Book challange time.

This comes from the pages of the book I am currently reading and I am almost finished with it.

At that young age he consoled his mother, saying, "Don't worry , mom. When I grow up, I'm going to work really hard and I'm going to be a success. I'm going to be a millionaire and I'm going to own a plantation and a yacht." Given their circumstances at the time these were very lofty goals, but by the time he shared this story with me he had achieved all three.

The book is "Call Me Ted" and it is the autobiography of Ted Turner. What a great book. As some of you may know I am not a big reader, but when I do read I go for biographies every time. I prefer to read about real people who have been successful or have made a big mark on history so I can try to see what these people all have in common. This book confirmed something I already knew. Most successful people accomplish great things by treating every decision equally. Ted Turner put the same amount of thought into what color to paint his office as he did deciding weather to borrow six billion dollars to buy a business he wanted. Just do it an move on.

Enough about that, it's Christmas week!!!!!!!!!! (I got that little move from you know who) I am super stinkin excited (got that one from Katie) for all of us to be together and for the chance to finally meet Mrs. Maddy. Cris and April are coming this weekend and we are looking forward to seeing them and Shiloh again. Since their last visit at Thanksgiving I went all out and put a sink in the hall bathroom so we now have completed the indoor plumbing upgrade. If you were not at my house for Thanksgiving I will explain that at Christmas.

I don't have much new to add, but I wanted to take up the book challenge while I was thinking about it. See you all very soon.

What am I thankful for?

I read Peg's blog and as it turns out I was already contemplating a blog on this exact subject. As some of you may know the week leading up to Thanksgiving was to say the least not a good one for me, and I was working hard to muster up some sort of holiday spirit going into the big day. I won't go into all the details but I'll say that work is not going that great, my bathroom remodel had taken way too long to complete and to top it off I rear ended someone on the way home from work on Tuesday.(detail to follow in another blog)
So the first thing to happen that started turning the tide to a happier note was on Wednesday when I got a call from Chris asking if he and April (and Shiloh) could join the crowd at my house on Thanksgiving Day. Not only was it OK, but it was great to see him and April again. They even spent a few day with us and we had a good visit.
As for turkey day, I guess that's when I started get the holiday spirit in full swing. As I looked around the house at all fourteen of us I realized that the thing I am most thankful for is family. It's real easy to take your family for granite, but when you are surrounded by the people that mean the most to you, all the other little things seem so small. My holiday spirit didn't get a jump start from Thanksgiving, but from the way I spent my Thanksgiving and with whom I spent it.
On Friday we all went to Mom & Dad's house and it was even more family, fun, and a few birthday's to celebrate and another good time was had by all. No detail's needed because I'm sure the event will be covered in many blog's to come from everyone in attendance, but if you've been to one Towhey birthday party you can probably picture the whole thing.
Today I'm back at work and all the problem of life are still here, but I am ready for all the challenges life has in store for me with a new outlook on life, and a much happier attitude. I guess to sum it up, I am grateful to be married to my best friend and for the two perfect children we have together and for all the other people that let us be part of their lives.

New cell number

.....I have a new number you will need call to reach Mike's cell phone. If you call the old number you will hear a message giving you the new number. I did have the new number posted here in my blog but I realized that I may be giving it out to some people I do not want to have it. After about 12 years it is finally changing. I won't go into all the details of why I cannot keep my old cell number because then this blog would turn into a rant and I just don't have the energy for that. In a nut shell my old phone was owned by my company and the new phone is not and to get the number released to me from them would take an act of congress. My company is more than willing to give me the number, however the company that has the service now is to say the least incompetent, (hence the desire to switch services) and then couple that with the fact that they are losing business to a competitor means their desire to be helpful is about zero. So I bit the bullet and got a new number. OK, so it turned into rant anyway. Just be grateful I'm giving you the PG13 version. On the brighter side I got a cool new phone with unlimited texting and a keyboard for people with bad eye's and fat fingers. I will keep the old phone for a few day's until I'm sure everyone has the new number but please feel free to pass this number along to anybody that may not read this blog.
I guess that's it for now.

