Yes, tonight’s pictures are intentional.  The first one is of Amanda (and Ben although he is still in her stomach) waiting to check into the hospital to deliver.  The second is of our entire family leaving the hospital (photo credit copyright Carol Mongold 2007 DO NOT MESS WITH HER SHE IS MY MOTHER IN LAW).

But I needed to both find them and post them as I was here ALL DAY waiting for EVERDRY, who was to be here around 2, but who I called to find out that their truck had broken and that they could not be here until tomorrow……..of course the truck broke down the night before (supposedly) and no one could call me to let me know I need not hang out all damn day.

But while I was waiting I got a lot done.  I fertilized the entire lawn, I laid brick in three basement window wells, and I actually burned ALL the fallen limbs and branches in the yard.  My PREFERENCE however was to see them here and to get this done.  Tomorrow is IT.  I was not available tomorrow as it is the awards program at Ben’s school and he is getting an award…..so if they do not show tomorrow I will personally drive up there and parade back and forth with a sign at their entrance.  I am done messing around.  It is fixed tomorrow and it will be on my terms.

So picture one is of waiting……and picture two is of resolution.  As you may be able to tell I am pretty damn stressed.  I do not like dishonest people and I rarely deal with them.  But I will get this done and deal with their dishonesty after I get my house back.  Enjoy the pictures…..

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Wow, it’s a lot harder to find pictures you want when your files are all jumbled in a restore, so tonight in honor of my dad’s 97th (I mean 77th) birthday, I am posting this, the ONLY picture I could find of dad, my cousin Matt, me, and my cousin Steve (from left to right) back when my dad was just in his 80’s.

But I never forget to call him and remind him of how old he is, since we are almost exactly 25 years apart……so when my birthday arrives on the 19th my dad will only be 45.  My dad however is in EUROPE with my daughter, my sister, and my niece.  It however did not prevent me from calling him today (in France).

Of course I always get to draw first blood.  He will call me on the 19th (if I remember to answer the phone) and strike back.  It is all in good fun though as Tirman males over 50 really don’t have much of a life other than these annual calls, but we have faithfully been doing them as long as I can remember.

And yes, even though it was a local call for me, I will pay for the call.  I actually got to talk to Steph too who was right there with him which was something I didn’t anticipate.  I was just hunting him down for his birthday…..you know, the old slow one of the herd that tried to hide out in Europe to avoid my call.

But he once again failed and I got through……so Happy Birthday Dad.  I love you and I am glad you are around.  After all, where else could I ever hear about how Abraham Lincoln and you were friends in school.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today has been a pretty busy, but good, day.  I was able to join the good people of St. Matthew’s in Nashville, Indiana this morning for their service and enjoyed it very much.  And I returned home in time to take my truck up to the body shop in Muncie to repair the damage to the roof from getting hit bu the piece of steel (see https://www.frtomtirman.com/?p=179) and the damage I did to the side a short time later when the portico of our house abruptly jumped out in front of me. (I did not take a picture of that)

But I am now “test driving” my daughter’s baby blue Civic (hybrid) and boy oh boy do I feel manly in that car.  The good news is that she is in Europe for 10 more days and doesn’t need it, I need to do some work on her car anyway, AND gas is now at $4.00 a gallon.  My truck is a full-sized double cab, so it doesn’t get quite the mileage of the hybrid, but the baby blue color does irritate me enough to make the cost differential close to worth it…..regardless it is being repaired.

But tomorrow is D-Day for our basement contractors.  I will hopefully hear from them and they hopefully will be unbelievably responsive RIGHT THEN to have my problems resolved by the end of the day……if not we will not be walking any further together.  The problem isn’t their workers, they are great guys.  The problem is their management that doesn’t support them to the extent they can correctly complete their work.  I have only held back out of my respect and concern for them.  When they were here I often bought them lunch and drinks (no alcoholic) and got to know them.  They are all stand up guys, and it is unfortunate that their futures are mired in such unethical practices above them.  We will see.

But today I am posting Ben and his sunflowers from his room.  He is pretty excited about getting them into the garden.  And posting this helps keep my focus upon the good day I have been a part of.

Off to bed before I screw all this up!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I didn’t post last night, not for poor intentions, but rather because I was fuming mad and in no condition to do anything productive.  Our basement, which we have paid to have professionally waterproofed is STILL LEAKING and a mess.  And the company (Everdry of Northern Indiana, whom I would not recommend to ANYONE at this point) was SUPPOSED to come out and not repair, but FINISH the job we paid for.  I had to harp them to get them to agree to come then, and they NEVER EVEN CALLED, let alone COME TO MY HOUSE.  And that is despite my calling them and having them tell me that they were still on their way.  It is an AWFUL MESS….just like our basement which they have destroyed.

So anyway, I waited for them all day today too, as they work on Saturdays……but NO, they didn’t show….but with that, I had to miss the belt testing at Taekwondo.  And this stupid company is also why I was not testing myself today too.

