chugging along...

yup, that's what we are all doing... just chugging along on the river of life. Mei Mei is asking the eternal question: "WHY?". all day. everyday. constantly now. wow. Kim and I are making plans to replace the roof, fix the basement leaks and add A/C to the house. oh yes, rewire the house to modern specs too! you know, small cheap stuff. home equity stuff. value added stuff. i have a headache.

i'm trying to cook dinner, clean house (vacuum, sweep, p/u toys, etc), help Dallas w/homework all before Kim arrives in about half an hour. where's the 'EASY' button? i swear that i saw it somewhere... may have been the T.V. though. too bad.

our Afghan just pee'd and pooped in the house. gotta go.

i oughta write a book! instead i jot down my blogs. life is good.

2nd in group! - puppy match

2nd in group! - puppy match
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

so our computer is back in action and i can finally post again! we have been pretty busy, as usual, with family life, dog stuff and work. Dallas is in his spring break right now, i am on-call, mei mei is playing w/her play-doh, the horses are cavorting in the snow and our dogs are lounging inside. life is good! we are finally getting some snow! now we need a plow or some sort of snow moving equipment! good grief. i posted a few pictures of Mario and Kim in their first puppy match, check them out.

it seems like we are finally in the clear w/the whole identity theft thing! we can start saving! again! what a pain!

well, i am out of words! i've had so much to say but right now, well, i am at a loss... sorry gang! i'm going to check out my friends blogs instead! perhaps update myspace too. whatever. make a snowman! the snow is perfect!

Duped

i thought that i would never be 'had' like this but, i did. now we have no money in the bank and tomorrow, monday, is MLK day. nice. i receive emails on my yahoo account all of the time concerning this account and that that i may or may not have and that includes paypal. they're all bogus, ya know!? I KNOW! like, DUH! well, i received one of those alerts on my hotmail account and when i read it, well, it was different enough and sounded real enough that i did it. i signed in to paypal and gave them all of my information. SINCE WHEN DOES PAYPAL REQUIRE ALL OF YOUR INFORMATION JUST TO LOG IN???????? idiot! wtf and omg. i did not click on a link through hotmail, i used another IE window and typed in the paypal address myself and noticed the 'https' portion pop up when the first page popped up so i didn't think anything was wrong at this point. again, they reiterated the fact that several unauthorized and unsuccessful attempts had been made to my account and so please enter all of this private info to make sure that all records matched and to verify my authenticity. OF COURSE THEY MATCHED! idiot! that was not paypal! legit companies NEVER ask for this info just to log in! that is even mentioned in their official emails to you! it's plastered all over their websites too! unbelievable. i blindly went ahead and entered all of it since i had used another browser window and typed the address in myself. same computer though. at work. nice. nicely screwed we are now though! as you can tell, i am not happy. Kim actually mentioned the cause and effect to me since i did not put two and two together. i had mentioned to her the fact that paypal had requested this stuff of me when we noticed our money missing due to a California initiated Western Union transfer. good lord. lot's of damage control to do now. be careful kids. let this be your public service announcement. amazing.

happy boy

happy boy
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

oh yes. Christmas morning. Dallas and his white troll. seriously folks! it's what he REALLY wanted! there it is. see my little farm dog in the corner down there? she's come a long way baby! doesn't do so well out in the chilly air any more! being hit by a car will do that to ya. i love my little yellow mutt! anyway, Dallas and Mei Mei absolutely loved Christmas! they had a dashing time indeed. it was funny to watch Mei Mei at first because she didn't know what to do with her package! "what is this thing?" her little beautiful eyes implored! big brother dutifully came and showed her exactly what to do and how to do it! MINE! she screamed! no Mei Mei, that one is not yours! try again! everything is hers! even the moon. the next couple of hours the two of them spent the time putting together their toys, throwing out their trash and just plain having fun! the kids were happy and therefore the adults were happy. good times were had by all.
now Dallas is back in school, Mei Mei is going to daycare every day and life has returned to its usual state of morales 'normalcy'. we are supposed to finally get some snow too! sheesh. good times.

Dallas and Mario

Dallas and Mario
Originally uploaded by KDCNMorales.

I'm STILL tired and it's been over 24 hours that we arrived back home! The trip went absolutely great but that is also the reason that we are all tired! The temperatures there did not go down below 70 at night and hovered in the mid 80's during the day... Yuck! here at home? 20's and snow. it's good to be home! we are greatly appreciative to Ashley, as she took it upon herself to take care of our animals twice a day during the duration of our trip! a million thanks go to ya Ash!!!! she has no idea just exactly how thankful we are!
I am also extremely relieved and thankful that dad is doing great! his blood counts are coming up nicely and now he can have his heart cath performed too. afterwards though, he still needs to go through two more chemo regimens. you'll do fine pops! we're all rootin' and prayin' fer ya! super thankful that he is surrounded by excellent friends and family to take care of him and lend him support. that is crucial to recovering from an illness you know!
We managed to see quite a few people in the few days that we were there but the heat and all the driving around left us drained! dallas got to stay with his Johnson grandparents for a few days and they had a blast! they ate at Denny's, went to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios, among other things. it was funny to see the look on David's face when he saw Dallas too! he didn't realize just exactly how much Dallas had grown! Dell too was pretty amazed. so funny. this went on and on as all that saw Dallas last were shocked to see how tall and handsome he's become! grandparents Bigham (they're still so cute!) were the most surprised, i think! he now absolutely towers over them. i'm glad that Dallas' grandparents had a chance to see him. that was important to Kim and myself. first was to see my dad, then for Dallas to see his grandparents. job done.
Florida is changing so fast! we haven't been gone for 10 years and the changes that we saw left us aghast! the interstate was dirty too! yuck. what a shame. this trip solidified our resolve and proved to us that we did the right thing in leaving. we miss our friends and family obviously but central Florida is not the appropriate place to raise our kids! too hot too. oh well.
the trip back was pretty unevently, thankfully! i really thought that Dallas, Mei Mei and the dogs would go nuts but they all took it in stride pretty well! like a well oiled and conditioned machine! we travel well together... all told, we traveled almost 3300 miles! 3281.4 to be exact. wow. don't take the Chicago bypass folks! or the Atlanta one either! it's just not worth it anymore as the construction just clogs absolutely everything and makes that roundabout even longer. fuhgetaboutit! i drove the entire trip but the last two hours, i had to cede the chair to Kim as my left forearm and fingers were getting tingly! the pain in my left forearm was causing me to start losing some sensation on my fingers and that was just too much. unacceptable. scary. weird. done.
now we are watching monday night football where Sylvester Stallone is also a commentator. hmmm. Mei Mei is screaming because she does not want to go to sleep. Dallas is complaining because he does not want to take a shower. the dogs are milling about for no reason whatsoever. nothing has changed!