out.  I didn't have the heart to tell them that their was another troop waiting to set up after we left.
     I know the feeling though, something about knowing that when those cookies are gone it will be another year until there are more tends to make me want to buy them up and put them in the freezer myself.  I look at those boxes like gold, and ALMOST feel guilty when I eat one or ten, knowing that is less that I will have later.  I also know that the cravings will hit me hardest when they are finally gone.
     Luckily for me I can eat my Girl Scout Cookies guilt free right now, as I have a March 1st date set to start on my new weight loss journey.  My employer is starting a biggest loser competition on that day, and that will be my initial weigh in.  I have decided that I am going into training until that day, and will eat my girl scout cookies guilt free until I have my time on the scale to set my beginning weight.  After that the cookies go into the freezer until June 22nd, the date of the final weigh in, when I will celebrate my weight loss with some more cookies.

The Little Engine That Could

     This was not what I was originally going to write about today.  My thought for the past few days was to compare legalistic people of today with the Pharisees of Jesus day, or to talk about crumbling churches.  I know what you are thinking, real knee slapping topics.  However, I did something tonight (well, it will be last night by the time you read this) that I hadn't done in a while, but will be doing again soon. My son and I laid on my bed, and had story time.  Let me talk about that for a while.
     I have a collection of old (and I do mean old) books that I had when I was a kid.  Most of the time they stay stashed away in a corner of our home and in a corner of my memories.  Part of my son's homework was to read for 30 minutes.  My kids have a large collection of books strewn all around the house, and that is what they normally read.  For some reason tonight my books came to mind, and I thought it would be great for my son to read out of one of them.  He chose a book titled "Ten Items Or Less" and we were on our way.
     I wasn't really sure what level these books were on, and that particular book was a test for my young man, but he battled through like a trooper.  After he finished, I decided to read to him.  Here's the thing though, when I read to my kids, I REALLY read the stories.  I looked at the books I had pulled out, and saw "The Little Engine That Could."  What better story than a timeless classic like that.  As I was reading the story, I started noticing that the more into it I got, the more into it my son was.  Soon, he was hanging on my every word.
     I have to admit I was kind of disappointed when the engine topped the hill and the words "I thought I could, I thought I could" signaled the end of the story.  The look on my son's face during the story was priceless, and is one I won't soon forget.  The best part was when I finished the story and closed the book.  My son turned and looked at me, his eyes wide with excitement, then he grabbed me and gave me one of the biggest hugs he has ever given me.  It was a moment that no amount of money could buy.  I wonder if some point in my childhood my Dad and I ever shared that same moment.
     Those are the kinds of things that I find myself longing for more and more.  I know I will probably never have the money to give my children any great amount of material things.  I try my best to provide the necessities.  I am going to do my best however to give them something that money can't buy, and that is my time.  I am finding that the more time I invest in them, the more reward I receive in return.  A loving hug from one of my children is greater than gold to me anyway.

A Friend Indeed

     We had a leak in our roof.  It wasn't a bad leak, but I knew that if I didn't get it took care of, it would end up being something major.  I am not the most handy of handy men, and knew that this problem was beyond the scope of my expertise, so I asked a friend of mine that does handy man work if he would mind coming and looking at my roof to find the problem.  He said he would be glad to do it.
     I knew where the problem probably was, but like I said, I wouldn't have a clue how to fix it, and really don't like climbing around on roofs.  My friend told me he would come by after work one day and check it out.  Last Friday, he caught up to me and told me he would come by.  I went home after work, and soon after he called and said he was on his way.  He pulled up, and we walked around and I pointed out where I thought the problem was.  He got his ladder out, got his caulk and caulk gun, and up he went.  Sure enough, he found the problem.
     In no time he had fixed the leak, then he went around to a couple of other similar spots and fixed them also so that they would not cause problems later on.  He came back down and we stood at his truck and talked for a few minutes.  Then came the moment I was dreading.  I asked him how much I owed him.  I was expecting the worst, not because I didn't trust my friend, but because I never know what this type of work is valued at.
     He stood there for a minute and started naming his costs.  "How about ten dollars?"  I was shocked.  How may people would do this type of work for ten dollars?  We agreed on the price and he went on his way.  I wonder some times what has happened to people like this.  To me, it seems like the days of friend helping friends in their time of need is a long lost idea.  Not only friends helping friends, but people helping people.  It seems these days that most people are more worried about getting every last dollar than doing right by others.
     I am not going to put my friends name on here, because I know that isn't why he did it, and he would be embarrassed by it if I did.  I will say that I am glad that I have friends like this, and that there are people out there that still are driven by the ideals of helping others for the simple joy of helping others, and not for gain.

Learning Life's Lessons

     Once again, I have gone a period of time without posting.  While some of it had to do with the fact that I didn't have much to say, most of it had to do with situations that were going on in my life.  The past few weeks have been stressful, eventful, and have helped me to grow.  Let me go back in time.
     For the past few years, (yes, years) I have been having car trouble.  Nothing that would keep my car from going back and forth to work, but more along the lines of hassles.  I have not had air conditioning or heat in my car for at least two years.  I dealt with it, with my line of thinking that we always had our family car that was in good mechanical shape, and that was the one that my family used.  My car was only for me driving back and forth to work, so I let it go.  The summer didn't bother me too much, but the winters were sometimes brutal.  The whole time I had a routine that I had to follow and put water in the car about once every two weeks.  It took about that long for the water to go completely out.  A month or so ago, I noticed that I was putting water in once a week, then it got to every day.  I knew something had to be done.
     About this time we found that we had a leak in our roof, and our computer decided to die.  For someone who is used to being able to handle everything, I was getting overloaded.  I knew something had to give, and I had to do something that I hated doing.  I had to ask for help.
     I finally broke down and put my car (actually, a chevy blazer) in the shop.  I didn't want to, because the money that was going towards fixing my vehicle could be better used for my family.  I knew however, without this vehicle, my getting back and forth to work would be impossible.  We made do by asking my mom to help out, either coming over and getting the kids ready for school while my wife took me to work, or taking my family to work and school when I drove the family vehicle.  Either way, I quickly started feeling like I was becoming a burden on everyone.
     I asked a friend of mine that does handyman work to come and fix my roof.  I wanted to do it myself, but knew that I didn't want to be on my roof, and even if I did get up there, I wouldn't have a clue what to do.  I was going a hundred different ways, with no direction.  I couldn't figure out exactly what was going on.  I know now what I gained from all of this.
     One of the things that I learned was that it is okay to ask for help sometimes.  My mom, my wife, and my kids had to make some sacrifices to get me to and from work, but they never said a word.  I still would rather have been the one making the sacrifices, but was grateful to them for what they did.  I also learned that I can survive without the internet.  I got to spend quality time with my family, without the computer enticing us away from each other.  I also got reminded that I have to MAKE time every day to spend in God's word.  With no computer, I spent more time reading my Bible, and was blessed by it.  I also found out that there are still good people in this world, which is a story for another day.  Most important, I was reminded that God is faithful, even when we are struggling.  As I sit here now, I have two beautiful daughters that are waiting on my to spend some time with them.  That takes priority.  More later.