Stripper on my deck...

Not this kind of stripper!

  So I stripped the old stain off my deck and am going to put down fresh this weekend.  It was a HUGE pain in the ass but totally worth it, the deck looks SO much better. When i fell back into a chair out in the sun soaking wet and tired, i did want to smoke, but luckily I don't have any so it only lasted for a second. Now I am looking on Oriental traders for some 4^th of July supplies, a need American flag bunting and other items of USA Pride.

So right down the street (like 5 miles) from my house in the great state of North Carolina is this sign:

You are safe until you hear banjos

That in and of itself is not that big of a deal, but right past that sign is this store:

I am going to be spending a ton of $$ here this year. 

They don't just sell the kiddy bottle rockets and sparklers here, SC lets you buy fireworks right up to the size where the federal government steps in to call them a weapon. 

Have you ever had the joy of letting off real fireworks? Ones that go THOOM when they light and BOOOOOM when they explode!

Let me explain my current state of happiness.

This is "Running naked through the streets" Happy...
(Dont get excited Jessica I am a middle aged guy on the other side of the planet!)

My twin sons started their first week of summer vacation yesterday. My wife is a teacher so she is home with them all summer. Next fall they will start kindergarten. So this will be the first year I don’t have a day care payment!! What, that is not impressive to you? Lets do some math....

I took and passed calc-3 in college and today couldn't even remember the basics... 

Daycares in my area run $150 – $225 per week, Not bad for a facility that watches your child for 6 – 10 hours a day, feeds them a meal and two snacks, and builds the educational and social foundation that will set the tone for there entire life. We picked a nice middle of the road priced facility that had higher educational standards. So I was paying $190 per week, per kid. That’s $380 a week… $1520 a month… with eight weeks off a year that’s $16,720 PER YEAR that I have been paying for the last 4 years and now I don’t have to anymore!

Ya its sort of like this

So with my extra money I purchased my first gift to my self last night: 

5 BURNER GAS GRILL WITH SMOKER

Primary cooking area 554 square inches

Secondary cooking area 140 square inches

Total cooking area 694 square inches

5 Stainless steel tube burners

10,000 BTUs each/50,000 BTUs total

12,000 BTUs stainless steel side burner

10,000 BTUs rotisserie burner

Porcelain-coated cast iron cooking grates

Porcelain-coated wire warming rack

Includes smoker inside left door

7,500 BTUs stainless steel smoker burner

Adjustable, chrome-plated cooking grates

Electronic ignition

One of the sexiest things I have ever posted on here.... 

What are YOUR plans for the 4th of July?

(Yes I know that is a very ethnocentric question but 90% of my audience is from the US so it is fair, but a big shout out to who ever it is from Brazil that keeps popping by!)

Smokes vs Gaming

So apparently I have swapped out my smokes for some console game time. And you wondered what I was going to do with all of the free time and money I got from quitting cigarettes.

I TOLD you it wouldn't be strippers.

Today I loaded up the 2^nd free game from Sony, Infamous. In games like this I always play the good guy. And I have to say, infamous is kind of sweet, defiantly a better version of crackdown. I’ve only played for 2 hours or so but I think I am going to like it. I already see why they made a sequel; some things just have that “awesome” vibe to them.

American MILF 1 left so much unanswered.

Now on to something near and dear to my heart. My local gas station has a program where you pay 7 bucks for a cup and you can refill it all summer long with ice or fountain drinks! Now the cup is about 20 OZ and I drive past this gas station at least once a day. So in the week I have had it I have filled it up 10 times... it is already worth it and technically summer does not start for another 2 weeks!

What makes you happy about the seasons changing??

Somehow, last night turned into a videogame marathon for me.

Now I love video games, I have spent years of my life (seriously, add up the hours and you will get YEARS) in front of PCs and consoles playing games. But as I get older, I dont think of my self as a gamer any more. But some things don't go away I guess.... 

My wife had tacos ready for dinner when I got home, they were just out of the box with some hamburger but she had the good shredded Mexican cheese so they were gooood. But right after dinner my boys wanted to play a new Scooby Doo game on the Wii that they got as a gift. So I played 1 chapter of the mystery with each of them, about 45 minutes each. It was cute and I am sure I will have many more hours playing it with them  ;)

It plays a lot like a Legos game

When we were done the wife took them upstairs for baths and I went out to putter in my garage for a bit. My neighbor J came down when he saw me outside and we got riled up for a game of Madden 2011, we are currently 29 wins for me and 31 wins for him in madden 11. He won last night to take a 2 game lead, I’ll get him next time. But our madden games take right about an hour plus I had to put new batteries in my 360 remotes because we have been playing at his house since I quit smoking.

I wish we could change the opening sequence to a better team!

 After he left I went inside and kissed the boys goodnight. And went to hang out in my room, my wife was reading, so I plopped down next to her, I couldn't find anything on TV so I fired up my ‘free from Sony play station network’ copy of little big planet (Thanks AnonSec!) and played on line for a few hours until we went to bed. It is a fun game and I spent almost an hour working on building a level  ;)

 Now if I ever bitch about not having time to get something done feel free to remind me about the time I somehow spent over 5 hours playing video games in 1 NIGHT!! Whilst still spending time with my kids, with my friends AND with my wife… Good times.