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Had a pretty good weekend. It was Memorial Day weekend, so I had Monday off.

Jeni and I went to my good friend, TIffany’s, wedding. Even though she lives in Houston, TX now, her wedding was here in Ridgecrest. They had it at the newly rebuilt golf course club house, Mulligan’s.

It was really nice. We got there right at 5:30, and most everyone was already there. You walk through the building, out onto the golf course, and there were about 150 chairs set up, under a tree, with a trellis that was tied down to the ground and the tree. All of this was a couple hundred feet from the clubhouse, so the bridesmaids and groomsmen all walked down a path to their spots. Then Tiffany came out, with her father, in a golf cart. It was pretty sweet. Jeni and I wre sitting next to Linda and her fiance, Matt, and we all got a kick out of it.

The ceremony was nice, albiet, a little breezy, and there were microphone problems, so it was hard to hear. It was all very sweet, and i’m very happy for Tiffany. It’s because of her, that Jeni and I met at the reunion. Tiff’s fiance couldn’t make it, so I took his spot.

The reception was awesome. Jeni and I were seated out from under the patio, which was nice, because we were kind of by ourselves [Patty and her fiance were seated with us, but they moved.. which was fine, because it gave Jeni and I some privacy]. We had some drinks, mingled, watched a great slideshow Tiffany’s brother, Travis put together, and danced until about midnight. It was so great to see alot of old friends, and some newer ones. I approve of all the girls’ fiance’s, just like they approve of Jeni. We had such a great time. I loved being there with Jeni. For the first time in my life, I am actually, truely happy. I loved dancing with her and talking to her. It was such a great date.

Sunday and Monday Jeni had to work, so I watched Caleb. He was pretty good. We hung out, played, watched some toons and played some video games. Yesterday we went to the pet store to get some water clarifier for my new goldfish, Captin Gillyworth. Caleb was a little crazy, but soon calmed down after I showed him around and explained that the animals aren’t gonna get him. He’s pretty funny when he wants to be. He’ll talk to the birds… it’s pretty funny.

Now I just need to get the wedding pictures from Linda.

My dad could have quit after my mom died. But, he sacked up and did the best he knew how. I’m totally proud of him. It totally brings a tear to my eye thinking about this.

And his cooking has come such a long way!

I do most of the cooking at home. Kari doesn’t really like to cook that much and I enjoy it a lot so the job became mine. Kari teases me that I do most of the cooking to keep her from making Norwegian dishes. I never cooked until after my late wife passed away. I mean I could boil a good hot dog with the best of them, but beyond that I was completely lost. Everyone went home from the funeral on that Thursday and every day after that I would announce to the kids, “Today I’m gonna go to the store,” and then I would find a dozen reasons why I couldn’t go. By Tuesday I did my daily announcement and my daughters said to me, “Dad, you’ve GOT to go to the store because we’re running out of food.” So I girded up my loins and with a small shopping list, made by my girls, I headed to the store to do grocery shopping. I had been to the store with my late wife many times, but that was just to buy things like potato chips and soda. I had no idea the store had so many different kinds of food. After wondering around for 1/2 hour I had managed to find a gallon of milk. Even that was a dilemma… Did I want whole milk, fat free milk, 1% fat milk or 2% fat milk? I knew that I didn’t want half-and-half or whipping cream so that made it a little easier. The decision finally came down to, “Hmmmm…. This looks like the same colored plastic cap as what Connie used to buy.” At the rate I was going it was going to take me six hours to even buy enough food for dinner. “I need help,” I finally declared to myself. So I looked around and thought, “Who knows the most about buying food?” It then occurred to me that a gray-haired grandmotherly-looking lady might know a lot about cooking for a family of four. I spied one and marched right up to her and in my best floundering-father voice I explained my situation. Playing follow the leader she lead me around to get a pound of ground meat, a box of hamburger helper, a can of fruit cocktail, a bag of mixed salad and a bottle of Italian dressing. “You’ve got to remember to feed those kids a variety of food and not just junk food and fast food,” she said, “If they eat hamburgers every night they’ll get fat.” I’ve never seen that gray-haired lady again so I am pretty sure she was a angel of the Lord sent down to rescue me from myself.

Arlene Decker and I always get a good laugh about the time when I called her in a near panic. I had only been cooking for about a week and most of that cooking was still limited to pot pies and hamburger helper. I had gotten it into my mind that I wanted jello with fruit cocktail mixed in. It them occurred to me that I had absolutely no clue how to make jello. I had always seen my mother and late wife sloshing around with colorful bowls of liquid that was later… magically transformed into the jello we have all learned to love and want. I called for the girls, “Do you guys know how to make jello?” I asked. “No,” was their combined answer. “Who could I ask,” I wondered. All of a sudden it occurred to me that Arlene Decker probably knew how to make jello. So I called her up and asked in my most manly voice, “Hey, Arlene, how do you make jello?” The first thing she did was let out a big laugh and in her best Arlene-happy-voice she said, “Read the back of the box, Bob!!!!” “How do you get the fruit cocktail into it?” I asked with my best being-humble male voice. “You drain the fruit cocktail juice and subtract the amount of hot water that you use.” DUH.

Since that day I have gotten a lot better at reading the directions on the back of packaged food. I discovered after a few weeks that I could take some cut up meat and cut vegetables and fry them in a pan and you’d get pretty good tasting stir-fry. After Kari and I decided to join our lives together, her main advice to me was, “Just keep those kids alive until I get there.” A couple of weeks before Kari arrived in the States, someone asked Cameron if he was looking forward to her arriving? “You bet,” he said, “then I don’t have to eat any more of my Dad’s stir-fry.”

I’m down to 190lbs [from about 205] as of yesterday, with shorts, t-shirt, and no shoes. This was on my dad’s scale. Come to find out, scales differ in their weights. So, i’ll have to weigh myself tonight on Jeni’s scale.

I’m pretty psyched though. I’ve been riding alot. I rode on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, this weekend. I’m eating smaller meals, cutting out alot of sugar [not all], and drinking only 1 or two Diet Pepsi’s a day. I’m also not addicted to caffine anymore. I used to not make it to 0900 when I had to have some sort of caffine before I got a caffine headache that would last all day.

Updates as progress continues.