‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 10 (Part 2)

Okay, it’s the last day of July and I’m supposed to have a podcast coming out tomorrow, and if any of you have paid any attention to what I’ve been saying on my blog, then you know that I have not even started on my podcast yet.  I’m a little ashamed of the fact that I have not started, but the months of July and August have been crazy around my house and I think September and October are only going to get worse!  So, with that in mind, I’m hoping to get the next episode of TJCS out by next weekend.  Of course, that’s if everything goes perfectly around the house and if everything goes great for this weekend!  I got up around nine o’clock this morning and got things going for the day.  I went downstairs and continued organizing and repairing for the weekend event.  I had some time today so I played a little PS3, but most of my day was spent making sure that everyone was ready for the event and that I was ready for tomorrow.  Heather came home from work and helped me finish up and we then ate dinner together as a family and I tried to relax this evening before the beginning of the big event tomorrow!

Okay, let’s talk about Part 2 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 10 (Part 1)

Today was my last day to get things together for the Festival this weekend.  I ran around and made sure we had enough copies, and managed to get the idea of our Jedi Academy finalized.  Heather helped me out by going to Party City, finding some cheap stickers and we also managed to get some candy for this weekend as well.  I got all the copies done this morning and basically spent all of my day and night organizing everything for the festival that starts on Friday.  I also started to drag out my costumes and make the repairs that I needed to make in order to ensure that I will not run into problems during Spiedie Fest.  As I’ve said before, I’m excited and I’m scared all at once about this festival, let’s just hope it goes off as well as I see it in my head.

I had my last day of work before the end of the week and I have to say it was surprisingly busy tonight.  I got the impression that everyone decided to take tonight to go out and have dinner.  I got home and was totally beat, so I went to bed early and Heather joined me.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 10 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 9 (Part 8)

Tuesday.  Well, things started to get back to normal a little bit.  As normal as we can expect around my house.  I woke up this morning around seven o’clock or so to my son and my youngest daughter fighting with each other over what they should be “playing” in the morning.  So, I punished both of them.  In great irony, I found out that Ruth had woken up, found them out in the living room fighting, and decided to head back to her room and to just read.  So, since Ruth was reading, I decided that they all needed to be reading.  I made them read for a good hour before I let them come out of their rooms.  Besides, it gave me some time to watch Dr. Phil this morning.  They came out of their rooms and I let them go into the pool since it was a hotter and more humid day.  I told them we would need to work on the pool water more to make it healthy for them.  So I only let them swin for about an hour and told them just to play outside.  I then started working feverishly toward things for the Spiedie Fest.  I made a new intro letter for our group so my wife could make copies for the festival and I also worked on trying to make some new business cards.  It wasn’t easy, but I now have some business cards to give out and some of them came out great and some of them came out looking like total crap.  Heather and I called “Avery” and complained and they agreed to send us some new business cards.  It took me all morning and all afternoon finishing getting all of that done and working on organizing everything I need for the fest.

Once Heather got home, I took a shower and ate some dinner and went to work.  Work was steady tonight, but not too bad.  I got done and came home and got to work on some more things for Spiedie Fest and worked on making phone calls and sending out emails.  I just realized tonight that there will NOT be a shuttle from our “off site” parking facility which is going to make the fest a little harder than we originally thought.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 8 of Chapter 9 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 9 (Part 7)

Monday.  You would think I would be used to my children, but I forgot how early Austin gets up even in the summer!  Austin managed to get up around six-thirty this morning and started to bug me about getting myself out of bed.  He complained because we didn’t have any cereal for breakfast.  I will openly admit, we did not!  Why?  I don’t eat breakfast in the summer, so I told Austin to make some toast.  I then urged him to join me downstairs and to watch his T.V. shows down there and I’ll admit that I zoned out in the chair while he watched T.V. until about eight-thirty when Ruth and Tara actually woke up.  They got some breakfast and I watched Dr. Phil.  Then the kids went outside and played for a while.  They were bugging me to go roller blading, so I told them they could stay on our street and go.  I watched “Frasier” and “Deadliest Catch” upstairs while they did that.  Around noon or so, we all ate lunch together.  The kids actually went outside and had a picnic on the lawn.  I thought it was pretty cute.  Not too long after lunch, Heather came home and took a nap.  I watched the kids in the pool till she got up and made dinner while I was in the shower and then I ate dinner and was off to work.  Luckily, I only have to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week to help me prepare for the Spiedie Fest this weekend.  I’m excited and nervous about he event all at once.  I’m excited because we’re going to be doing some cool things, but I’m nervous because it’s my first major event as Chapter Rep and I want it to go smoothly.  I know it could, but knowing the officials of the event, it could be a disaster as well.  I got to work tonight and it was dead!  We had little to no customers and I’m not a big fan of that at Wendy’s.  I got done with work and came home and started to work on things for the Spiedie Fest including getting some paperwork done and getting some emails out.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 7 of Chapter 9 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel – Chapter 9 (Part 6)’

