Author Archive

I have had a few requests for this song, so I am hosting it here!

Click on it and listen.  It is straight up awesome!

Magic Kingdom in the sky

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day, so Renee and Angela were both off.  I work from home, and Matt isn’t working at the moment, so we decided to go down to Sears and do some pictures.  They all turned out great.  I wasn’t so sure that the Tu-Tu pictures would work out, but alas, they did and now Lorelai has some cute Tu-Tu pictures.  She and the boys clean up pretty good.

In other news, my job is slowly starting to pick up steam.  Renee’s job is still pretty Meh, but nobody is really breaking our door down to stick her into a new job, so she is sticking it out for now.

Go check out the gallery section of this site, see the new pictures, there are both the Sears ones, and right now I am uploading some from Renee’s camera.

Well, the new year is upon us. It seems to be going along quite nicely. Nothing tragic as of yet. 2009 was a rocky year. Many celebrity deaths including Michael Jackson among others. In family, there were some heavy hitters definitely. The year ended with Renee’s grandmother, Marion L Booth. She was very well loved by all of us. It was a great loss to the earth. Heaven is a better place with her around.
Back here on earth, we struggle with the day to day activities and events in our lives. Money has never been tighter, and Phoenix has all but collapsed in on itself. There is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel though. People are starting to spend a little bit more. All will right itself soon, just not yet.
I started a new job with a company called J & M Web Design. I design websites from home. It is nice because I can watch Lorelai during the day. Right now, I get about 15 hours on a good week. I am hoping it will pick up speed soon though. Our bills are still stacking up.
Christmas was good. It is teetering on the best ever. I can’t decide between that one and the year I got my Z-50 Honda motorcycle. That was an amazing year, but seeing Lorelai open gifts was magical.
We have a new dog, Bella. She is a Fawn Pug (meaning she is blonde). Renee seems happier with a Pug in the house. I like the Pug, but it makes no difference to me at this point. I said we would keep her because the alternative is that her previous owner takes her to a Pug Rescue.
We have started hanging out with the Brighams a lot more, especially Chris and Sara. Sara isn’t a Brigham yet, but I wouldn’t doubt if that didn’t change in the next couple years. They seem to have the same feelings that Renee and I have. They make a good “couple friend” for us.
Saturday nights, I have started playing poker with the Brighams. It is just a friendly little game of Holdem.
Church is doing great. We go almost every Sunday and Matt and Angela have started going when they can. It is really fun. We are hoping our 10:24 groups start again soon. They are passing out flyers for them again, so I am sure they are coming up. 10:24 groups are where we go to a church members home every week with about 8 other people and talk about the Lord. It is kind of like a Bible study, but we do a lot of relating into our own lives. Then we have a dessert. It is a lot of fun, and we get to meet other members of the church.
Now for what you have all been waiting for, the Lorelai updates.
A few months ago, she started pulling herself around. A week ago, she actually started crawling, but a couple weeks before her crawl, she started pulling herself up. Now she will crawl over to the couch, pull herself up, and spend a half an hour on her own just walking back and forth. She can now switch from one couch to the other, and then from the couch to the coffee table. She is actually putting herself through Physical Therapy. It is amazing to watch.
She still sleeps all the way through most nights, but she has been taking longer naps during the day, so she has been waking up at night sometimes. Today, I am going to let her sleep in, then when she wakes up, I am going to keep her up until about 2:00 PM.
Right now, she is in 6-9 month clothes, and I think she will be in them for a while yet. It is hard to believe that her birthday is coming up in April. She will be 1. Hopefully she has some teeth in by then. Renee is already planning the party.
Well, I think that is all for now. With me being home more now, I am going to try to take better care of this site. I redesigned it so we weren’t on a template. I just added the power of video, and now I am going to try to update that.
Have a great day and leave us a comment to let us know you stopped by!

