The wife and kids want to do something over the Memorial Day week-end that is being celebrated this year on Monday the 26th. The city that we live in has a nice park and recreation area that has both an indoor and outdoor pool, the outdoor one opening for the season on that week-end. They have convinced me that if the weather is well enough to justify going to an outdoor pool that we will make a day of it, they kids can each invite a friend and hopefully have a nice family style holiday celebration.

The wife has decided that we all need to start eating healthier and that we two both need to lose a few pounds before putting on the swim wear that we will need to use, some time in August, when we visit her parents who live in a huge house that is right on the water and have boats and the whole water activity scene.

She pulled up a web-site called http://www.weight-loss-diet-help.com/ and sat me down and showed me this site that is a great tool to assist in your weight loss and diet plans. It has the information for you to compare the leading weight loss companies, with articles entittled Nutrisystem vs. Medifast and coupons to be used with your on-line purchases. There is the South Beach Diet and Weight Watchers along with Jillian Michaels and the eDiets.com which I was not familiar with, but with time I had them figured out to which one of them that I would consent to participate in along with the wife if that is what she wants us to do.

I guess she will talk me into an exercise fitness routine by dragging me along with her on a walk around the neighborhood or around the mall. This is the part that I will be having trouble dealing with, ugh.

The web-site is a good tool that I would recommend to someone who is thinking about dieting and needs tips and advice just like us.

My youngest sees me on-line most every evening and she is curious as to what this blogging is all about. I tried explaining to her but I think that she is disappointed in my explanation and now wants me to give her permission to start a MySpace account, that threw me for a loop. I’m going to have to refer her to her mother on that one and I think we need to sit down and talk a bit about Internet issues and kids. Oh God the TALK!

The wife and I both have a love for grandfather clocks, it seems that both of us have fond memories of visiting our grandparents which both had a grandfather clock, that we were both fondly fascinated by them. We have never found one that we both agreed on for these many years of marriage but the wife found a web-site the other evening while surfing around on the Internet that she bookmarked so that she could share with me at the appropriate time, which was this afternoon.

I have to admit that the web-site was impressive, check it out if you have a mind too, it is http://1-800-4clocks.com and I tell you that they have every kind of clock that you could possibly imagine, we sat at our PC for well over an hour having a blast looking at all of their varieties of time pieces offered as new or antique.

We both were amazed at the Dent of London Inclined Plane Clock and we would love to find one somewhere, they have a big SOLD banner place over the one picture of it. It is described as being issued 30 years ago, and made by the original and legendary maker Dent of London. These mystery clocks are also sometimes referred to as Rolling Drum Clocks (not to be confused with Rolling Ball Clocks, frequently seen on eBay), and were invented in the 1680s, The Inclined Plane Clock descends the sloped plane, over a period of a week.  The jeweled movement, with a platform escapement, never needs winding, as the clock powers itself, principally through the “use” of the power of gravity. It is truly a “Wonder Piece”.

We never did agree on a grandfather clock during this time, we really got side tracked with their other selections, but we will both get back on-line soon and make an attempt to stick with the grandfather clocks that we want.

At the end of every school year these kids have to deal with the pressure of the state mandated testings called the SOL tests. My youngest suffers badly with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and she misses a good amount of school due to major stomach cramps that nothing will help in these times, except sometimes a bowel of Tomato soup and she is getting very tired of eating Tomato soup. I can imagine that when she is an adult she will never eat a bowel of Tomato soup due to the amounts that she has consumed of this one and only treatment we have found to somewhat ease the pain.

Back to the SOL tests, they are scheduled for this Thursday and Friday, the wife and I have already told the school that she will most likely miss at least one of the testing dates. They have assured us that there will be plenty of make up dates offered, they are very aware of how stress makes her stomach go crazy and tests are very stressful for this one. I hope we make it through this with minimal stress for all.