It’s Sunday and it was time to go to church, so we got up at our usual eight o’clock this morning and we all got ready for church including my mom and dad.  We wished my dad a happy birthday this morning and ate some donuts for breakfast and then got dressed and headed on our way.  I will say that I was a little dissapointed with the sermon this morning.  It just didn’t seem like it had any point to it other than to show me the “relationship” I’m supposed to have with God and quite honestly I know what relationship I’m supposed to have with God by now!  That’s kind of why I’m a Christian.  So, the sermon was unfulfilling and I felt bad because the pastor of our new church was on vacation and my parents didn’t get a chance to see what our church is really like with our new pastor.  All well, such is life and I guess I should expect that.

We no more than got home till my parents packed their car up and were on the road.  I felt bad because it was dad’s birthday and I really wanted to do something special, but my mom insisted they get on the road right away.  I’m sure she had plans at home for him, but it would have been nice to have a lunch and some cake, but all well, this is the life I live.  Once my parents left, we got to work on settling the kids in.  The house is surely no longer quiet.  In reality, I LOVE it that way.  I really don’t like my house being so quiet and I have to say it’s nice that the house is back to it’s old self.  I goofed around some with Austin and showed him some things that I did to his costume for next weekend which is our big event of the year, Spiedie Fest.

The girls and I got a chance to learn about their trip a little and had a chance to catch up on how things were going with them.  Ruth is excited about Girl Scout Horse Camp which starts for her next weekend as well.  Lot’s of excitement and lots of energy around the house, but it’s all for the better.  We helped the kids put their clothes, toys, etc. away and then got together the dirty laundry that we knew were inevitable.  We laid down some new ground rules, like no one is to run the dishwasher except mom and dad, but all in all, had a good day.  We got to night and the kids watched a movie upstairs while Heather and I watched our usual Sunday night T.V. shows downstairs.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 6 of Chapter 9 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover……

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 9 (Part 5)

Saturday.  The day my kids come home and I have to say there was an air of excitement about all of that this morning.  Heather and I woke up around nine o’clock this morning and did our last minute cleaning before mom and dad showed up with the kids.  Once the kids got here, the activity in our house seemed like it was back to normal.  They were so excited to be home.  Tara kept showing us the stuff she got while she was gone.  The only person that didn’t seem as excited as the rest was Ruth.  Heck, she was asking about horse camp almost the minute she walked in the door.  As Heather reminded her, she had a whole week to worry about horse camp before we took her there.

We gave mom and dad the fifty cent tour of the new house.  They were impressed with all of the changes that we’ve made toward the house.  Mom and dad did not show up until the afternoon, so by the time we got everyone settled, it was time to have dinner.  We had it on our back deck and it was an okay dinner.  We got done with dinner and Heather managed to coax mom and dad downstairs to watch T.V. in her room while she did some sewing because she has a deadline tomorrow for jackets.  Well, that worked until we heard the first rumble of thunder and crack of lightning and my mom wanted to be upstairs.  I played the PS3 until the thunderstorm and then lost contact with the Internet, so I went upstairs and joined them.  We decided to watch “Jeff Dunham:  Spark of Insanity” because my dad had said he always wanted to see the whole act.  Of course, I’m not sure that mom heard all of the act as she only laughed a few times, but dad heard it all and was laughing hysterically.  After watching the DVD,  we all decided to go to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 5 of Chapter 9 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 9 (Part 4)

Friday.  End of the week and the end of Heather and I being home alone without the kids.  I hate to say it, but I’m really excited about them coming home tomorrow.  Heather and I had a really simple plan for the day today, CLEAN!!  I will admit that our house is not clean.  It’s amazing how much cleaning the kids do around the house for us, and we had a lot to catch up on to make sure the house was clean enough for my parents and even ourselves.  So, Heather got up early this morning and headed off to work and I got up around eight and started cleaning like the wind!  I contacted Heather to see how work was going, and she had one word, “hectic”.

I got to work and it was mass chaos the minute I walked in the door.  So much so, that I was supposed to be on carryout grill and somehow I ended up on front end sandwiches.  And if that wasn’t enough, I was on front end sandwiches with the district manager standing right next to me, breathing down my neck.  But, on the plus side, I got a compliment from him saying that I did an excellent job under the pressure, which Heather said even she does not get compliments from him.

