Been Gone. Back Now

Reading and writing have always been my favorite things to do in life. English was my favorite subject in school. Math was my least favorite. Fortunately, in my life today, I have to do all three subjects. Whether it be for my job(s), I’m in grocery sales and merchandising, for my family, helping run the budget for with a wife and two teenage children, and for my every day living, that would be golf and travel.

What I’ve been reading lately is other people’s blogs on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The latter one I rarely am a part of.

I think I stopped writing in The Charlie Report five years ago more to do with the fact I couldn’t get it to connect with Facebook.  So in a way, this is my test Report to see if it actually will work this time.  I

I also think I stopped writing because life caught up with me. I got really busy living the job life, being a provider for the family and lost contact with one of those things I loved to do. Write.

There is a writer out there who I recently connected with on Facebook, Jon Acuff, who challenges people who want to write, to start writing and he tells us how to do it. And he tells us how to get published. Writing a book is on my “to do” list that has quite a few of unfinished and in-started books, blogs, and articles.

The only thing I written in the past three years was an article for the Lewiston Tribune in the Religion section.  And they published it. And that inspired for me for about a month.

So here’s to hoping this gets connected to Facebook in a way that you can find it and read it or scroll past. (I scroll past dozens of things written on Facebook, so I won’t be offended if you do likewise to anything I write). At any rate, enjoy and I will try hard to not make it uninteresting or time-consuming, because, well, if your like me, you too are busy living.

Happy 15th Anniversary to my wife Myleen!

Happy 15th Anniversary!

Wow! Fifteen years! Are you kidding me? We’ve been married this long? While most of my friends have been married a hundred years, we will seem to be  just getting started, but I’ll take it.
Without my marriage to Myleen, I wouldn’t be experiencing the joys (and a few disappointments, ha ha) of being a husband, nor would I be experience the joy of being a dad.
Fifteen years ago, I married my bride, Myleen Buensalido, whom I met while teaching English in Cambodia. Before we got married, we went on dates to exotic places like 7/7 restaurant for ice cream in the northside of Phnom Penh, the California II for french toast along the Mekong River, and the Royal Phnom Penh Hotel Restaurant for Thai food. 

After taking a year to go through the fiancee’ visa process with great help from former Washington State Senator Slade Gorton, we finally tied the knot at 12:00 noon @ Shoreline Community Church in Shoreline, Washington, on February1, 1997.  Me, being almost 37 years old, and her being just a few years younger. 

We had talked about having children and I said I wanted four and she wanted two so we compromised and had two children.  Isaac Charles, born January 2000 and Anika Sarah born 2002.  I was almost 40 years old when I became a dad and a few times people have asked me how my “grandchildren were doing,” or “you have beautiful grandchildren,” and I would just smile and laugh inside my head.  Even last summer, their golf coach asked them to ask their grandpa, (me) if I wanted to join them in a skills test. 

Myleen and I have had that talk about the “next fifteen” years and have agreed to sign on for more married years.  What the hey, we’re friends. 

To my bride of Fifteen years, Myleen, it’s not been the best of times, but it has been the best of times.  Let’s make more good and bad times together. Okie dokie? Yes,yes, sireee, bob bob beran! Happy Anniversary Myleen.  With a whole lot of love and endless kisses, your main man, Charlie, Chuck, Charles Grogan

Jeff Foxworthy and Idahoans

I was born in Idaho, and recently moved back to Idaho, therefore I am Idahoan. FORGET REDNECKS; THIS IS WHAT JEFF FOXWORTHY HAD TO SAY ABOUT IDAHOANS!(via my niece Camille) 1. If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don’t work there, you live in Idaho 2. If you’ve worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Idaho 3. If you’ve had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who diale…d the wrong number, you live in Idaho 4. If ‘vacation’ means going anywhere s………outh of Salt Lake City for the weekend, you live in Idaho 5. If you measure distance in hours, you live in Idaho 6. If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in Idaho 7. If you have switched from ‘heat’ to ‘A/C’ and back again in the same day, you live in Idaho 8. If you install security lights on your house and garage but leave both unlocked, you live in Idaho 9. If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in Idaho 10. If you design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in Idaho 11. If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph –you’re going 80, and everyone is still passing you, you live in Idaho 12. If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you live in Idaho 13. If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction, you live in Idaho 14. If you find 10 degrees ‘a little chilly’ you live in Idaho 15. If you actually understand these jokes and forward them to all your IDAHO friends, you live in Idaho. (Original source unknown).

