UPDATES:

It's been so incredibly busy around here lately.

We got an addition to our family. His name is Dexter and he's a 3 month old Pomeranian. Isn't he just adorable? I still need to come up with a registered name for him so I may be asking for your help soon.

The Teenager has been on spring break all week. He's in bed now because I think he's become a vampire and can't be seen during the day.

I took off today and tomorrow to spend time with the kids. We started toilet training Gooey so it should be an interesting few days. He's had his underwear on for an hour now, sat on the potty chair 3 times but still nothing. I think once he goes and sees how its done, he'll be good. He's not one for trying new things. We're going to Toys R Us on Saturday for a celebration toy if all goes well.

As you can see by the new section to your left, The Teenager and I are participating in the American Heart Association Heart Walk 2009. You can click on the link to see just what it is (and donate if you feel like it). We're doing all kinds of fun fundraisers. We're having a penny war with our second location at work. I amazed the people I work with my soliciting (begging was more like it) from co-workers. I was able to almost fill our jar completely! It's amazing what a little humor can get you (and threats to harass until you empty your pockets). Hey! It's all for a good cause.

We're also working on a bake sale for the 27th. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to bake. Suggestions?

So that's what's been keeping me away from you lately. I know, exciting stuff.

HAPPINESS...

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D. Souza. He said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life". This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness.

Happiness IS the way.

So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time....and remember that time waits for no one. So, stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire from work, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die, until you are born again, to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

-Author--Unknown

INSTALLING A HUSBAND...

Dear Tech Support ,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0 .

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as PS 3.0, Wii 1.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1 .

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate


DEAR DESPERATE ,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.

If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1.

Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck Babe!

Tech Support