Best Childhood Memories.

I can't lie, this is a toughie for me. Just the other day I was talking to some friends about where I grew up and our childhood and it made me reflect on our old neighborhood Edinburgh Estates. I could have spent hours talking about all the things we did and the people we knew and so when I read Peg's blog about Childhood Memories I realized there is now way to cover it all or this blog would drag on for hours so I will try to tell one or two stories that stand out to me.
One memory in particular that always makes me smile involves the time Mom and Dad made a new rule about leaving your shoes in the living room. It seems that one day after tripping over shoes left in the room Dad made a rule that any abandoned shoes would be thrown out in the front yard and the guilty party would have to go out in their socks to get them back. This could really if you don't discover this until the next day and they are covered in dew. One day I was sitting in the living room when dad got home and he looked at me and said "get your shoes out of the floor or you know where they go." It was then tat I informed him that those shoes belong to Bill, to which dad growled back "then throw them in the damn yard". Now you have to realize that this had all the elements of a great opportunity. Dad gladly takes all the blame, I get to do the deed and Bill is the one who's gonna suffer. It was nine year olds dream come true.
As I stood on the front steps holding the shoes I decided to not just toss them over the bushes, but I was gonna set a long distance record. With any kind of luck there would be grass stains and maybe even make the street. I let the first one fly and it went all the way to the curb. The second one actually landed in Mr. Webb's yard. This insured a cross country trek to find both shoes. This is however where the fun ended. As the second shoe left my hand I saw something out of the corner of my eye that scared me to death. You guessed it. It was Bill..... bare foot and running. At that point it didn't matter that dad told me to do it. I was doing the deed and loving it and he was gonna kill me.
I think I actually made it to Mr. Webb's yard before the shoe did but I was still too slow. I'm sure whatever he did to me when he caught me seemed a lot worse because I was nine and all, but at the time it was like a near death experience.
The point of all this is simple. These are the kind of memories an only child will never have and they are the greatest times of our lives. I love to tell people how tough it was growing up with four older brothers always picking on me but we all know, Growing up in a big family like ours was the greatest gift we could all have. I could tell these stories all night but for now this will have to do. I too want to thank Mom and Dad for the best childhood a kid could ever have.

Back By Popular Demand...

By reading the 51 comments left on my last blog it appears that you all have been missing me, so I guess I should catch you all up on my life. Since my last blog I have (in no particular order),

1. gone to the beach where I got too much sun, drank too much beer and had too much fun.
2. turned 40 (which may have had something to do with the whole drank too much thing)
3. had a date with Hannah to go see "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" in 3D.
4. had a date with Heather to have dinner at Chili's per her request.
5. had a date with my wife for dinner at Provino's for our 18th annaversary.
6. had a small cameo roll in a film I like to call "Maddy's Baby Shower".

Other than that life has been pretty dull. Work all week to pay for all the !!!!!!!!!'s that Heather uses on a dailey basis, and try to keep up with everything else life has to offer. I guess Kelly mentioned that she and I have become "work out buddies" (a.k.a. wob's) over the past few months because we both felt the need to get in a little better shape, and we both realized we need someone to push us along the way. It's tough to do it alone so we are helping each other. We started with walks at the park and we stepped it up to the occasional walk up Stone Mtn. We also joined a Gym and we have been going there a couple times a week in addition to the walks and I must say I feel a lot better than I have in years. I don't look any better, but I feel good. :) I think I will use the gym even more when the weather get's cold and it starts getting dark at 5 o'clock. For now we can walk at the park till 8:00 or 8:30 so we are enjoying the fresh air while we can. Also the walks at the park often include Michelle and the girls and sometimes Doreen and Jimmy so it's nice to do something that includes the whole family.

I guess that's all that I have been up to for now. You can keep up with most of the excitement around our house by reading Heather's blog!!!!!!!!! every Saturday. Till then I'm done.

