Has it really been two months since my last blahg? 
I know I’ve been busy but where has the time gone? Some days it seems like I don’t have a moment to myself and one of those moments could have been used to write a new blahg. Today I have a few minutes before I have to go out and do some Valentine’s Day shopping. I know it’s tomorrow but at least I’ll have that on time. So here’s today’s quick blahg.
As you may or not know, depending on whether you read my previous blahgs, we were working towards getting my parents into their new home. For newcomers, here’s the quick recap: Big sheet of ice fell off the roof at my parents’ home last February (2014) and struck their oil line and sent 800 litres of oil into the ground. The house was torn down, my parents were relocated, the soil was removed and re-mediated, and a new house was built on the old lot. 
My parents took possession on December 18th. We managed to get them moved in the same day and get the house set up over the next few days before all of their other possessions were delivered three days before Christmas. Then came Christmas dinner with 21 of us in the new house for Christmas dinner. My brother and his wife who live in Ohio and their three young boys came up and stayed over the holidays. They handled Christmas dinner and it felt like I was on holidays for a while.
Jeanette and I had a good Christmas with our own children
and my daughter Emily’s boyfriend Charlie even managed to visit for a few days. The holidays seem to always come and go too quickly. I didn’t finish that new Christmas story that I was working on. I will get back to it but it might not be until next Christmas. My outdoor Christmas display also took a beating this year. My eight foot inflatable Santa blew the mount for his motor and no longer would inflate. He has been replaced with a seven foot Christmas moose. I won’t post any pictures right now but I’ll be sure to photograph my Christmas 2015 display and include the moose and the Snoopy that I got for Christmas.
One last note on Christmas 2014. My youngest daughter Abbie, aged 16, bought me a present for Christmas that shocked and astounded me. 
I had for years told my children the story of one of the items from my teen years that I was never able to acquire but always wanted. It was a Rom the Space Knight action figure put out by Parker Brothers in 1979. It inspired a Marvel comic as well that I enjoyed reading. It is a collector’s item now and runs between one hundred fifty and two hundred dollars if you can find one. I know that Abbie spent way too much money on it but I guess it was her way to try and make up for the difficult times we had last fall. I’ve been trying to be more patient with her and things have been better.
Now for “from better to worse”. My father fell two weeks ago and fractured his hip. 
He’s still in the hospital but in the rehabilitation wing. The picture on the right was updated after this blahg was previously published. He looks better and is doing better. Once he’s up on his feet he should be doing better. At least he hasn’t smoked in two weeks and hopefully he will be around to celebrate his 78th birthday on May 24th. Keep your fingers crossed for him.
So why “My Good Life?” Well, for starters, I had been thinking about calling this blahg “My Crappy Life” or “It’s The Hard Knock Life” with the latter being an homage to the song from “Annie”. I’ve been thinking a lot lately that as bad as things are they could be worse. Case in point. Last week I was waiting for a phone call on my Dad’s stay in the hospital and had left my cell phone number in a message for someone at the hospital. They happened to call me back when I was driving. I pulled off to the side of the road, as a good driver should, to take the call and my car slid off the road into a ditch and lodged in deep snow. It took an hour to get a tow truck and get out and that cost me $75. Still, I was alright and there was no damage to the car. I chose to see the positive in things.
Here’s another example. My daughter wanted to see the 2004 Disney movie “Teacher’s Pet”. She had been five when it came out and doesn’t have much recollection of seeing it in the theater. 
I tried for two days and went to eight stores but could not find a new or used copy of the DVD. I reluctantly ordered a copy from Amazon Canada. Two days later the package arrived but it did not contain the DVD of “Teacher’s Pet”. 
Inside was a Mini AV to HDMI switch box. How on earth could anyone mistake a DVD for this thing? I could understand if they sent me a DVD of the 1958 film “Teacher’s Pet” with Clark Gable & Doris Day by mistake. By the way, I already own the DVD of the 1958 film. I quickly chatted with Amazon and they sent me a prepaid label to send back the switch and the correct DVD was dispatched and arrived today. You have to wonder and you have to laugh.
So things are not all that bad. I have my health and the love of a wonderful wife and children. My Dad’s coming along and my car is running fine. I even have “Teacher’s Pet” to watch with Abbie. So it’s a good life…it’s my good life.
I always try to add music to these posts and I toyed with the idea of ending this blahg with Tony Bennett’s version of “The Good Life” but I didn’t think it was really what I wanted as a tie-in. By the way, I received the new Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga CD “Cheek To Cheek” and it is thoroughly enjoyable. 
But as for the music today, I’m going to offer up a selection from an LP I found recently at a local thrift store. It’s “Kings of Dixieland Volume Two”. I wasn’t going to buy the record because the jacket was split all the way around but the record itself was actually red vinyl and I thought that was worth the $2. Some invisible tape fixed up the jacket and the record actually played well. The track I have chose to play from this LP is “Wait ‘Till The Shines Nellie”. That old chestnut is full of optimism and really swings.
So that’s it. Keep the faith. Keep smiling. Look for the silver lining. You get the drift.