Proud of MY SON!

As a father, it is so exciting and fulfilling to watch one of your children do what they have set out to do (or at least give it their all trying)!

Last night was one of those wonderful moments. My son has been playing little league (as I have made mention of) for almost two months. Last night was his last game for this year. We had been practicing in the mornings (pitching, hitting, fielding) this week because my son was determined to get a hit in this game. He has been afraid of the ball since last year when he got hit. He would step backwards out of the batter's box and not even really swing. I would throw really hard balls for him to practice with. He figured if he could get a hit off his dad, then he could get a hit off any of the team's pitchers.

On the way to game last night he told me that he just had to get a hit because it was the last game and if he didn't get a hit he would just "freak out". I laughed. He also had to have me put on this eye black (grandma had bought it for him- weird stuff- comes in a lipstick tube). He told me he didn't get any hits last game because he forgot to wear it!- That too made me laugh.

It was exciting to watch a young man who rarely even got a foul ball really get solid hits. True two of the four hits were outs, but one was a triple... A TRIPLE!!!!! It was a straight hit to left field. I was so excited! Other parents probably thought I had lost my mind! I am glad his team did win the game, but more important to me was the fact that he accomplished what he set out to do- get a hit!

And not only that, he caught a couple pop-flies and made several outs (with the help of his team mates) at first base where he plays!

I guess if I didn't thank his three amazing coaches that would just be rude! Those gentlemen gently coached his team along- and I appreciate that. They were always positive and supportive! Thanks gentlemen, and THANK YOU MY SON FOR WORKING SO HARD! YOU ROCK!!!!

Later...

Go ORANGE!

Way to go son! I am so proud of the way you played today! You may not of hit the ball, but you stayed in there and you swung, and swung hard! You also did an amazing job on 1st base where you made several good plays and got many players out! hard work DOES pay off. I have enjoyed practicing with you and I look forward to more time together! Keep up the great work!

(His team won 11-9 today against a tough team- Even though he didn't get a hit, he did good. Next time buddy...next time!)

Later...

1 Down, 1 to Go

Greetings All,

I promise that I will post pictures of the shed and deck soon. My wife is taking pictures of the whole process, so they are being taken.

Tonight was the last night of my Tuesday class. I am pretty confident that I got an A in that class. YEA ME! Dr. Johnson is a pretty amazing teacher. I still hated writing papers for him, but what do you do. I did learn a lot, however, I am excited to continue on in the program and see what other classes bring to my knowledge base.

Our yard is sure coming together.

Yesterday, I was able to round up my father and a friend and we got the floor built. That alone was a 4 hour project. I was shocked that it takes so long to build things. (Side note for those of you who don't know me very well, I am SO NOT handy it is sad. So nothing in this department should shock you!) Today I was hoping to get all 4 walls pounded out. I was able to get all the lumber for the rear and two side walls marked and ready to cut before my father was able to come with his saw. He cut the wood and I was able to help him get the rear wall built before I had to get ready for my class.

Class only went for 2 hours tonight. That was nice. I was able to see almost all of my son's little league game. He did so good. He got a run, was able to pitch, play outfield, and cheer for his team (he only gets to play about 1/2 of every game).

After the game we came home and I laid out and created one of the 20 foot wall frames. The other wall is ready to be nailed, I just need to get it done. That is my goal for tomorrow.

It has been so HOT and HUMID that I am dying. It is after 10pm here and still the temp. is in the high 80's. YUCK!

My paycheck came in today and we were able to pay bills. That is a love hate thing for me. I love to get them paid and know that we are actually staying in our budget. I hate that when we are done, we are done for the month as far as money to spend is concerned! That gets very frustrating. I was able to start the process to get my lane change for my pay schedule at school so that extra little bit will help and I am thankful for that.

I think I have a 2 new companies to add to my Companies I Hate list. These candidates are shocking additions, even for me. The first company on the chopping block is none other than American Express. I was just the recipient of a 3% interest rate increase and was told "it was across the board and there is nothing we can do about it". There reasoning is "due to the economy, we felt we needed to raise the rates!". Hello- really?

