Captains Log: As much as I think that I am in charge of the maintenance and upkeep of the place in which I reside the more I realize that this house has control over me. Constantly breaking or wearing out. Constantly beckening like sirens in the night air "fix me, fix me". It is like a ship who is in charge of the helmsman I tell you.

But seriously. After finishing the laundry room my first mate (Nick) had a marvalous idea. Why not just continue to tile into the kitchen. "Well why don't we just stick our weaners in a meat grinder we will have just about as much fun" was my response. But after much thought I did like the idea that while Snooze is away it would be the ideal time to complete such a large undertaking. But why stop there why not the living room? So we ordered new carpeting for the living room. As a matter of fact if Snooze does not come home soon we are going to run out of floor and have to find other floors in which to keep ourselves busy. Or not.

Actually I am quite excited the idea of finishing the one I have and afterward sleep for oh till Snooze comes home.  Nick and his friend Lee have been a huge help and by Tuesday we should be able to get the refridgerator out of the living room and stove out of my office (we had to put it somewhere) and life back to some order once again.

But wait, there was order before? Let me contemplate this while the meat grinder is running.

See ya,

Scott 

We are now in day 7 without our beloved Snooze. I talk to her as much as I can through VOIP (which be the way if you don't know what it is find out. It is very cool). So far Nick has been a hugh help with everything and just plain fun to be around. My project, the rear hall is all done but the painting and trust me it has been a project. Anytime you have to remove part of your house and rebuild it it is just so much fun (can you sense the sarcasm in my voice). But after this is all said and done I hope by doing this it will make my beloved Snoozes life happier.

She asks me why I take on major projects only when she is away. Well the answer is it is just eaisier. I love my wife but she is so smart that while I am in the middle of the project she always thinks of other options that if I were to build it during construction it would be "easy". Of course "easy" usually doubles the amount of time necessary for completion. Not to say that her ideas are not good. Just time consuming.

Example. When we lived downstate (Detroit area) I was finsihing the basement. In said basement was a cloths shoot from the first floor. Well where I was finishing the ceiling it would have rendered the close shoot unusabel. So she came up with the idea of re-routing the clothes as they came out of the shoot through a series of slanted smooth drywall sheets and depositing into a hidden closet. The amazing thing is is that it really worked well. But in the mean time added 4 days to the project. That already took me a month of evenings.

Also she is not crazy about me tearing the house apart while she is here because it really is a major inconvience to herto loose part of the house that she considers her work area for the duration of the construction project. Being that this is her domain it makes me feel guilty putting her through these problems

If you have not already assertained I love my wife and want to make life as easy for her as possibel. I know I'm just the lovable slob type. So sue me.

March 31st was our 22nd "garbage day". Garbage day you ask? Well we met on March 31, 1984. On the day before the anniversery of this date she asked me if I remembered what the next day was. Actually I knew. But to cover this up I gave the answer to the question she asked  most often "Garbage Day". So that is how March 31 has beccame "garbage day" and always will be.

Well we are still alive and kicking and missing the women of the house like crazy,

Chio for now,

Scott

I decided that day 4 was just to short to post anything. Let's see I worked 8 hours, installed the subfloor in the back hallway with the aid (?) of three teenage boys. Then after picking up the big pieces of trash fell on my face and slept till this morning.

If you notice the paragraph above I questioned the actual "aid" I received last night. Not that I am not appreciative of their efforts God no I could not have done it without them. But I look at it this way. My rear hall is 5'3" wide and 11'2" long. So I buy three 4' X 8' piece of subfloor. After installing the first two I look outside and cannot for the life of me find a piece over 60.5". Where did the wood go? Why did I have the equivilant amount of wood but not a sheet long enough to cover the width? I ask. Nick and Alex: "You were going to cut it anyway". Yeah well they had Taco Bell for lunch and I will guarantee something more will be cut later but I did not want it to be my complete boards. Oh well. I had to support and piece it in. 

The house looks looks like a herd of small cows has just run through it so I guess cleaning is the order of the day.

My knee, back, arms virtually my whole body feels like I have gone a couple of rounds with somebody but this to shall pass.

