Greg's General Store

Wow, it's December 30th already. If you are reading this then I had a last minute break through and was able to load the video. I got it ready several days ago but when I went to load it last night, I had lots of problems. I had another post all ready to go which included the uncut version of my video but I really wasn't happy with the results. But then if you are reading this , I guess I was able to load it ok. I hope you like it. To see the rest of the vlogs, check out 2nd Cup of Coffee. Just kidding Linda. I had a lot of fun with this one and hopefully the next one (hint hint) will be even better. How does "Vlog, summer of 2009" sound? See you there. Have a great day, Greg

Well tomorrow is the big day. Not only is it the last day that I have to work this year but it is the day for the world famous "I see what you're saying" Christmas edition video spectacular. If you haven't heard of this event I have to ask "Where have you been?" It is only the biggest event that ever came to blog world. This event is again being hosted by Linda over at 2nd cup of coffee , so get your behinds over there and check it out. Me, I have my video ready for posting and although it is only two minutes long, I can say that the Academy has already contacted me for a possible award nomination. I would like to thank everyone who made this award possible........ Ok it is only in my head. Anywhoo, mine will have a surprise ending that is sure to keep you guessing so make sure to come back tomorrow to see my masterpiece. There is little else to report on. I guess I could put down a few bullets: 1. The weather was great. Nothing like 80 degrees and sunny i...

Well it's the day after Christmas and I am back at work. That alone is a Blessing as many people are out of work due to layoffs. We had a wonderful Christmas at our house and it was filled with Peace and Joy. (Unlike the woman who got fired from Lowes for wearing a Christmas lapel pin. More on that in my next post) I had Christmas Eve off too and we celebrated in the traditional southern fashion. We went fishing. The weather was great and we were totally ready for Christmas so we decided to take the boat out to do a little fishing. Unfortunately, we had boat trouble because the motor didn't want to shift into gear but we were still at the boat landing so we simply reloaded the boat onto the trailer and headed back home to get our smaller boat. It ran a little rough but we did make it to our "Hot spot". We fished for about an hour and a half and managed to catch 5 fish. They were all "Sheephead" and the biggest one was right at 7 lbs. Looks like the family wi...

I have been giving this a lot of thought but to tell the truth I really don't need anything for Christmas. There may be a few things that I want but nothing I need. Then I got this great idea from a first time visitor to my blog named Just a Girl and it made a lot of sense. Whenever there is something that I don't know (which is very seldom haha) I go on line and look it up. So I decided to follow the lead of Just a Girl and look it up to see what I need. So I went to Google and typed in "Greg needs" and then hit enter. These are the top 10 results. I eliminated repeat entries. Apparently this is what I need: Greg needs your stem cells or bone marrow. I didn’t even know I was ill but obviously I am and it is pretty serious. Greg needs a new Tyre. Perhaps they mean Tyre banks? I think that falls more into the want and not need category. My wife may have something to say about this. Greg needs you. Well at least Auntie Greg needs you and I don’t even want to clic...

Good news everyone. I panicked for nothing. It looks like all that got blocked were web sites which involved streaming and those who frequently posted videos. From what we could figure out, we now can't listen to radio stations via the Internet and we can't go to sites like YouTube. So far the only way that it affects me is if you attach a YouTube video to your blog, I will have to wait until the evening to see it. I can live with that. The radio part is a little aggravating because the power plants are usually in remote locations and radio reception via normal methods is poor. In other news, my wife and I have decided to give up the Real Estate business. With the state of the economy, doing that part time just doesn't work. When things were booming, we got frequent client inquires but now we seldom get any. Unless you have the time to go out searching, chances are that you won't get any business. I have no regrets though. I worked for two really great Brokers who just ...

