a lot going on, and alot of pics too.

So quite a bit has gone on the last couple weeks that I am determining just how strong my faith in God is. Aside from a lot going on at home that I really can't discuss or disclose here with my nephew, and a lot of hard decisions to make - I've had none stop stress at work. I need to put an end to that though because it really is affecting my ability to handle everything else. But they say these things come in three's - although I'm not sure I want to believe that. If it is true, then I sure hope my 3's are finished!

These are the orange lillies that are popping up all near my garage. There must be about 75 of them coming up - they are really pretty. I just wish that they didn't require so much GREEN along with them. I can't even find the tree trunk that came down last October at this point.

This is our Barn Star I bought. Got it for a STEAL at Wegmans. $9! It was half price. I love it. I've always wanted one and now I have it. I'm not sure how weather proof it is, so it'll come down in the fall, but I love it.

These are some pics I took of the kids last night out at East Aurora. We went out to my girlfriend's house for a cookout and then fireworks. Above is Malik and the loot he collected at the town parade. Below is Tyler and his girlfriend, Jay playing air guitar and then a couple of shots of the fireworks.


Lastly - and this is where I am really struggling in keeping myself praising God - is my car. I took it in because I needed to replace a ball joint, and get a new set of tires. In addition, my mechanic and I figured we'd better go have it 4 wheel aligned because I keep going thru tires. This is the 3rd set of tires in the last 18 months and that isn't normal. So anyway I take it in, and after 2 hrs of trying to get it to align, they finally come tell me that my rear tires are shifted about 8 degrees to the left. After the $800 I spent getting the new ball joint and tires, it's going to be another $300 for the rear axle to be completely taken apart, shims installed, and rebuilt. And you know how much of that is parts? $40. The rest is all labor charges. I know! So I make an appointment for next thursday to have this work done, and then, driving home last night? I somehow hit the ONLY patch of road with no shoulder and a steep drop off, and BLOW OUT the TWO brand new tires on the passenger side of my car. So not only do I now have 2 brand new, FLAT tires, but I am without a car the entire weekend. Yeah. Why? Because my mechanic is closed until Monday. I couldn't go anywhere else, because if the tires can't be repaired, and I need to re-buy the tires - I want to buy them from him. Oh I was just sick about it last night. I did spend some time in prayer while I waited for the tow truck to come. I came out of it, saying Don't worry - because who can add a day to their lives, a dollar to their bank account, or a tire to their car SIMPLY by worrying? the answer is simply.... no one.

This is the edge I hit. I must have got it just right....

Can you see there, where the white things are how the edge of the road just sort of crumbled? Well I must have hit it at an angle when I came back over from compensating from going to the left to avoid the sand barrels. I was doing about 35mph. :(

Did I mention that this was at like 12:30 at night? Man, It was 2:30am before I finally made it to bed.

One last pic - we are doggy sitting my friend Tracy's little Maltese "Sunny". Boy is he funny! He woke me up this morning at 7:15 to go out. He won't sleep with me - but he was with Jill the whole night. And I think because I didn't get up fast enough this morning - he pulled all the clothes out of my laundry basket. He didn't DO anything to them, except leave them all over the bedroom floor while I was sleeping. Of course Jill is a jealous girl and anytime I'm anywhere NEAR Sunny, she is all over me acting rediculous.