After reviewing post made from previous days I did find it interesting that  F15's fly over my daughters house which in turn woke my wife up more than disturbed. My daughters answer was "you will get used to it". I have a question. For years my daughter stayed in a room adjacent to the living room. In said living room is a closet. In said closet is a bunch of electronics with a cooling fan to keep them, well, cool. Every night before she went to bed she would make sure that "that darn fan" was turned off because it was to noisy in her room. Now we are not talking about a big fan. No we are talking about a 2" computer fan. Now she can sleep through F15's? Either she is growing up or going deaf.

Oh the pain, the pain,

Scott

Nothing much has changed since Snooze has left. Well maybe the fact that the kid moved into the other side of the bed. The dog has taken up residence between us and is on a sleeping mission to kick us both out. There is no floor left in the laundy room so we are having to teach the cats a new spot to "GO" in. And there has not been one inch of fibre knit, spun, dyed, mangled, tangled, kinked, given a celery mesage and protein pack, Navaho plied (I still have not found the Navaho for this), bulked, worsted or sock weight. When she left it stopped. At least here. Now I know my Snooze better than just about anyone. And I believe that by the time she leaves Okinaw drop spindles will be a hot commodity. That is just the way she is. And I love her for it.

She is in the middle of her day and I am in the end of mine. So I will call it a day. Snooze if you read this, I Love You......Goodnight

*in best Scottie from Star Trek voice* "I'm givin' her all shes got Captain but she can't take anymore".

Well Snooze landed just fine in Okinawa. And except for swollen feet and extreme fatigue she seems to be none the worse for wear. She is amazing. I would have been curled up in some corner chanting "there's no place like home, there's no place like home". Her? Naw. I think that she must have been a world traveler in a previous life.

On the other hand I was a mess. I kept checking her flight status and estimated arrival times until she got there. Once in Osaka she even was able to navigate the Wi-Fi in the airport and e-mail me. What talent. Of course this was at like 4 am my time when Nick and I were inspecting the other side of our eyelids. I am glad she made it and is currently having a good time with Katy.

Back on the home front: After putting in an 8 hour day I decided to clean up the yard and burn the all the downed and scrap wood in the yard. Well by time I got it all lit I do believe it could be seen from space. A fire about 7 foot tall with old pallets, tree limbs and other junk. It was so tall it got the attention of both my neighbors. I was proud of this feat. Being that the nearest neighbor is about a quarter mile away from where I started it. Yeah it got out of hand but I had fun.

We are currently and franticly washing all of the clothes in the house. Why do you ask? Well tomorrows project is to take the washer and dryer out of the house, place them in the garage and then remove and replace all the rotted and bowing subfloor in the laundry room. This project could only be accomplished while Snooze is away. See, she has this problem about her house being in disaray and well the fact that one whole room will have NO floor at all would probably create great stress on her. So I do my major projects when she is away. The only trick is making sure that it is done before she comes home. Given that the main entry to the house is through this room It might be a good idea. I could see it now. Snooze: "I'm home! AAAAAAHHHHHHHH" (as she lands in the crawl space). Not good. So me and Nick will be diligently working on this project until it is completed.

Nick on the other hand strangly does not seem to be effected by the loss of his girlfriend. Either it has not sunk home and I can expect a teenage sobbing pile of jello in the next couple of days or it was not meant to be all along. I hope the latter to be the case.

Anyway I wish I had some more entertaining news but I don't. So I will continue to check my blog, oh 40 times a day for any of you who wish to throw in their 2 cents (not very exciting around here when Snooze is gone).

Ciao for now,

Scott

For all of you who don't know I refer to my wife Susie as Snooze. Have ever since we met. The only time I call her Susie or Susan is to make my point in an argument. Example: "Susan you know I was wrong when........" or "Susie I know you told me to........". Actually hindsight would indicate that I use these two words in a defensive state rather than offensive but I degress.

My Snooze went to Okinawa to be with my darling daughter yesterday. She left, I began to panic. I thought what if something happens to her. In the future who would do the following:

Love me, take care of me, cook, clean, tell me when I'm wrong, tell me when I am less than right, pile hugh piles of fiber in my bedroom.......the list these necessary services is endless.

But she left anyway. Leaving Nick and I to "Batch" it.

Snoozeless-Day 1

After we dropped Snooze at the airport Nick and I went shopping. Now you know as guys we don't "shop" we "buy". So with this in mind we went to my favorite store, Best Buy, And bought my son in law his new Video Pod. After getting the car washed (Snooze actually drives this thing??) headed for home.

