Hello fellow Gabbers, I hope all is well with all of you starting out the oh-ten year. Should we call it 2k-10 twenty-ten or just plain 'ol "ten"? The last household is settling back to normal with young last & miss last heading back to their respective schools. Young last is doing great with school having made high honors his first 2 HS semesters. He's busy with basketball and gearing up for the play in March: Fiddler on the Roof.

Miss last is learning the hard way with struggling grades in her 2nd year at college. Mom & pop had a little talkin' too with her in hopes to lessen the stresses she encounters. You see, she's a hard worker & wants to go about her studies on her own. That's great, but when struggling she neglects to seek the help she obviously needs...part stubbornness-part shyness. She wants to follow mama in the Nursing profession but is finding out how hard the classes are & how difficult the program is to get into!

My oldest & more "hands on" is settled into his job. This marks the longest he's held onto a job. I think he's FINALLY getting it, but there's still much maturing to go! We're helping him with budgeting since the paycheck cannot burn a hole is his pocket fast enough. That's teaching him, not doling out any cash from mom & dad. He moved back in last fall & things are better. For those that don't know, he moved out by mutual argument, er..uh agreement, and lived by himself in an apartment he couldn't afford for 6 months. Needless to say, he learned the importance of a job living on his own for awhile. The home stay is temporary (HOPEFULLY!) until he's back on his feet and gets back to school next fall.

Christmas was great although I must admit it's a little different from when the kids were little. I love the time together and I've always enjoyed the season, but it felt different this year. Not in a negative way, just different. Still I enjoyed spending time with the family. My own siblings and mother get together before Christmas. Since there are so many kids, grandkids & now the greats are populating the family, we rent a hall for the get together. There's always a story or 12 told and the night seems to go SO fast.

On Christmas morning, I put together the ping-pong table for the "family" gift. Now, the first thing is to try & figure out where the hell the English version is...then, unpack all the parts to ensure nothing is missing, finally to read all the directions entirely. NAH! I unpack the sucker, look at the pictures and tear into it like I know what I'm doing! After I put the second set of legs on...actually, I put the first set on wrong...back up, put them on right...then after the 2nd set, I somehow bolted down the directions onto the table flipped upside down on the floor. RRRIIPPP, goes the directions & I'm left with an scarcely intact version of the French instructions! Parle vous what?! Finally, I have the legs on & flip the table upright (by myself-DUH!) & she stands for about 3 seconds only to come crashing down to the floor, BOOM! I failed to set the stop that keeps the legs from swinging! "Are you alright" was that call from upstairs after I bellered a few expletives. Never the less, she's up and the ping is ponging full swing.

Last but not least, I'm getting back into the workout routine. I've been on again, off again for the past few months with one ailment or another…nothing serious, just the pain that seems to find a new home every week. About 6 weeks ago I started back on the treadmill. I had some leg problems way back in May last year that kept me from running. I was training for a 1/2 marathon & developed some nagging pains that kept me from any more running. I made due with walking, biking & swimming since but I was disappointed at the very least. I don't have any aspirations to do any training of that sort anytime soon. It's really time consuming and HARD!

I have a pretty cool workout that's more cardio focused. The exercises are mostly light or body weight. The good thing is the movements are continuous so I get outta' the gym fairly quickly, albeit very sweat inducing. I'm forcing myself to do this to trim some belly fat before the wife & I go south for a week in February. That's it, no really huge goals, but its motivation enough to get me going. I gotta' have the swimsuit figure ready for the sun!

That's all from my little world. I have a question for all the Gabbers out there: I'm a wine drinker & cigar smoker. Not a connoisseur by any stretch, but I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in talking about wine &/or cigars? I don't want to bore anyone if it's not an interest. Let me know what you think?

Take care everyone!