Yes, today I missed it, but Ben and Amanda have now both moved beyond me.  Ben is now a white with yellow stripe belt and Amanda is a yellow belt.  AND, I am very proud of them both.  I am pretty sure, even with their high level of skills, that they are not the right people I can get to deal with Everdry, but I will say that if we are ever broken into at least I have them and that sleepy dog to defend me.

But the day is done and I do have this great picture to share and the boards that Amanda and Ben broke at their testing signed by all the black belts.  I will test next time…….that is if I do not drown in my basement first.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I know I posted that Tuesday that it was a manic day, but today has been another.

We received word that my harddrive had experienced a catastrophic MECHANICAL FAILURE, and this was from the people at DiscSavers in California, the very top of the pinnicale in terms of data recovery.  They could recover NOTHING and now it was up to Mozy and what I had done on my own to see us through all this.  It is a MAJOR disappointment and detour, but one we have no choice other than to take.  We have lost some pictures and videos for certain, and I paid Mozy a fee to recover all that they can and send it to me directly.  We will see.  I have recovered a lot that I had in other locations.

BUT nonetheless, it has been a tragic disappointment and one that we had worked hard to prevent.  We pay Mozy every month to back up my computer DAILY.  Why I haven’t been able to recover what I need online is both frustrating and scary.  And what I would ask is that if anyone reading this has pictures of our family of any kind, you would send them to us.

It has also been time consuming!  All my work files are on there too and without them I am often guessing.  SO you can imagine my mood……let’s just say that it is not “wonderful.”

BUT…..BUT….BUT…….I also received pictures from my dad of Stephanie in England, and Scotty is making great progress towards California.  As a matter of fact he just texted me and told me he was in New Mexico and there safe and for the night.  Tomorrow he will head to Phoenix and then to Camp Pendleton on Saturday where he needs to report before midnight.  That made me feel pretty great.  PLUS, I actually got SOME OF THIS INFORMATION DIRECTLY.  (I normally get it through Amanda)

But here’s the big revelation.  Amanda and Kenzie went to get “my boyfriend (Kenzie’s) has headed back to the Marines” pedicures tonight and Ben and I then joined them for dinner.  And it was while we were eating that I realized that she (Kenzie) will be another way for me to hear from Scotty!  As a matter of fact I learned a lot about his day just by sitting with them both!  Awesome!!

But as we ate I realized we would all rather have him here.  So dinner was just part of our recovery I guess.  They would probably say their pedicures were as well, but stuff like that is for girls.  I was just glad to hang out and have a bit of fun in a time when my life really is stressful.  And we didn’t talk too much about the big pink elephant in the room………after all, ours is now resting comfortably somewhere in New Mexico.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yes, this afternoon Scotty drove off in his car heading for his duty station at Camp Pendleton in California.  He has to report by midnight on Saturday, but it is still a 31+ hour drive……..better him than me I suppose.  But it has been a busy week with him here and even more than that a week that went by far too quickly.

One of my favorite highlights however was the trickery of having Scotty’s girlfriend Kenzie think we were all going out with Amanda to a nice place for dinner.  (This was yesterday)  She went, like we all did, to a part of the house to change into dressy clothes, but when Scotty came down in his Dress Blues she saw that the dinner was for her.  And as none of the rest of us were in Dress Blues, she also saw that she was heading out with him alone.  He took her to downtown Indianapolis for a nice dinner, while Ben and I treated his mom to her favorite meal that we cook and an ice cream cake from DQ (one of her demands, I mean hopes).

But they deserved a great night out as they have been around too many of us and people all week.  And  as you can see, they both looked like they were off the front of some really expensive Hallmark card as well.  It was fun seeing them head off for the night out, as we knew today when he left everyone would need to lean on such good memories.

In all honesty, parenting is hard.  It is a strange mix
of unexplainable pride and pain, a true paradox.  Quite honestly I hate it, yet I wouldn’t want it any other way.  I have spent their entire lives knowing that they would grow up and leave, and have prepared myself far more than most for it to happen.  It wasn’t enough.  It almost makes me wish that they were all rotten kids so it would be easier to see them go.

But they are not.  In my eyes they are the best and I love them all very much.  AND,  I am extremely proud of them.

Safe travels Marine, and same to you Steph (she is in EUROPE)……and Ben, dear Ben, you just keep killing me here at home……

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today has been a day of ups and downs, and it started on a DOWN.  Today is my wife Amanda’s birthday (she is now 25 because I am trying to earn points) and Ben and I started it with ur THIRD gift to her.

All of them were very well thought out, but the first two were more fun and less practical.  We bought her monogramed cards (which she at first wondered why there was no writing in them, but that was because they were MONOGRAMED CARDS for her to use to write others) and a very nice portable hammock to test the waters to see if we could get her a real one later (she used it tonight).  We also had TWO parties for her, a family on on Friday with everyone, and another tonight.