About half way home we were driving through Kalkaska (indian name roughly translated as "hugh piles of snow") when I spied a sign from above.......Gun Show straight ahead!! It was roughly 12:00pm and what a better way for me to take my mind off the fact that my beloved was winging her way around the world. I was on my way to this blessed place when Nick stated "but dad, my girlfriend will be at the house at 1:00". Darn. Went home.

So I spent the afternoon watching the Bristol race, making sure we had enough food for the next week, watching Nick come and go with his girlfriend and trying to get in touch with my daughter Katy. I made dinnerfor Nick, Amber (AKA girlfriend) and myself and watched a movie. Boring stuff really. Then it happened.

Nick disappeared. Now if you know my son he is really not the type to want to "be alone" so this concerned me. I found him in the garage going at the punching bag. Alone.

"What's wrong Nick?" I asked. "Nothing" Nick replied. Now I know my son well enough to know that this was not true. After quizzing him for several minutes I found out that the girlfriend told him that she wanted to back their relationship up and only be "friends". I had to have the age old conversation with my son to explain to him that in a polite way she just dumped him. He did not buy it. After much conversation the only thing that kept flashing through my mind was "oh my poor son and I gave up a gun show so he could meet her....". That is the last time I let my heart get in front of my gun  closet, er, I mean, my head.

To recap the day it went as follows:

Dropped Snooze off

Missed Gun Show

Watched a good race

Did not die from my own cooking (this is important)

Consoled Nick

Went to bed

 

Boring really, But I sure missed that gun show.

Ciao for now,

Scott

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Oh my blessed Sunday morning. It is the 3rd Sunday in a row that I have not gone to my church the 2nd Sunday in a row that a female that is very close to me has left me (not for good) and flown half way around the world. And it will be 5 Sundays before I will get one of them back. WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME!

I am not that bad looking a guy. Well at least not bad enough to chase them to Okinawa, but they keep going. Is it my cologn, attitude, job (or lack there of). I don't know why but every woman I have gotten close with in the last 20 years has ended up on Okinawa. Bet you there is not one other guy out there who can lay claim to chasing women away like this.

To their defense they will be back. And I am secure in the knowledge that they still love me and that this time together is therapy for both of them, and the one will return to my arms the perfect woman she was when she left 3 weeks earlier.

Please help me by praying for Snoozes safety. And Katys ability to cope with her husband being.....wait.....half a world away....Is it an epidemic or is there some sort of magical lure to this island that make wives go there while there husbands are half way around the world? Very interesting.

Please also pray for Nick and me. If we don't die from our own cooking, loose 300 pounds collectivly, get some unknown disease that comes from eating to much fast food it will be a miracle. It won't be hard to find us. We will be the guys wearing the faded multicolored clothing (differring shades of pink or blue) that come from us in the name of trying to save time throwing all of our clothing in one HUGH load and washing it all on warm. You ask, why we would do that. I will tell you why. Guys are primarily middle of the roaders. If you ask a guy like me or Nick (manly men) what temperature do you wash a load full of "colors" in? Not black or white but "colors". My first question back is "when did black and white stop becoming colors". But eventually like every other guy we figure it could be hot water or it could be cold water. So we are going to go right down the middle and answer "warm" on everything. And we would be right, oh one third the time. But that is ok, just that our clothes will tend to look a little funny. So that brand new, bright red, hooded  2XL sweat shirt is a little small. It goes perfectly with my light pink underwear and socks. I guarantee you that.

In other more sobering news upon arriving in Okinawa my daughter found out that her little kitty has Feline Leukemia. I guess it is not immediately life threatening. And if there is a person that could bring someone or something back to health just by being there and loving on it Katy is this person. She just has that way about her that makes everyone around her feel loved. But all in all this news is still hard to take anytime or anywhere. So once again my fellow readers if God puts Katy Clare or Mike on your heart. They could use your prayers.

So this morning I have to get ready, get dressed and take the person I love more than anything in this world to the airport so she can leave for Okinawa. Now if Puff the cat and only remaining female in this house starts with the Japanese for Dummies books, I will really get worried.

