COVID Continued and Lola's Photo Shoot

Well daddy is back to work full time now and the girls are done with school. Sophia and Mia both had all A's and B's this semester and I am so proud of you girls for staying on track and getting everything done amidst this craziness. Not only is COVID bad enough now we have all the sadness, hatred and violence stemming from the George Floyd killing. I pray that this will all be over soon and that somehow we will all learn how to find a middle ground and create a new future and not just try to push our own agendas and not see through the eyes of our brothers and sisters. You all know that daddy is not a real political person but I really wish we could all go back to focusing on the real law given to us in His word and stop trying reinvent what is already perfect. 1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other" is what He asks of us. There is no doubt that many changes need to be made in our country and the way it is run but if we were to keep this simple commandment in our hearts and minds at all time there is no way we can fail. I pray that the Lord will bless all of my children with a heart to love, the courage to stand up for what is right in His eyes and a strong relationship with Him to gain the wisdom to know what is right and not rely on human understanding but on His love.

I love coming home and finding treasues like this in the backyard

I don't always drink Bud Light, but when I do I prefer to do it with a flower in my ear

Lola's photo shoot. Aggie and the family came over for our first get together and Angie got Lola to pose so cute. There are like 100 more pictures but these are good enough.

 



RIP Joe

Almost a year ago I blogged about my friend Joe being the MAN for hooking mommy and I up with a beautiful suite at Pechenga for our anniversary. Sadly Joe passed away unexpectedly 2 weeks ago from a brain hemorrhage. Joe and I hit it off as soon as I hired him and even though he reported to me I considered him a friend and learned so much more from him than anyone I have ever worked with. Joe had such a big heart and was one of the most dedicated and loyal guys I have ever worked with. I'm going to miss him dearly and will forever cherish our friendship. Until we meet again, So long Joe.

I broke out the good stuff to say goodbye to Joe

This is the last picture I have of Joe. We went to Heroes for lunch and sent the picture to Mario who left us to work for the city of Corona so that's why Aggie is flying the finger.

 



COVID Lockdown Week....OH Whatever

Well girls, I don't even know what week of lockdown we are in but as long as we are all safe and healthy I am happy. I'm so proud of you girls for hanging in there and doing all your chores and school work. Hopefully this will be over by summer and we can go on a nice vacation somewhere. Until then keep up on your school work and keep the creativity flowing.

 

 

Mia asked me for some tape and this is what it was for. #COVID Creativity!

 



Michelle's new car. I know we are not supposed to go out but this was a great deal. Shell named it Bailey but I told her she should name him Bradley so she could have a Bradley Cooper LOL. She did get sad when I called it a Mini Pooper

 



Mommy found this teak patio set on offer up really cheap and all it needed was a pressure wash and some teak oil. Can't wait until we can have friends and family over for a BBQ

 



Lola gets scared anytime daddy cooks LOL. Just kidding, she climbs up on the arm of the couch whenever we fry anything. I think this one was bacon. She is super smart but I would think she would run towards the smell of bacon not away

 



 

 

How adorable is Lexi playing with her new little duckling. Sarah bought an incubator and hatched a bunch of ducks to go with their 3 German shepherds and a whole bunch of bunnies. She is also talking about getting a goat, some chickens and a cow. I would have never thought Sarah would grow up to be such a farmers. She is also getting a new wiener dog. I guess the German shepherds need a new chew toy LOL!

COVID-19...Pounds (AKA Lockdown week 2 or 3? Not sure what day it is anymore) (AKA tour of daddy's shed/man cave)(AKA starting to lose it)(AKA LOL)

Is it just me or has this lockdown increased my appetite? I'm guessing it's just me but I think there is something about staying at home that makes me hungry. I think we are in week 3 of the lockdown but I did not post last week so this post is titled week 2. Either way it actually feels like week 75. The suite is still doing well and we are all healthy which is most important. As a family we actually like staying home and hanging around the house so I feel for the people who love to go out on the town, they must be going crazy. Even though we are "Homies" we have still been challenged with what to do with our time and avoid being too lazy. Week 1 wasn't too bad catching up on a few projects and cleaning the yard but week 2 got a little difficult with daddy's lack of focus and the lack of supplies. Week 2 consisted of a lot of Netflix. We started watching Ozark and were hooked 3 minutes into the first episode and are already wrapping up the 2nd season. It is definitely not family friendly which is why we haven't caught up yet since we have to wait until the girls go to bed to watch. We tried to watch Tiger King after hearing so much hub bub about it but just couldn't get into it.

