* 10, 11, 12 <- Yes, that's the date *

Well, it's 5:p & I just got started on here. Not a typical day by any means. Yesterday I sync'd Quicken, cleaned the toilet, watered the bedroom plant, fed the cats & dogs, pushed in the dining room chairs, went through the kitchen cabinets & got inspired to grill for dinner, did 3 loads of laundry, checked the Brinks system, hosed off the front porch, dusted my office lights, & swept the utility room. I finished just in time to drive Josh to work & then it was Sims time! :) I worked on the kitchen for Heart of Texas. I think it came out very nice if I do say so myself. After that I loaded up my Christian/Grady game. This is our home & family, as best as I could represent it. The house, the people, & the pets have been recreated to the best of my abilities. The only difference between the game & real life is that I painted the interior of the house in the game in the colors I would like it to be IRL. Right now, the entire house is kind of a tan/lt. brown inside. The color shown in the room on the far right in the back. As for the rest of it, the Sims all have the appropriate traits, likes, &

jobs. The pets have the appropriate traits, the red pickup represents my Chevy Silverado & the blue car represents Pete's Honda Civic. The furniture styles are almost dead on, the flooring, the lighting ... it's as close as I could get it. A lot had changed since I 1st uploaded this lot to the exchange, so I deleted the old one & uploaded this one once I finished making all the updates. Our daughter has moved out, so I had to painfully kick her out of the house in this game, too. Talk about losing her twice. Ouch! So ... download Christian-Grady & play us, our pets, & our home. If you do any redecorating, PLEASE send me screenshots as I'd love to see what you do with the place. I'm always looking for redecorating ideas. :) After I finished all our updates & upload, I loaded up one of my other creations called Deauville. The Sim I created for this house is named Yvette. She's a slob who loves the outdoors,

is adventurous, a hopeless romantic, & unlucky. Her lifetime wish is to be an astronaut, so she immediately joined the military. She likes cheesesteak, custom music, & the color pink. She's an Aquarius. Her companion is a Balinese cat named Hazel. Yvette met Jack Bunch at work (her boss) & married him. They then adopted a Siberian kitten named Fitz so Hazel wouldn't be lonely. Yvette & Jack had a son named Robert Bunch (2nd generation). He's friendly, neurotic, an Aquarius like his mom, likes pop music, fish & chips, the color orange, is eccentric & a virtuoso. He's only a teen right now, but I'm guessing he's

going to join the music career at the theater when he graduates. Hazel & Fitz had kittens & we kept a little girl named Gypsy Bunch (2nd generation). I call her a Sibenese (Siberian + Balinese). Robert met Ashleigh Felder in school & hopefully, after they both graduate, they'll marry & have a child named Isabel or Joel (3rd generation). Yvette, although "unlucky", is doing exceptionally well. From the time the game started until the time I finished playing for the night, consider that she got married by maybe her 3rd day at work & pregnant that same night (4 game days in), by the time her son aged up to a high school student, she had just completed level 10 of both the athletic & handiness skills. Both are required for the military career. She's now getting a promotion every day that she goes to work. She's going to be extremely successful & move up the ladder very fast. Her husband Jack is level 10 in the military

career, fulfilling his lifetime wish of being an astronaut. He's aged up to a senior, but considering he only works 1 day a week & gets paid a small fortune to do so, I left him employed. The games stars on a Sunday & I had $15k. Monday I paid the bills for the 1st time & they were $5k. Holy crap! I try to never use financial cheats in the games but here I was thinking in this game, I'm going to have to. Nope. She got married quick enough & he made enough money to pull it off. Once he hit level 10 & with her daily promotions & bonuses, they're just fine. They pulled ahead of the curve just in time for me to NOT have to use a cheat. Nice save guys! :) I won't be playing Sims today, it was just too nuts. I woke up & didn't have too long to get anything done, so I didn't even try. I just chilled out & checked all my stuff (e-mail, ICS, Pinterest, facebook, eBay) ... the usual morning routine, & then went to the school, picked Kyle up early, drove Josh to work, swung through a drive-thru because Kyle & I were both hungry, & then went to an appointment in McKinney. I had to be 3 places today all at 2:p. FAIL. Can't happen, I'm only 1 person. SO ... 1 of the places happened early, 1 of the places happened on time, & 1 of the places didn't happen at all. I'm looking forward to a quiet 3 days ahead. Nothing going on until Meet the Candidates on Monday at 6.

A man took his 6-year-old son to his 1st football game. Afterward, he asked the boy what he thought of the game. "It was exciting," he replied. "But I don't understand why they were killing each other for .25c." "What do you mean?" the dad asked. "Well, everyone kept yelling, 'Get the quarter back!'"

Blind driver breaks land-speed record (2008):

On this day in 2008, a man from Belgium named Luc Costermans sets a new world speed record for blind drivers: 192 mph. Costermans set the record in a borrowed Lamborghini Gallardo on a long, straight stretch of airstrip near Marseilles, France. He was accompanied by a carload of sophisticated navigational equipment as well as a human co-pilot, who gave directions from the Lamborghini's passenger seat.