We are coming upon both Renee’s birthday and Lorelai turning 5 months. It is pretty cool.
Since I last blogged, not much has really happened. We are mainly just trying to get caught up with our bills. I am still working for Consignment Billiards and Games selling low priced quality pool tables, which is part of Best in Show Billiards and Games. I am also rebuilding my dad’s appliance repair in phoenix website, Authorized-Appliance.net. I took on another website, which I am nearly finished with. It is for a locksmith in Scottsdale. Mercurylock.com is their website.
I just have to finish the intro video and change out some of the pictures. For the most part though, it is live.
I am currently looking for a second job so that Renee and I can take Lorelai up to Washington to meet my mom and so I can show Renee where I come from.
The holidays are quickly approaching. The thought of Lorelai’s first Halloween is really exciting. More exciting though, is her first Christmas. We are going to celebrate at our apartment and Renee has promised me that we can get a real tree. I have wanted a real Christmas tree for years, so I am definitely excited about it.
Sunday, I am quitting smoking. I am done with it. I have been trying for years to quit, but with no luck. This time, I am serious about quitting. I hate cigarettes and I hate the hold they have had on me. It is definitely time. Sunday, after church, I am giving Renee my pack and I am going smoke free for the whole day. It worries me that she goes back to work on Monday, which leaves me to my own willpower, but I have faith in God that he will help me. I will keep myself busy by finishing up the Mercurylock website, and anything else I can keep busy with. I will probably also take a nap or two that day just to keep from thinking about smoking.
My consignment store has started getting busier. It is a good sign. I have sold 3 pool tables in the past couple weeks. I am really hoping I will sell more this weekend. There is a guy who is coming in tomorrow to buy a $220 cue, but I don’t get commission on it.
Renee’s job is stress filled as ever. Everyday she learns something new and horrible about it. Either someone is quitting, has quit, or is giving her more stuff to do. She is an excellent employee and does her job better than most people in her same classification, but her boss’ boss has tripled her workload in the past week, and she cannot do anything about it. What is worse is that she is dealing with classified material that she is very much not allowed to access. I have hopes that they are doing it to train her for the position where she can access it, but she says it isn’t very likely. If they bear down on her too much, I may ask her to quit. She doesn’t need the stress and we can find her other work.
One of our friends, well pretty much one of our only friends, has moved to Houston TX for three months or longer to do a Federal roofing job. The hours are long, the pay is crappy, but he is making a lot of money. Angela and their kids really miss him, but they are getting along fine. They live in our same complex, so we help each other when we can.
Another one of our friends, Tiffany, is moving back here from Tennessee. She moved out there to live with her dad, save some money, and help her autistic brother. She is done, so she is moving back. We are very excited to see her.
My dad and the family are doing great, just trucking along. Their house is packed with people and dogs. I don’t see how they all get along so well, but they do. It works for them. Renee’s family is doing great. Her grandma is getting healed back up and is about 100% now from her pacemaker they put in. She and Donna take turns watching Lorelai while Renee and I are at work. They are both life savers. I couldn’t imagine what we would do without either of them.
Renee, Lorelai, and I have started going to church at Horizons. It is a non-denom with some Baptist overtones. It is really relaxed, but with a great structure. They do all sorts of neat activities including trips to Bolivia, and Jamaica to preach the word and do mission work, as well as local things, such as dinners, bible studies, and more. It is really friendly and very welcoming. It is close to home too, so we enjoy it. Lorelai goes into the nursery, and we go into worship. Renee’s friends (and now mine) go there and that is how we found out about it. It is great.

Well, that is about it for now. I will update again when I have time.
Check out the pictures and leave comments.

Austin Trueblood was born on 6/16/09 to Angela and Matthew Trueblood.  His older brother, Dillan, thinks it is pretty cool, as well as Ang and Matt.  What does this have to do with the Gormsens, you may ask?  Well, they are great friends of ours, and just a few months ago, they became our neighbors.  They made us the kids’ Godparents.  Awesome, right?

Ang and Matt have helped us out of some tough situations, and we are always trying to repay the favor, but they seem to always be one step ahead of us, something that we could never repay.  They are true friends.

So, besides their new little one, who is cuter than hell, we have some updates too.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, Independence Day! To celebrate, we are going to play some poker at our apartment with Renee’s mom, her mom’s boyfriend, grandma, and us.  We are having deep fried porkchops.  It will be fun.

I don’t know if we will do anything for the fourth, but we may end up in the Arrowhead Mall Parking lot.  That is always fun.  Across the street, they set off a really nice set of fireworks.  I actually went into the park once, but it was way overcrowded and everybody was pissy, due to the intense heat and lack of beverage areas.

Luckily, Alex gave me the day off as well as the day after.  He’s awesome like that.

We are still struggling to pay bills.  I finally stopped avoiding my student loans, so now I have to pay $50 a month to them.  Thank God Renee is going to start bringing home some income.

Figment gave us one helluva scare the other day.  We brought her home and found that she had licked the outside of our toilet bowl cleaner bottle.  It didn’t have much on the outside, luckily, but there is hydrochloric acid in there.  It will eat her insides.  We took her to the vet, paid a hefty sum, and got her fixed.  Luckily, Alex got me my check a few days early so we were still able to pay rent.  Again, he is awesome!

Dad is in Washington and Idaho right now with Donna and the kids.  They are going all over up there.  I am sure they are having a blast.  I miss that area so bad.

Well, have a safe and happy 4th!  Don’t blow your hand off!

Well, everything is coming together.  I am slowly getting images uploaded.  I think it is going to be great.

In our lives right now, Renee is at home with Lorelai and Figment.  She is cleaning up a bit, and enjoying her last couple weeks of being a SAHM.  On the 29th, she goes back to work, so she needs to enjoy her freedom while she can.  She may end up getting some extra time though.  I don’t know how we are going to swing it, but Lorelai has reflux, so she needs one of us there.
I am currently at work.  I sell pool tables for a living and really enjoy it.  I don’t actually sell many, but times are tough.  If I stick with it, I may be able to really make it pay off.  I am hopeful.

My other job, which I have put on the backburner, is web design.  I still make websites on request, but I am not marketing my services.  If you need one, just ask.  I make em cheap, fast, and reliable.  You provide the words, I provide the website.

I should probably get back to work.  Write another ad or something.  It is tough to stay busy, but it is fun when I am.  When I’m not, it is pretty fun too.

This is the first entry in what I hope is a long list of them, so that you, the reader, can see how our fun little family is operating.  This isn’t any Jon and Kate stuff, but it works.

Please read and comment on our posts and look at and comment on our pictures

We are made up of my wife Renee, my daughter Lorelai, my dog Figment, and of course me, George.