But the third one (the gift) was very practical and well needed.  Amanda irons EVERYTHING and her ironing board is very rickety and tired.  SO we bought her a really nice one, the kind with an iron rack and hanging stand attached…..and wide width too (not for her clothes size as she is skinny, but for conveinience…..after all I am not stupid)……or so I thought.

You see, she loved it, but had a very sad look on her face as she told me that her mom gave her that ironing board and that it had been her grandmas……and her grandma died some time ago.  She was worried I would be upset, but I UNDERSTOOD as things like that are very important to me as well.  I told her “no problem” and that I would return it and that I would buy her a stand, a hanging rack and a new board pad instead.  So I took it back to return it.

The lady at the Meijer thought the whole thing was hilarious, and I suppose it was as it had not happened to her.  She made sure I knew how luck it was that I hadn’t thrown out the old one, and although it was something I didn’t admit to her it was something I had thought about all day….including on my way to Meijer!  But after Amanda revealed what she did, that new board, all wrapped up right next to the old one, could never compare….even to me.

But what goes around comes around.  My mother-in-law called tonight to wish Amanda a Happy Birthday and was told the story.  As it turns out, that board wasn’t grandma’s at all……and it needs to be replaced.  So I will be heading to a different Meijer in the morning.  I don’t want to run into that woman and giver her more to laugh about.

Happy Birthday Amanda, I love you!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today I had the great pleasure of attending and standing on the sidelines of the 5th Annual Michael Treinen Memorial Alumni Game which benefits the Michael Treinen Foundation Link to The Michael Treinen Foundation

Mike T was an amazing young man.  Regular readers know that he became my Assistant Coach (ALWAYS capitalized when talking about Mike T) shortly before his death and right after I had my stroke.  I needed help, and he at 19 was already helping the boy’s team, but made the commitment to help me and the girls too.

In all my years as a player and coach I have never been so moved by such an example.  I just had a stroke and was struggling to make my way through that.  Mike was weeks away from heading to heaven and he rearranged his chemotherapy schedules to help my sorry butt.  I didn’t complain, I learned.  He was 19, but for that short time he was also a very important life coach for me.  I actually met him and shook his hand for the first time in the center of Hare Field at the first game I returned to after being released from the hospital.  He had been one of the guys running our practices when I was hospitalized.  What a honor that was!

Mike’s memory lives on in many of our hearts and his foundation helps those who are struggling with cancer and their families.  He was a hell of a guy and I miss him.  And…….I look forward to the day I will shake his hand once more, not on Hare Field, but on that home field (yes it’s turf) up way past those Pearly Gates!  Thanks my brother!  I am blessed by your presence in my life!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Tonight we held an Open House for Scotty.  I know it was not good in terms of timing, but it really was the only time we could get it in…….I mean at least if we wanted him to be here.  It was a lot to do but Amanda coordinated it all.  And we generally use some form of the word coordination when describing her abilities to get it all put together as she is not fond of the military descriptions we used to use.  It however went very well.

I am the primary cook in our home, not because Amanda doesn’t know how or doesn’t like to, but because of our schedules.  We have two very different styles/philosophies.  But when we do an “event,” I am relegated to setup, and generally (once again not military) just stay out of the way.  Amanda is from Kansas, and in the original Greek, Kansas means “cooks for 100’s of people even when only a few show,” so I do not fight it.

But it really went well.  My job during the event was to keep Ben busy so as to let Scotty visit.  It is often the hardest job, but tonight Ben was a real trooper.  Tonight’s picture is even of he and Viper already in pajamas and in bed.  We ALL had a great time.  The people in Scotty’s life are some of the finest I know.  It is cool to have them around too.

But now they are all gone and I am in bed.  Amanda is “on leave” from the day (military reference, yes, asleep next to me as I type).  I am hopefully not too far behind.

It has been a long day, but a good day.  And a big thanks to Amanda, Scotty, his girlfriend Kenzie, and even Ben!  They made it also a great day to remember.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yes, this afternoon Steph headed for a 20 day trip to Europe with my dad, my sister, and niece.  And yes, I know I mentioned this earlier, but I guess I was just not prepared to be so aware that not having all three of them would be so hard.  By the time she gets back Scotty will be in California, and the joy and wonder of seeing them all interact together will be but a memory.  PLUS, she has never been out of the country before and I am and will worry!

But Scotty is still here and Ben will ALWAYS BE WITH ME!!!  And we have been getting prepared for Scotty’s Open House tomorrow afternoon.  There is a LOT of work to be done, but as we prepare to go to bed we appear to have a handle on it.  It is always a great time, and with the limited amount of time Scott always has when he is home, having people come here is a better choice.

It now however is 10:30pm and Ben stopped his job (comic relief) (mandatorily) over 3 hours ago.  He will get a good night’s sleep though and be in his usual form tomorrow.  I am in bed as well, and hope to not see 11 with my eyes open.

It has been a busy week, and particularly a busy day….but well worth it…..even though we are down to two…

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+