The record Costermans broke had been set exactly three years before by the British driver Mike Newman. On that day, Newman had coaxed his 507-horsepower BMW M5 to a top speed of 178.5 mph. (Over a measured mile, Newman's speed averaged 167.32 mph.)  For his part, Newman had smashed a 2-year-old record—144.7 mph—that he had set himself in a borrowed Jaguar, just three days after he learned to drive. Unlike Costermans, Newman did not race with a co-pilot or a navigator. Instead, he got his father-in-law to zoom around the track behind him, shouting directions over the radio.

Both of these blind record-setters were all-around daredevils who raced all sorts of vehicles. In 2001, for example, Newman became the fastest blind motorcycle driver in the world (his record speed was 89 mph) just four days after learning to ride; five years later, Costermans flew a small airplane all around France. (He was joined by an instructor and a navigator.)  Another record-setter, an Englishman named Steve Cunningham, had set the land-speed record himself in 1999 (147 mph, while driving a £70,000 Chrysler Viper) at the same time that he held the sea-speed record for a blind sailor. In 2004, guided by sophisticated talking navigational software, Cunningham became the first blind pilot to circumnavigate the United Kingdom by air.

Crossing Delancey:

Try as she might, career woman Izzy Grossman (Amy Irving) can't escape her family's good intentions. She's a single gal with good friends and a great job, but her loving grandmother (Reizl Bozyk) is convinced that Izzy needs a man to be happy. Enter pickle vendor Sam (Peter Riegert), a local nice guy who just can't seem to win Izzy's heart. Jeroen Krabbé co-stars as Sam's competition, and Sylvia Miles appears as matchmaker Hannah Mandelbaum.

Exigent:

1: Requiring immediate aid or action. 2: Requiring or calling for much : demanding.

The computer technician complained that customers' requests were becoming increasingly exigent, bordering on unreasonable.

"This writ seemeth to be called an Exigent because it exacteth the party, that is, requireth his expearance or forthcomming to answer the lawe." Writer John Cowell, referring in 1607 to a writ summoning a person on pain of outlawry, clearly recognized "exigent" as a derivative of Latin exigere, meaning "to demand." Over the last 5 centuries we've demanded a lot from "exigent." It's served as a legal term (as in Cowell's quote), as well as a noun meaning either "an emergency" or "an end or extremity." Today the adjective is seen frequently in legal contexts referring to "exigent circumstances," such as those used to justify a search by police without a warrant.

If I were a magician, I could make your __________ disappear. You'll have to transform your __________ into __________ without my help though.

In Japan & some other Asian countries, the bow is the equivalent of the handshake. In rank-conscious Japan, the person of inferior rank bows 1st & lowest. Indians & Thais may place their hands together at the chest in a prayer-like gesture as a form of greeting.

In what country did the Thuggee, a secret sect of roving robbers and murderers, prey on wealthy travelers?

Pop a piece of gum. Chewing loosens your jaw, where you often store stress.

Rather than raking leaves & filling a garbage can or wheel barrow, lay a sheet of plastic tarp on the ground & rake the leaves onto it. Gather each corner of the sheet & drag the leaves to the curb or leaf pile.

TAXI Check:

TAXI Check is very helpful application to control your taxi expenses and enables you to find out the dishonestly taxi drivers. Just start the TAXI Check measurement before entering a car and when you arrive at the destination, you can check how much you should pay. The application is using the GPS localization to determine the taxi path. Therefore the best results are achieved, when you start TAXI Check a few minutes before taking a drive. It helps GPS chip to find your more precise position. Nevertheless the computed price can be still lightly affected by measurement errors. It is ok to get a fare what is different up to 10% from the taximeter.
You will find TAXI Check very helpful during a traveling, business trips or backpacking in foreign cities.
FEATURES
* Check the taxi fare during a ride
* Easy and simple user interface
* Supports unlimited number of taxi rate definitions
* Works with kilometer or mile distance unit
* Displays a taxi ride time
* Works in background - you can use another application
NOTE
Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. So stop TAXI Check measurement, when you are not taking a taxi ride.

There are few things we're able to purchase or things we're able to do because of money that are big life changers & really move the needle. I don't get real excited about buying something. My heart rate doesn't even change. Family things do it: my dogs greeting me at the door when I get home, my kids doing well, being healthy, the sound of my husband's car pulling into the driveway in the evening.

What 2 Baseball Hall of Fame pitchers played basketball with the barnstorming Harlem Globetrotters?

Bob Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins.

Which city is the oldest, 2nd oldest, & 3rd oldest?

A. Delhi

B. Athens

C. Damascus

CBA. Excavations show that Damascus was likely inhabited as early as 9,000 B.C.

Which female singer was popular for her 1963 hit "It's My Party"?

A. Little Eva

B. Joni Mitchell

C. Diana Ross

D. Lesley Gore

Which of these characters are from Charles Dickens novels?

Bumble, Pumblechook, Draco, Oliver, Jacob Marley, Hermione.Bumble, Pumblechook, Oliver, & Jacob Marley.

Which TV show aired 1st, 2nd, & 3rd?

A. Cheers

B. Seinfeld

C. M.A.S.H.