Moving Day turns in to Three Days of Moving

We started moving on Tuesday when we got a surprise by getting the keys to the new house a couple hours after closing. It was supposed to be the following day, but we took it.  We have been packing for over a week now and today we get to move our stuff into our new home.  Moving, as most of you know, isn’t a fun chore, unless you make it fun. One day turned into three days and I think I lost about four pounds just from moving.  I am pretty sure that at the age of 51, I am hoping this could be my last move. I counted at least forty moves in my lifetime and this one was the hardest. Too much heavy and big stuff to move out. Our new house has a garage/shop/storage area so much of our “stuff” gets to live their days in there. 

The unpacking is almost complete and arrange the house to be our lifestyle has been fun.  The kids have their rooms all set up to their liking and mommy has her kitchen arranged.  Our life in our new house has commenced and other than going back to our former home to clean it, we are moving on. I will try not to use the word “move” any more. Except when my kids need to move. Then I will hire movers.  Well, except for when they go off to college and then I will gladly help them with that. But that’s a long, long, long way away. Right?

We’ve Bought a New House!

On Tuesday we signed papers on our new house.( I wanted to post this on that day, but our internet service got cut off and Century Link hasn’t done their end of the deal and hooked us up at our new house). A house that was actually born in 1927.  We are excited to move in and start a new life in a new place.  This will be about my 40-something move, but only the fourth for my daughter Anika. We are moving from a three bedroom, one bath rental home to a four bedroom, 2 and 3/4 bath, so essentially we all get our own bathroom. Yay!!!  It doesn’t have much yard (to mow) but it has a cute swing in the backyard and a huge deck running along the side of the house. We actually have underground parking as one of the former owners added a huge addition and built the garage under the house.  We also have a carport where we can get to and from the car without getting wet, should we not park in the garage. 

Our new house is within walking distance of my two children’s elementary school and next year Isaac only has to walk two blocks to junior high and maybe five blocks to high school. We are looking forward to getting moved and we will be able to celebrate the holidays in our new home.

Yesterday I did a final walk through with our agent to make sure the work we requested got finished. Weird to see the house empty. Looks way bigger than the 3300 square feet that it already is.  820 feet of that footage is our underground garage. 

Now the packing and moving begins.

Happy Birthday to My Son

11 years ago on January 24th, 2000, at 9:58 a.m. I became a dad. That’s when my son Isaac was born.  Happy Birthday Isaac.  I was almost 40 years old when he was born. An age many dad’s are soon welcoming grandkids.  Being a dad is the greatest thing for me. I love it. I have two children whom I cherish deeply and I am challenged to raise them in a fashion where they not only pursue their own personal dreams but pursue God just like I did as a child. I’ve spent at least six years teaching Isaac and his sister Anika, three important things:  1) To trust God no matter what. 2) Make wise choices, and 3) treat others the way they want to be treated.  I am relentless with this and I am seeing the fruit of their own personal applications to these truths. (Okay, maybe they still need to learn how to be nicer to each other = ) ). 

At any rate, Isaac is a great kid who is currently in the fifth grade and is unfortunately learning to love my high school enemy, the Lewiston Bengals.  We have been attending my high school’s (Clarkston Bantams) basketball games lately, and he refuses to root for anything in Scarlett and Black.  I thought I had done a better job raising him.  Funny how I taught him to dislike (actually worked on getting him to “hate” the purple and gold of the University of Washington, since I’ve been a lifelong Washington State Cougars fan, and then for us to move back here to the valley and live on the wrong side of the river when it comes to school districts. You see, the Lewiston Bengals colors are purple and gold.  He booed them when we first moved here, not knowing that if we continue to live in Lewiston, he will be wearing those colors. But since we’ve now lived here for three years, he has grown accustom to Lewiston being purple and gold but still dislikes the Huskies. Kudos to him.  It’s a dad’s dilemma to have his son rooting for the other team. 

This Friday night is the Lewiston-Clarkston Golden Throne basketball games and I will find myself sitting by myself on the Clarkston side of LCSC’s activity center, (my daughter will be busy going back-and-forth between sitting with me on one side, her mom and brotheron the other side, and being a concession stand queen), while my son, who just last year joined me in laughing when the LHS faculty couldn’t even put up a descent “L” in the stands whenever their team was at the free throw line, sits on the other side.  What’s a dad to do? 

To my son Isaac, I always say this to him every single day, “I love you. I love you a lot. I love you all the time.”  Happy 11th birthday and Go Bantams.  ( I wonder if there any good homes for sale in Clarkston?)

Getting busy living

It’s a famous line in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. “Get busy living or get busy dying.” I was flipping channels tonight and came across the ending to the movie Unforgiven, with Clint Eastwood.  Just as Gene Hackman’s character is about to die by being shot by Clint Eastwood, he yells, “See you in Hell.”  I am pretty sure he was saying he was getting busy dying.  Sure enough, the guy with no heart in this movie, Eastwood, shoots him dead. 