Company number 2 on the block is SUTHERLAND'S. Not only has the lumber from my $2000 shed been brittle, it is warped, cracked, and crappy! We are taking pictures so I can e-mail them and share how wonderful their lumber is and tell them thank you for taking such great care of me, as a customer. Also, their shed plans leave much to be desired in the way of information. I guess they expect an expert carpenter to be on hand to decipher what they have written. If you have already forgotten, see the note above about my amazing skills in this department!.

Anyways, I've not made my final decision about these two yet. We (my wife and I) have to decide if we are going to cancel our AMEX card and keep our current rate to pay off our balance, or just eat it for now and work on getting the rate lowered in a few months to a year.

Well, now that I told you way more than you most likely cared to know, I will end this and head to bed. More exciting adventures coming your way tomorrow!

Later...

Kodak Printers SUCK!

I know- pretty harsh statement, but I have had it with my printer. I am trying to print in draft and every time, regardless of what I select, it prints in normal or high quality, IN COLOR! I have tried different setting, creating profiles, setting defaults, etc. I HATE IT! MUCH MORE THAN I CAN SAY AT THIS MOMENT! We haven't hardly owned it a year and we have spent more on ink than with any other printer we have ever owned. I guess they sucked us in on the low ink price, they just simply forgot to tell us that we would be buying ink every other month to do less printing. BEWARE- DO NOT PURCHASE A KODAK PRINTER- THEY ARE NOT WORTH THE MONEY! I guess I will just add them to the list of business I recommend people not support. I think I will add a side bar widget with that list. Ya know, the Mr. Hughes Hates these companies list. Probably some legal issue with that, but I am going to try it until I am told I have to change it, and since I have such a worldwide readership, I should be fine for many, many year! LOL

Today has been great. I was up until after 1 am finishing another paper for my classes. Writing for Dr. Johnson makes me extremely nervous. I did complete my 3 page summary and critique of Parker J. Palmer's The Courage to Teach. It was a good book (remember I was cheering for having finished it the other day?). I sent it off around 1:10am I think, and got the grading back today. I got an "A" on it. That was comforting to me, and Dr. Johnson was very kind in his comments. I guess I need to relax A LOT in my writing for him. I am doing fine! Yesterday I also finished my Mid-Term in my other class. We had to read a case study and then write a 5-10 page paper analyzing it (this was similar to the case study I had to write and then analyze). I feel very confident in that paper. I enjoyed writing it very much. I am a little anxious to see what grade I get on it. I guess I am stressing over grades more than usual (ok, maybe not, I just stress over everything!) because if I don't receive a "B" or higher in the class, I won't get reimbursed by the district, and I HAVE TO BE!!!! Anyways, lots of reading left to do tonight and tomorrow for tomorrow's class. But, we are past mid-term! YIPPEEEEEEE! I don't hate the classes, I just need a break before school starts again. I am also hoping that the carpet will be laid soon in my classroom so I can start putting it back together. That will be all sorts of fun! ok, not really, but it will be nice to rearrange my room. It is time for a change! :)

Friday we are going to Junction to get our shed & new mini-deck/stairs materials so I can get started on those. We are also hoping to buy a collapsible picnic table at Sam's ($119- not bad for a 6ft heavy duty picnic table that folds down for storage!).

We had lunch at the park today and then headed to the elementary school so I could practice baseball with my oldest son for while. Z practiced his t-ball and my little missy-moo practiced "coach pitch" with my wife. Z and Missy Moo are going to play in July in a little city group. They wanted to start practicing like their big brother. We ended our practice with a family game of t-ball. Man, my more wife trying to run to a base being 8 months pregnant was interesting. She did great though! It got so hot that we had to quit and come home. We watched the end of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and started "Willow" (that is one strange movie- I haven't watched it in YEARS!) My oldest boy had to be at b-ball practice at 4:30 so we stopped the movie and dropped him off, headed to the store, and then went and used my parent's shade trees to wait for my oldest to be done. Now we are home waiting for dinner to be done. We are having yummy french-bread pizza and fresh salad with radishes from our garden.

Well, back to the grind of reading...

Later...

P.S. Like my new background? I was forced to change it- When I opened my blog today, the background was a million little logo's that said "Bandwidth exceeded". This one is much more attractive anyways, if I do say so myself! :)