Yesterday was Michelle's birthday and daddy made his famous spaghetti sauce. Of course we had nobody over to celebrate but grandma and cousin Heather surprised her by decorating our front porch, doing a "Honk" by and blasting the happy birthday song. Another fun surprise was daddy catching Edward trying to sneak in the back gate to surprise Michelle. I don't think it was too fun for him since I didn't recognize him through the fence and yelled what the F are you doing. It's been a long time now so I don't blame him for wanting to spend time with her and I appreciate him surprising her for her birthday. After a Lysol bath Edward went home (probably changed his shorts) and Michelle thanked me for not freaking out, like I said baby, I don't blame him for wanting to be with you. Maybe I should let him start calling me Sir instead of Mr. Graham??? Today is actually his birthday so I guess I better keep an eye on the cameras to catch her sneaking out to surprise him.

Hopefully my week 4 post will have some good news about getting back to normal in the suite but until then I just pray that God keeps us safe through this pandemic and that our family and all families become closer in the end.

Our Garden with the new shade sail

Our pool ducks Fred & Ethel kissing

 

 

Daddy's pug bottle opener. Thanks girls

Uncle Eric brought me Papa's bear lamp. I can't wait to light it up in my man cave if I ever get one.

Daddy's great grandpa Mike Lopez made this drill press from scratch. Grandpa Mike only went to school until the 3rd grade but the man was a genius. He forged the levers, cut tubing and wired a motor to a pulley system. This thing still works though probably not the safest with no ground plug. He was a welder/fabricator for the SoCal gas company and great grandma says that he actually invented a special valve then the gas company stole his idea after he had shown his invention to his boss. 

This is a chunk of the stadium that used to sit on the Anaheim HS campus. The on campus stadium was built in the late 20's and underneath were the football teams locker room, showers and coaches offices while my papa was there until they built Glover Stadium in the 50's to accommodate the huge crowds that came to watch Anaheim legend Mickey Flynn and the national powerhouse Anaheim Colonists coached by the Hall of Famer Clare Van Hoorebeke. When I was in HS we used it for a weight room, baseball locker room and batting cage. Sadly, a few years ago the decision was made to tear down the stadium and I was able to save a chunk for a souvenir.

One of daddy's lockdown projects. Mommy found this desk on Offer up for free and I am kicking myself for not taking any before pictures because this thing was tore up. Daddy sanded, stripped and stained and even Googled a way to polish the old handles with baking soda and lemon juice straight from my lemon tree. 

When we were in Bullhead helping grandma pack up for Minnesota I had to take one of papa's coyote pavers. He had them all along the side of the house and I remember helping him bring them home. Papa used to save a lot of his labor intensive projects for when the grandsons were around. 

This is a razor sharpening strap for when men used to shave their face with a straight blade like a real man! Those razors were replaced with disposable razors long before I was born and I don't even shave but my papa had one hanging in his garage so I will too.  

I have no clue where my papa got this cup but I always remember thinking it was so cool when I was a kid so I brought it home

Daddy's tool cabinet. I've had this cabinet since before any of you girls were born and have been collecting stickers on it ever since. Each one of the NFL teams are represented except for a couple and each of those stickers represent a pitcher of beer. When Michelle was a baby we used to live walking distance from an awesome pizza place that sold $4.50 pitchers and in the arcade had a bumper sticker machine that sold NFL bumper stickers for 50 cents. Also keep in mind that we used to get a lot of stickers that we already had so my grand total is a lot more than is represented on the cabinet. Thinking back I probably shouldn't have drank so much but like I said it was walking distance from our apartment and I had Andrew's back for the walk home. He was only 7 but almost as tall as me already and had a little mustache. 