I came home and we both crashed.  We crashed so much, that we both took about an hour long nap.  That was just to make it through the rest of the evening.  We got up, dressed up a little and then headed over to Cracker Barrell.  We had a great dinner and then went to Suzie Q’s for dessert.  It was a nice evening as a last date before the kids came home.  We got home and then it was time to scramble cleaning the house, and that’s just what we did.  We got done around eleven o’clock, went upstairs, read together and then went to sleep.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 4 of Chapter 9 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 9 (Part 3)

Thursday.  The middle of the week is gone and it’s hard to believe that I will see my children as of this Saturday.   It’s hard to believe it’s been two weeks already, but at the same time I will say that I miss my children and can’t wait for them to come home and spend some time with us.  I got up this morning and pointed out to Heather that this is the last two days we have without the kids.  She said we should try to do something tomorrow night and I suggested we go out for dinner, and she agreed and said we should go to “Cracker Barrell” since we haven’t been there in a while.  Of course, this was all through the cell phone as she was at work and I was home.  I got to work and joined her and her boss at work and I will say that it was quite the busy day!  We have the Empire State Games here this weekend and it seems like there are non-stop people coming in and out of the doors at Wendy’s.  I was on grill and for the first time since I started this job, I actually started to run out of cooked meat and needed some assistance to keep up.  Even Heather’s boss was surprised by this, but there were so many sandwiches going out that I just could not keep up with it all.

We got done with our shift and just went home and vegged out together.  I played some PS3 tonight and I continued to work on my Scur Falco box and finishing up my backpack to get things ready for our next big event which is the Spiedie Fest the first weekend in August.  It dawned on me tonight that I have a TJCS episode coming out that same weekend, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to get it out on time.  All well, I’ll just have to do the best I can.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 3 of Chapter 9 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 9 (Part 2)

Okay, it was Wednesday and I had a late night last night, so I woke up fairly late this morning.  Heather and I got up around nine-thirty this morning because I had a chiropractic appointment at ten-thirty this morning.  We got a shower and got some breakfast and then went to the appointment.  I’ll admit that I fight my wife about going to the chiropractor, but often feel great after the appoitment and I should just go more often.  Dr. Tim does a great job and I can’t say enough about him.  He made my lower back pain pretty much disappear, which I really needed.  We got done there and headed over to Lowes and I got some latches and clasps for Scur’s box and came home and put them on right away.  Then we went to the basement and she sewed while we watched Deadliest Catch from last night, together.  I then took an afternoon nap while she continued sewing and Heather woke me up around two o’clock, and I ate dinner and headed to work.

Work wasn’t bad this evening, it was just steady.  I will say that the day was crappy weather wise around Binghamton.  It rained and thunderstormed all day long.  I really am hoping for sme good weather soon so I can mow the lawn and finish with some of my clear coating on my painting.  I came home after work, and blogged and here I am.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 9 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Star Wars: Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 9 (Part 1)

Tuesday and we had quite the schedule planned today, but got a lot done.  Heather and I both got up around seven o’clock today and got ourselves going.  She had a bunch of things she wanted to get while we were out and so did I.  We headed to JoAnn’s Fabrics first so Heather could get some things she needed, including the mesh she needed to fix Jeff’s Darth Vader costume so that it breaths a little more for the poor guy, considering how hot he gets in the costume.  She got some other things while we were there and then headed ove to Wal Mart.  We got the kids some new backpacks and lunch bags for school and then got me some shaving cream.  We tried to find some latches and some hinges for the wood box I’m making for Scur.  But, no luck at Wal Mart.  But we also managed to find “Star Wars:  Robot Chicken” and we also found “Jeff Dunham, Arguing With Myself”, both for under $10 each.  We then grabbed some things for dinner and came home.  We got home, put some things away and I worked on trying to print out some things for the upcoming Spiedie Fest, including getting out some Thank you letters and also printing out a whole mess of business cards.  Now I’ll have to make some copies of our intro letter at some other time.  I went downstairs and joined Heather while I ate lunch and we watched Jeff Dunham.  She then decided to take a nap and I fell asleep watching “Robot Chicken Star Wars”.  I got up from my nap and got ready for work.

Work was okay, except my wife had begged me to stay a little later because one of her closers called in sick, so I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her and I stayed at work an hour past I was scheduled.  I then came home, watched “Deadliest Catch, Behind The Scenes” while I wrote in my blog.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 9 of “Star Wars:  Shatterpoint, A Clone Wars Novel” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..