Ta-Ta-For-Now,

Scott

 

 

And here I was feeling sorry for myself. I read my blog and found a record number of comments. More than I have ever gotten. And I feel loved.

To the following I have this to say:

Robin,

If you don't stop pluggin songs in my head I am going to go crazy you know that. Plus your spelling of the words to the song".......beeeennnnnieee and the jets....." made me giggle and think of some old jewish guy with a yamekah and dressed up like ZZ Top. Now that's comedy.

BJ,

I wish you would post your rantings on your blog. I went there to find a desolate waste land with no writings. I will read if you will write. Plus my wife is going to be out of town for 3 weeks and if we talk on the internet....wait do you think she will get jeolous? Do you think she will catch me talking to an attractive single women on the internet? NAH! What she does not know wont hurt her.....wait, she has my blog addressed.......um, I disavow any knowledge of this entry.

Love you too Beaj

Mike and Kate,

Thanks for being my kids. I love you guys. Katy even if you husband is hung up on a rock garden and Mike, even if your wife is being driven mad by a white feline animal. MAD I TELL YOU!!!

So to all who have read this and have commented. It gave me food for thought. I took time to pray for each one of you. Not that I have not been praying for you but your comments were reminders to me of the blessing that each of you are to me and to lift each of you up to my Father so that each of you will have a blessed day.

May God bless each one of you, and thanks again.

Love to all,

Scott 

 

 

 

People ask me "have you read my blog?". So being a good friend I go and read their blog. I leave comments. I enjoy most of the reading. But now I have a question. WHY DOES'NT ANYONE READ OR LEAVE COMMENTS ON MINE? Maybe I am doing this wrong. Maybe I am just talking to myself.

Oh well I will continue to read yours, leave comments and enjoy. If anyone wants to leave a comment on mine leave your message at the tone.......beep.

"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness everyday, ain't no sunshine when she's gone and this house just ain't no home, anytime, she goes away......."

I know more musical quotations. It's the curse I tell you. But I woke up singing this because I have to send my baby (daughter) back home to her little condo with her little cat on her little island in the South Pacific. I'm sad. Next week I send my darling wife to the same small island to be with her. This makes me feel better that Katy won't be alone but sad because the house is gonna get a whole lot bigger.

So I find myself on this cherished Sunday morning which is usually the time that I feel the greatest feeling blue.

God protect my baby girl, get her home safe. Watch over her and keep her when I can't.

If you think about it out there. Pray for my daughter (Katy) and son (Mike) this seperation with him in Afganastan and her in Okinawa is not easy.

On the other foot. Yesterday I had the blessing of showing my other son (Nick) the joys of rummaging through junk yards looking for car parts. At first he was reluctant saying "why would you want to hang around a car grave yard" then on cue like the ADHD kid he is there it was. "OOH LOOK A BRONCO II THAT IS'NT BUSTED OR NUTHIN', OH LOOK THERE'S ANOTHER....". See he bought this Bronco and he wants to fix it up so I am showing him the fine art of junk yard picking. By the end of the day we had visited 3 junk yards found a perfect hood and front and rear bumpers. So if you see a multi colored Bronco II coming your way. You will know where it came from.

Got to go spend time with my baby before I got to make the long trip to Traverse and the long *sniff* goodbye.

 

I was cursed from birth. Very simply put I have a musical photographic memory. I here a song once. And I can quote most of the words (if they are intelligable) and all of the song.

So the other day my daughter and I are in the mall. A Bee Gee's song comes on (More than a women). I start singing this to myself. We walk out of the mall. I continue singing as though the music is still there  and I start into the second verse with chorus. By this time my daughter has disowned me. I mean who wants to be walking through a parking lot with some guy singing "More than a women, More than a women to me.....".

This can be embarrassing at times. What if the song playing at the time is "I feel like a wormen". Guess it sucks to be me.

So I wake up this morning with the song "She's a brick, house" running through my head. This bring food for thought. Think about the words to this. "She's a brick......house. She's like a lightning just lettin' all hang out" pure poetry. But on the other hand if I called my wife a "Brick House" I just would be afraid of losing necessary body parts in my sleep.