Daddy has had this beer cup since 1984 when we went to Nebraska to visit grandpas family. My uncle Ron gave this cup and let my drive his truck "Jezebel" home from the speedway. 

Who is this kid and nice hairline. Of course you girls know that this is daddy when he was a freshman and this is my mean face Mia not my sad face.

No this is not John Cena, this is daddy sophomore year. Same hairline but this might be a sad face since daddy loved wrestling but hated having to wear a singlet in front of the whole school. 

Daddy's wrestling team sophomore year. This was the team that started a 10 year league champ run and the best decade of Colonist wrestling. It was fun being a part of such a dominant team, every kid on it was a stud. The entire front row was from the same gang and Reuben (1 guy away from daddy) won a Super Bowl with the NY Giants. Beside walking away with the 1st place trophy the bottom row would walk away with whatever they could steal. One time they stole an entire teams uniforms because they thought it would be fun to dress up the JV team in them during practice. It was pretty funny but seriously who does that. I think that each of them has done prison time and 2 I know are still in. Sadly when I became the head coach in 2005 our reputation was still well known and I spent all of my 8 years trying to repair it. 

This is uncle Ken (Center) in his team photo from 1982. If you look close enough you can see that daddy is wearing the exact same jersey in his freshman picture nearly 15 years later. I used to hate that Anaheim was a poor school and couldn't buy new uniforms every year like the rich schools but now i am happy knowing that I got to wear the same jersey that uncle Ken did. 

Lockdown Week 1

Week 1 of the lockdown is winding down and so far all is good in the suite, I even won $15 on a scratcher this morning. I'm lucky enough to work for a large, financially stable company who has promised to pay all employees through May 1st so I haven't had much more added stress. It really feels like a "Staycation" to me other than Michelle having to go to work. I just pray that God protects and watches over her when I can't.

There are no shortage of projects in the suite so mommy and me have stayed busy in the garden and around the house. Michelle has been a huge help picking up groceries and supplies since she is already out of the house but I'm hoping that we'll need some essentials from Home Depot because I need a few supplies for projects.

Mommy and I love working in the yard but the last couple of days have been freezing if the sun is behind a cloud so we've had to come up with a few indoor projects and activities. I started painting Tootie and touching up Tuco the Turtle while continuing to work on my cookbook. Since I have ADD and loose focus fast, the cookbook usually goes 1 recipe at a time and usually when I am watching Diners, Drive ins and Dives. I'm watching as much Huell Howser as I can and I'm thinking of painting with Bob Ross. I've always wanted to follow along with him and see if it is as easy as he makes it look. I hope I can paint some "Happy Trees" and not make any "Happy Accidents".

Other than trying to stay creative and productive it's really just been a lot of TV and eating. I suppose I can add blogging to the list but after this exciting week I'm not sure I will have much left to blog about.

Prayers for a quick end to this virus and for protection for all during this pandemic.

Don't tell my homies from the OC that I am reppin the IE now 

 

I took down the shade sail because it started ripping and I think I may leave it down until Summer



How cute is mommies strawberry patch

Mommy loves this Dragon plant. I don't especially care for it but I did learn why it is called a Dragon plant...the SOB bit me like 5 times while I was working on the fence.

Mommies birdcage planters

Letting my hair grow. I'll probably have a fro when this is all over

I looked over at the fridge and saw this picture from Sophie's play and had to post it. Sophia was so good as the "Singing telegram girl" and "Agent #1" in the thrilling murder mystery, Clue. 

Sophie looks so cool in her agent costume. Look, the other kid doesn't even know how to hold a gun right. She also knows her gun safety and keeps her finger off the trigger until she is ready to bust a cap.

Happy Spring 2020!

Today is the first official day of spring and it's raining. With all the craziness going on right now I'm just looking forward to working in my yard and it's freakin raining. I know I can't blame COVID-19 for the rain but something has to take the fall and I'm tired of blaming everything on Hawaii. Speaking of Hawaii my nephew came over for dinner last night and I honestly think that Danny is officially funnier than his dad. He had me laughing all night but he did make me miss my brother because they have identical senses of humor.