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Who knows what today will bring, or for that matter the next minute or even second of my life. See I just changed what I was writing and a minute ago I didn't know I would do that. I sometimes wish I has a tiny peek into the future but then its that not knowing that makes life interesting. Today is sure to be an interesting one for me. Last Friday we all got an email notice at work stating that today, a major Internet blocker would be in place which would block us from going to many Internet sites. They stated the reasons for this action but it all boils down to increased efficiency. Time on the Internet=lost production. Well for most people, not me. I know how to work and blog at the same time and actually increase production. Since I get to work early just to get the morning report out, I often have some time left before my day officially begins where I can go on line and read the Bible or read personal emails. I am not sure if those sites wil...

Remember those old picture puzzles in “ Highlights ” magazine where you had to find things that were hidden in a picture. No, you say? Well click here to remind yourself. They always had them in my doctor’s office and I would concentrate on the picture puzzle to try and forget where I was. I hated going to the doctor. I was never a big fan of shots and once it took 4 nurses to hold me down to give me a shot but that’s a whole different post. Anyway, that’s how I felt last night at my son’s Christmas Band Concert. As I looked around the room, there were so many things that to me were just wrong. Don’t get ME wrong, the Concert was outstanding and I hope to put a short clip on my son’s blog later today but some things just seemed inappropriate. First off, we got there a half hour early just to get a good seat. (like that is possible in a gymnasium) After we were seated, two women showed up with numerous children and the entire group proceeded to cough and hack like they were one step aw...

I started out this morning to write one of those ranting posts and to tell the truth I almost had it finished. However I took a break to read a few of your blogs and I settled down and decided to participate in Thankful Thursday. Thanks Kelly and Edie for reminding me to be thankful. Here are 5 things that I am thankful for. 1. I am thankful that I came to my senses and deleted that other post and instead went with this one. I hate when I sound negative because negativity is contagious. 2. I am thankful that my son Gregory passed his Black Belt test last night and now he has a Black Belt in Karate. I was impressed with his performance and I dare say that the guys that he was kicking were impressed as well even though they had on padding. 3. I am thankful that our Chicken, Lucy is still alive. She has lived through two hunting dog attacks (one recently) and one raccoon attack and is still with us. Last week she started laying eggs again after an 8 month dry spell. 4. I am thankful that ...

I got this from Edie over at Rich Gifts. I got it from somewhere else too but my mind is in a fog right now and I can't remember who else tagged me. Thank you, whoever you are. 1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? – Coffee for me please. I am not big on either Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate. 2. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? – It depends on how busy I, I mean he is. He tries to wrap them all but sometimes he runs out of time. 3. Lights on house / tree are colored or white? – There is a mixture this year. The tree is multicolored and outside it is half and half. Actually they are all white on the inside. 4. Do you have mistletoe? – Yes but it is still in the tree in the back yard. I need to get out the shotgun to get some down. 5. When do you put your decorations up? The Day after Thanksgiving. 6. Favorite Holiday Dish (Excluding dessert)? – Without a doubt, stuffing. My stuffing is the best. 7. Favorite Christmas memory as a child? – Grandma Green always made p...

He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows If you’ve been bad or good, So be good for goodness sake. Saturday at the market, the young lady in the booth next to us began singing Christmas songs. I quickly joined in much to the dismay of my son who was totally humiliated. At first we tried to come up with the words to “The 12 days of Christmas”. Not the real version but the redneck version written by Jeff Foxworthy. We got most of the verses right but we did miss a few. It didn’t’ matter though because no one else around us knew the words so we got away with it. However I didn’t get away with something else I did. Remember last week I wrote about some strange people at the market? If you don’t remember, don’t bother going back to read the post. I erased it. Saturday, the person who runs the market, dropped by to see me. It seems that she has this Google notification thingy that emails her when certain words are combined into one sentence. Anyway, she got a...