The other day my daughter was in the car and I find on one of the 873,569 channels on my XM radio the song "Ball Room Blitz" by Sweet. I start jamming. My daughter starts into spasms when the words "...and the man in the back as a matter of fact as he raises his hands to the sun. And the girl in the corner who no one ignored, she thinks she's the passionet one. OH YEAH it's like lightning, everybody was frightning. And the band started seathing 'cause there was nobody breathing."

By this time my daughter is on her cell phone searching for a good pshycologist.

"You used to listen to this?" not only did I say yes but it really freaked her out when I told her that her mom was the one who turned me on to it. 

Oh well so goes the life of a song lover. I listen to all kinds. Classical, rock, Christian, country, rap. It does not matter. Some offend, some I dig. But I can't get any of them out of my head.....a curse I tell you.

A friend of mine just went to Montana and visited Ted Turners ranch. This makes me think of Frank Zappa's song "Dental Floss", My son is turning 18 soon. This makes me think of Alice Coopers song "18". My daughter is leaving for Okinawa on Sunday. This makes me think of Steve Millers "Jet Airliner" and many sad songs that I won't go into because I will miss her terribly.

In short if any of you stick bad songs into my head which make me think about them for three weeks I will pull out my "Mr Saturday Night, Special" (oh no I did it to myself) and take matter into my own hands.

Have a musical week and God Bless,

Scott 

 

I think God wired my brain wrong. I say this because I always think of things, well different somehow. When I drive down the road and I am following a truck that says "Allied Reliable Trucking". My brain immediately thinks that the opposite is out there too. Like "Seperated Unreliable Trucking".

I pass our local subway and it says "After 4pm 2 foots $8.99". Now this give food for thought all the way home everytime I read it. Like, before 4pm are they less than 2 feet? Should I take a tape measure in next time for lunch? Or are they 2 one foot sandwiches or one enormous one but only after 4pm? And it never really clarifys 2 feet of what. I know it is after all a Subway and everyone assumes that they should be sandwiches, but it never really states that, does it. Well I guess it is better than the sign they had out there before which stated "Now serving breakfast, Pray for America". Now you can draw you own conclusions about this one but something tells me early morning food there is little suspect.

My darling wife talks to me about many blogs she frequents. One happens to be named "Stichy McYarn Pants". I can't help but conjuring up in my mind all kinds of pictures. There is the whole Irish thing. The whole Stichy rhymes with itchy thing. And don't get me started on the pants. It's all food for thought

I read a blog this morning from one of my favorite people at www.shoesonwrong.typepad.com. In which she elaborates on going to some movie where a guy after finally getting rid of his last offspring out of the house changes his bedroom into a nude room *there went my mind again*. In the conclusion she and her husband both state what is wrong with having one. At this point I lost my mind. Not because I think about them frolicing around the house naked but why not have an "overly dressed" room. One in which I can pull out my velvet collerd tux that I attended my prom in or maybe 3 layers of polyester with a black leather jacket so I can be cool and a nerd at the same time. Now that is comedy.

So the next time you pass a sign on the road that says "2 lit cig homo milk 2.99" or "Mich Loto Jerky Milk". Set your mind free to wonder, what the heck are they really trying to convey here.

 

 

I love my daughter. I dote on my daughter. The sun rises and sets on my daughter. But if I have to walk through one more mall looking for size 14-15 jeans. With just the right waist line, that are not to snug, that are 3 miles away from where I parked the car, that don't have those little diamond like thingys on them, that won't be like "a pair of jeans that I won't love and will end up getting pushed to back of my closet in favor of the ones that I do" I will jump. JUMP I TELL YOU! Yes into the vat of Valium or Vicoden or whatever else will make my bad knee stop aching or my head stop thinking "when you found the jeans you loved the first time should'nt you have bought, oh, 1,825 pairs of them so you can have a 5 year supply (365 times 5)".

But I love my daughter. We visited what seemed to be about 492.5 (I say ".5" because I think I lost half of my mind in one of them) stores in which she found 2 pairs of jeans. One she does not like and one she thinks will be ok. What I was really getting worried about was that her legs, and well the other places that fathers don't talk about would  swell up from the constant friction of trying on jeans over and over again and subsequently the said jeans will not fit when the healing is complete.

 

But I lived. I still love my daughter. I still dote on my daughter. The sun still rises and sets on my daughter. BUT PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME DO IT AGAIN! The pain...oh the pain.