The suite is on lockdown like everyone else but since the girls are practically home schooled already it hasn't changed our life too much. Andrew has been staying away because he lives in LA and works on Rodeo Dr. so he doesn't want to risk bringing it home to us. I love watching him facetime with Lola. She recognizes his voice but then looks around for him, it's adorable! I also worry about Michelle working at Grocery Outlet for both exposure and assholes looking for toilet paper. (HILARIOUS! I just noticed how funny that sounds while proof reading. Definitely no pun intended) it's the figurative assholes that I'm worried about not the literal ones.

This madness has actually made my life a little easier at work as our company has moved all auctions to online only so we don't have to set up the arena or deal with our D-Bag clients, I just have to deal with the D-Bags that work here. I should probably stop talking crap about the used car industry because I just got a FAT bonus and treated myself to a new tattoo.

We are not big partiers or travelers so I don't see this big lockdown or social distancing making life too terrible in the suite but I am concerned with what lies ahead. Although this is my first post this year, the extra time spent on lockdown should give me more time to keep up on the suite. I've even started writing a cookbook with all the recipes from my daddy dinners. Ok so it's just a bunch of recipes I copied from the internet, added bacon and gave it a silly name but I had to do something because we were all getting tired of my meatloaf and spaghetti. I am hand writing them so I hopefully won't get sued and I plan to hand it down to Andrew for him to cook daddy dinners for his family someday and hopefully pass it down to his son as well.

Anyhow, time will tell how all this virus crap turns out but for now just stop the rain so I can work in my yard and I'll be happy. Until next time...

 

Me and mommy at the Mission Inn. Daddy surprised mommy with a romantic Valentine's weekend complete with dinner at the nice Italian restaurant and a couples massage in the spa. The robe and slippers they gave me were like 3 sizes too small but I rocked them anyway (cuz I was drunk), it was comedy. 

 

 Daddy bossing people around from the same chair 8 presidents have sat in.

 

Look how cute our garden is!

 

 Andrew brought home "Tuco the Turtle" from New Mexico as a gift for mommy when he went on vacation there. I named him Tuco after the character from Breaking Bad. Andrew also saw Walt's house while he was there.



 

 

Petunia "Tootie" is still waiting for her paint job and hopefully daddy will get to pick the next dog we get and go from pug to bulldog. 

 



Mommy has become an expert succulent gardener

 

 

 We brought this home from great grandmas house. I can't wait until it fills in and looks like a real teddy bear

 

 

 Our "Pink Lemonade" tree has already started giving us fruit. They are delicious and really are pink inside

 

 

 Tuco's little homie

 

 

 This is a bloom from our almond tree. I can't wait to make my "Roasted Almond Caveman Couscous" with fresh almonds from my own tree.

Daddy trying to take a selfie with a poppy and got photo bombed by mommy

Yeah it hurt! There is still a lot more to go but that was all I could take in 1 session. It's pretty much healed now but it is crazy itchy and not from the healing, it's from having to shave my back. I know I don't look at my back very much but I had no clue it was so hairy. I should have saved it, I could have made myself a fro wig

Happy Birthday Nino

We took a trip down to my old neighborhood in Anaheim a few weeks ago to visit Nino for his birthday. We grew up in the same neighborhood so it was fun reminiscing on the streets I grew up. He had a party and invited a bunch of old friends and since I don't do any social media it was the first time I have seen a lot of them in years. Michelle brought her boyfriend Edward and Nino got drunk and tried to intimidate him but just ended up talked his ear off as he tends to do. The girls went home early with Edward but mommy and I stayed up until 3am catching up with old friends. We haven't been up that late in years. We moved the party over to Lupe's house after Nino passed out since he lives down the street and I was so impressed by Lupe and Shelly's house. They bought an old house that was built back before WW1 and remodeled it and it looks absolutely beautiful. I really love our house but I would love to move back to the neighborhood I grew up in.

Nino with his SC cake (Nino just a little buzzed)



Lupe, me, Sonny, Travis and Nino (Nino still standing)

Me, mommy and Nino (I think mommy is holding Nino up at this point)