3 Day Weekend!

Well this three day weekend has given me an opportunity to do some catching up, and it could not have come at a better time. Work has kept me a lot busier than I like but that's not all bad because the building industry in Georgia is in a huge slow down so to be busy during this period is a bonus. The down side is no time for family, rest or any of the other thing that I need to do around the house. Thankfully this weekend I got a lot of yard work done as well as some other chores I have been needing to do. Now today I can relax with the family knowing that I got a lot of things done and that feel good.
As for the rest of the family it's Summer a usual which means the kids are bored and Michelle is keeping them in check. We have a lot planned this summer with summer camps and a trip to Tybee but the kids want to get to all of it on day one and Michelle is the one making them pace themselves. Not an easy job.
As for Michelle's "job" we got some potentially good news regarding her employment next year. First she learned that the new qualifications she would have to meet to keep her job have been put off for a year so she can keep her current job for one more year with no further classes needed. The reason she has been against going back to school to keep her job is because she already has a four year degree and now the additional classes would be just enough to let her keep a $10.00 and hour job. It doesn't make sense when people with no education at all make more money working at Wal*Mart. However the State of Georgia (which is who pays Michelle's paycheck) now says that if she takes the additional classes she will qualify to paid the same as any starting school teacher in Gwinnett County which is considerably more than she is making now. Since this is very different than what they have been telling us all year she still wants to get all of this in writing and then she will look into taking the classes she will need. I think she told me it's 120 hour which would be about three months of classes perhaps even on line. I will keep you all posted as we go along.
Other than that I plan to just enjoy a day off before going back to the grind tomorrow.

Heather is up and running.

Just wanted to let you guy's know that Heather has a blog now on the new site. She is heather2e.blogspot.com and she is very excited to hear from you guy's. I will write more this weekend but for now I'm gonna cut it short. I have been batteling a cold all week and I am going to hit the hay a little early. Talk to ya soon.

Another Day, Another Blog......

Not much is new but I decided to blog more now that we have made the move to a better blog site so here goes nothing. Work has been a little crazy lately but nothing that I can't handle. Today I worked at the Georgia World Congress Center where we took part in a Construction Expo. This had all the latest and greatest products and services related to the construction industry and since we cater to a lot of those people we decided to have a booth and shake a few hands. It was nothing to write home about because attendance was very low. I met a few people that seemed interested in our company but you never know.
Other than that life at home is moving along OK. Heather was sick again today and did not go to school. She has been sick, off and on for over a month now but hopefully the new medicine we got today will do the trick. As for Hannah, I think I mentioned that she sprained her knee last Friday but she seems to be bouncing back fairly well. She still has a slight limp but a lot less pain.
As for Michelle, school ends next Wednesday and she will officially be unemployed. Can I get a WOO HOO? (that was sarcasm) She is going to take off the month of June and look for a job in July. She usually takes the summer off so we have planned for this ahead of time but this time when school starts back she will not go back to her old job. The down side is the uncertainty of her future, but on the up side if she finds something she likes she may go back to work earlier than normal. We will just have to wait and see.
I guess I have rambled enough for now so I will go and watch the Braves game.
Talk to ya later.

So Far So Good

I would have to say that so far everything seems to bo going along pretty well with the new blog. It will take some getting use to but it does work better than Yahoo. Not much is new in my part of the world but I guess I should talk about what's going on. The kids only have about a week of school left so you can imagin how excited they are. Hannah however is moving a little slow due to a sprained knee she got at school. It was a freak kick ball accident that has her in some pain. The doctor does not feel like it's anything serious so she just has to take it easy for a bout a week or so. As luck would have it, Sitting on a couch watching TV is kinda her thing so taking it easy has been no problem. Anyway, thats just about all for now. Hope you all keep bloggin.

I think I've got it.

So far this seems to be going great. Of course that depends on if you can read this and comment on it but so far I like it. I will leave it at this for now and wait for a comment before I write my life story.