 

Then we went over to my mothers house. Oh that made it all better (can you note the hint of sarcasm here?). We get there late, she says "all of the family, friends, old aquantances and half of your 1981 Dearborn High graduating class was waiting for Katy to show up for the "Welcome Home Katy" parade. But because you were late the thousands of people that waited in line for days for tickets to see Katy will be forever disappointed in me for LIFE!"  All this because THE DAY BEFORE I asked if it was ok if we stopped over to see her. Hell hath no vengence like a mothers scorn.

 

But the next day made it all better, and worse. We got up and on my mothers recommedation we breakfasted at the locally owned Greek Coney Island (???). To their defense it was not a bad breakfast just, wrong somehow then we went to my old church, saw old friends, had an awesome time in the service, got to pray for someone for salvation. Afterward we went to a place named "StoneCold Ice Cream" (which rocks by the way) and then it happened....ANOTHER MALL....MORE JEANS.....MORE PAIN....

 

But I still love my daughter. I let her sleep on the way home. After arriving at said home front I find my wife sobbing over a computer that lost all of her e-mail. This is important. Why do you ask? Because my wife never deletes any e-mail. She has hundreds of trillions of e-mails on every topic from how many fibers are in a square inch of your average Alpaca to how many black helicopters have to fly over your house before you should be worried. Over the years I have had to transpose these e-mails as rock went to sand script went to paper went to computer and try to keep them in all their little folders, with all their little links (easier on computer than it was on paper, sand-script or rock) and never loose the favorites or passcode pages.

 

As a side bar. All of you people out there who think that my wife thinks of you as "her favorite". Well I got news for you....stand in line. She has more favorite people than Bill Clinton had favorite inturns. Not to say she does not love every one of you. BUT I AM THE ONE WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR NONE OF YOU GETTING LOST! This is a labor of love.

 

As a side bar to the side bar. I do find it interesting though that I am NOT on her favorites list anywhere....this makes me wonder......I am mentioned lovingly on her blog. But don't I deserve a link (And not like the one I had for breakfast. Tasted to much like a hot dog).

 

So I conclude this session of Psyc. 101 while I try to examine myself on my own couch by saying over and over again "I love my wife, I love my daughter, I dote on my wife, I dote on my daughter, the sun rises and sets on my wife, the sun rises and sets on my daughter" and I feel that if I keep reminding myself of how really happy they do make me I will remember......somehow.

 

But I really do love them. With the love God has given me for them. And that surpasses malls, moms and e-mails. So it is ok.

 

 

 

It just seems to me that early Sunday morning should not be wasted by sleeping in. I always wake up at 6:30 am on Sunday, come out into the living room and do something that is just calming and really sets the tenor for the rest of the week. My wife always invites me back into bed (she could sleep till noon if given the chance) but if I don't get this chance to just regroup by myself, pray before church, search the web and send e-mails.  If I don't get this chance I just don't feel right for the rest of the week. So here I am. Writing my first blog, enjoying the quiet afforded to me, praying when God puts something on my heart and missing the ones that are not here with me. It is a good Sunday morning.

 

Dear myspace and whoever may read this if God puts this on your heart please pray for my Son who is in Afganastan and his wife who is my sweet dearest daughter, the apple of her fathers eye. It is very hard on them to be seperated and the knowledge of loved ones around them supporting and praying for them I am sure will make the time away from each other go more quickly. In short I love them both so much that my heart hurts when theirs hurt.

 

In other news my best friend and son (they can be both) has found a most wonderful girl to out with. She is cute, personalble and just plain fun. I am happy for him he is lucky to have found someone like her. I see the same excitement in his eyes that were in mine when I met my true love and it makes me happy.

 

As for me I am still fighting the fight of my life trying to finish my business dealings with a company in Texas that in March of last year bought my little company, sold off all the assets, worked me to death trying to fix problems that existed in their company before I got there and then eliminated my position 3 days after knee surgury and then decided to only pay part of what they owed me from the sale with no real explanation or proof. Nice guys huh? But in the mean time I have restarted my little company and will try my best to make a go of it again more prepared by experience. But in the mean time your prayers for this action would be appreciated as well.

 

Enough of my rambleings for today,

To whoever reads this may God richly bless you as he has me with his eternal grace, peace and mercy.

Scott