Most of us reading this I am pretty sure are busy living.  What we are living for is relative to each person.  Some will say they live for their families, others will say they live to get wealthy, and others will simply say they live for others. 

In my house are many ants.  I am pretty sure they must be Australian ants because the Bible say’s that the ant stores up in summer so that they will have plenty when it’s, well, not summer.  (Its currently summertime in Australia).These ants either did a terrible job this past summer finding food to store up or maybe they were just plain lazy. At any rate, they now own my basement I am getting busy helping them die. 

So, what’s your take, are you busy living or busy dying?  What gets you up and out of bed each morning and gets you through the day, and allows you to call it a day and crawl into bed at nighttime? Food? Money? Family? 

So just as Red said in the Shawshank Redemption movie, “Get busy living or get busy dying,” I say likewise.  I say, in all you do, give thanks to God above, be kind to those who are put around you, and get busy living.

Buying Another Car Experience

I think most people dread doing their taxes, going to the dentist, going to the doctor, and you can put your own “dread” in here. One thing I’ve always dreaded in the past was buying a new car or another car.  I enjoy the thoughts of getting a new car, but I don’t like the whole process of finding one and then meeting the car salesman and going through the purchasing of it.  Yesterday we bought another car. It is considered “a second car,” as we didn’t use our current car as a trade in.  Three weeks ago we found a minivan on the internet that we liked. We drove to the sales lot and looked at it without driving it.  We talked to a very good and professional salesman named Aaron and we convinced him we were just looking. It’s probably the first time I’ve ever walked away from a potential purchase and felt really good about it.

I needed more time to think about it and since it was the first one we saw, we wanted to continue looking around. Well our internet search didn’t turn up another acceptable minivan within 125 miles. So we started looking at other options. Maybe a smaller car would work for us.  Three weeks later we had some finances in place and we decided to pursue the minivan again.  When we checked on it on the internet they had lowered the price by $1300.00

We did the drive around thing, talked to Aaron the salesman and then started the negotiation.  We had a ceiling on what we wanted our monthly payments to be and we had the backing of our credit union. A credit union this particular dealership did good business with.  Their first offer back to us was to lower it another $500.00.  We liked that but wanted a lower monthly payment.  We were determined to get the lower one and it paid off.  They got it down to what we thought was acceptable and the interest rate was even lowered by by .5%. 

Once we agreed on a price for the car, it went to the financial guy who proceeded to try and sell us on warranties and loan protection. We declined both. Some of you reading this might be asking why we would decline a warranty, well here is why. Eight years ago when we bought “Fred” the Xterra, we paid $2,400.00 for an extended warranty and nothing happened to the Xterra. A couple of years after the warranty expired, Fred broke down three times and we paid out $3,000.00 on expenses. Money that we actually had in our pockets.  We didn’t want to pay any more than we had to for the new car. Yes, we are risking breakdowns, but that’s a given with cars. I’ve seen brand new cars broken down on the side of the road and they probably had the warranty to get it fixed, but experience with warranties on our side tells us we are willing to risk it and do our best to afford to pay for anthing that breaks down, hopefully in about five or six years. 

Whereas in the past we’ve struggled with the car buying experience, this time, we had a great experience.  Now its time for a Sunday cruise somewhere.

Momentary Distractions

It was my goal a year and a half ago to start this blog in hopes of inspiring my writing. It worked for about a year, then I found Facebook and things changed. I found I could send short notes out and my Facebook friends had a quick read instead of a long blog.  I still aspire to write, and I am making this attempt to not be so distracted with Facebook. I love Facebook and its resources but I also love to write. So to all of you who have read my blogs since I stared in February of 2008, I welcome you back and hope to get some blogs written for your enjoyment and your comments.

Encourage Someone Today

If you’ve ever had a mean coach, teacher, or someone else in your life, you know what it’s like to either retaliate verbally back at them, or sullenly walk away, feeling like your defeated.  With all the every day living issues that we deal with, driving in bad traffic, getting bills on a weekly basis, bad television programming, social issues that we feel we can’t do anything about, it’s not very encouraging when someone or some people are mean to you.  The opposite of discouraging someone is encouraging someone. People have it tough today. Some worst than others. So we really have no place to put down other people or be mean to them.

I don’t think it’s too hard to find creative ways to encourage others. For a parent it’s telling your child or children that no matter what happens to them, they are loved and they have a lot to offer to others.  For the incidental meeting with a stranger, it can just simply be a smile or presenting yourself as being able to help. Others are going to need more than that to feel encouraged, but don’t settle for putting someone down, instead, reach out and pull them up.

Encourage someone today.