First the good news. I got the packages mailed off yesterday. I am so proud of myself for not waiting until the last possible moment. The lady at the post office said that they should all arrive before Christmas. Because I had so many to mail, I didn't insure anything so if they arrive broken please don't tell me. Remember, it's the thought that counts anyway. I just hope none of you are let down since they are just simple presents. Also don't give away what they are since I sent most of you the same things and some will arrive before others. Now that bad news. It was cold today at the market and my head feels like it is about to explode. I hope I am not coming down with something. I just took some fish oil tablets and a high dose vitamin C, hoping to ward off any sickness. As soon as I finish here I am going to bed and it is only 7 pm. I may not get to all of your blogs today but I will finish tomorrow if I feel better. Other than the headache and almost freezing to de...

With Christmas just around the corner, I just like a lot of you am finding it hard to make time to Blog. Even though my world revolves around blogging, I am struggling to come up with a decent post so let me just give you a run down of what is going on in my life. 1. I found Luke. It was right where I remembered it, right after Mark. I find Luke much more readable than Matthiew or Mark for some reason. Even though the stories are approximately the same, they are told a little differently and it is easier to follow. Or maybe I am just a little dense and it took three times to sink in. :) 2. I am busy as a beaver trying to get ready for Christmas. I have most of the presents and I am trying very hard to get the gifts I promised ready to send. I always have trouble finding boxes to send presents in. Does anyone else have this problem? 3. Mr T is very sick. Most of you know that Mr T is our cat. The other day my wife found him almost dead at our door step. She rushed him to the hospital an...

Drum roll please. Wait wait wait, hold the drum roll, this is a simple Chirstmas drawing and I don't want anyone expecting a new car or boat or anything like that. Let me remind you that the grand prize is "hand made." I may toss in a little something else but it will be a modest prize but a fun one neverless. Ok I didn't have a number generator or anything like that so I put the 10 names on pieces of paper and drew the winner out of a bag. Hey it worked. So without further ado, the winner of the grand prize super duper fun Christmas prize is....... Beverly over at Dancing with Daffodils . And now for the really good news. I have volenteered for "two" pay forward gift giving thingies so everyone who entered gets a prize. I simply love giving. This includes: Kelly, Beverly, Edie, Scarlet, Katherin, Patrice, Monogram Queen, Marla, Daphine, and last but certainly not least, Angie. The order that the names are listed are the order in which you commented on my bl...

Last week, we went and saw the movie, 4 Christmases. It was pretty funny in certain parts but a few areas were less humorous. Well this isn’t about that movie. This is a meme that I invite you to join in if you like and tell us about 7 Christmases past. No tagging involved here. Just play along if the urge hits you. So here are 7 things about my past Christmases. 1. The stockings were hung. As far back as I can remember we had stockings but ours were really socks. We didn’t have a chimney though and hanging them by the kerosene stove in the hall just didn’t seem right so we would put them on the edge of the couch by the Christmas tree. We didn’t get toys in our stockings like kids do these days. We usually got the same thing every year. We got an apple, an orange, some nuts with the shells on them and some individually wrapped hard candy. Coincidently our father liked those kinds of nuts and my mother liked the hard candy. 2. Always a shepherd, never a wise man. Every year, the church ...

Are you guilty? I know I am. A lot of people are feeling guilty this time of year. Obviously, a lot of people are feeling guilty about overeating on Thanksgiving because there was a larger than normal crowd at the gym yesterday morning. Usually there are only about 5 or 6 people working out with me at 5 am but yesterday there were about 25. It was nice to have the company but I bet the crowds will thin out in a few days. That is usually how long that guilty feeling stays with you; Just a few days. As I suspected, today there were only 5 of us working out. Wow that was fast. I wasn’t working out today because of guilt, it was my normal routine. But what I am guilty of is “guilt giving”. Ironically, that subject was touched on during this past Sunday’s sermon. When I see someone in need I feel guilty and I give so that I don’t feel guilty. If those Salvation Army people are standing out in a freezing rain, I feel guilty and give a little extra. This year as I usually do, I made a pledge ...