BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!

Hello my sisters! We got home this morning and I wanted to quick throw a little post on the blog and tell you all that it was so nice to spend Christmas with my sisters. Hopefully we will be able to get together more often than every three years! I loved spending time with you all and I know ken had a good time. Sorry for Lucy and her spastic behavior. She needs a playmate and some stronger social skills. Thank you for the wonderful gifts! All of them will be cherished! I love you sooooo much!

Kristin

Its bed time now!

BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!

Hello my sisters! We got home this morning and I wanted to quick throw a little post on the blog and tell you all that it was so nice to spend Christmas with my sisters. Hopefully we will be able to get together more often than every three years! I loved spending time with you all and I know ken had a good time. Sorry for Lucy and her spastic behavior. She needs a playmate and some stronger social skills. Thank you for the wonderful gifts! All of them will be cherished! I love you sooooo much!

Kristin

Its bed time now!

Dave Matthews and friends CRUISE!

So I was watching VH1 today after work and I saw an advertisement for a contest they are running. If you win the grand prize you get to spend the superbowl weekend on a cruise with Dave Matthews band and friends (I don't know who his friends are but I don't really care either!) there are tons of concerts and two private island stops, one with a concert on the beach with Dave!!!!!! Can you believe it? That would be the ultimate for Dave fans!!!!!!!! Wish me luck!

Kris

I Feel Like Clark Griswald

I was told when I started with AVIS that there would be a Chirstmas bonus. This was exciting as I've never had one before. Then I heard through the grapevine that it would be given out at the Chirstmast party. I have been anticipating that party for 11 months waiting to see how much it would be for. I planned to do all my Christmas shopping with that check including presents, a tree, and food for all the family that will be staying with us. Dec 9th finally arrived, the day of the Christmas party for AVIS. We had the party at "The Melting Pot", a very nice restaurant! We played blackjack, had a drawing for prizes with our winnings, and then I saw them. The envelopes were layed neatly on a table, one with everyone's name on them. I was SO excited. I knew that the year before the average bonus was $1500. This was not the amount I was expecting, I would be happy with $100 and so forth. They passed out the envelopes after they thanked everyone for a great year we all opened them. How much was the bonus.....$25.00 gift card to Target. I almost passed out. I wanted to cry and leave, but I stayed put and ate dinner. At the end of the meal the owner gave a speech about traditions and company philosophy and then told us that our Christmas Bonus's were in the mail....(huge sigh of relief), but it still hasn't come. I check the mail at work, at home, it's driving me nuts, and I really haven't done any Christmas shopping. I hope it's worth the wait... if it ever shows up. Can Ken be cousin Eddie? I expect some help with this.

Amy

the dishwasher

Ok, don't take this as a complaint because it was a very sweet and huge and thoughtful gift but...ken's mom and dad bought us a new dishwasher to replace the broken one that has been collecting dust in our kitchen. The new one is black...our stove and fridge and microwave are white. The only black appliance is a can opener. Not enough to match. So my eyes are trying to adjust to the huge black dishwasher. Like I said, its nice and new and works and I am so grateful to not have to "wash" dishes anymore but its such a mismatch. Oh well...not the end of the world by any means!

KF

Yay for me!!!

I've been accepted into Winthrop!!! Yay! I'm sooooo excited!

Puppy Pics

Reply to All

Hello Everyone,
I just read Kristin, and Heather's response for pajamas. I thought it was really funny. Stan is excited to buy Doug pajama's although he think's it's a little weird. I also thought it was hilarious that Ken would like Nascar, or Steelers garb, and Doug would like a manicure. I think Stan is somewhere in the middle. It just makes me realize how much I love all of you, and all our significant others. I'm trying to decide which Christmas movie is a must see for us. Christmas Vacation or Christmas Comes to Willow Creek. Heather, do you know where you're staying and when you'll be around. I know things are hard with Margies birthday. We're also planning to go to Sprinz on the 23rd for Stan's birthday. It's WI version of Dave and Busters.

Jessica officially has a plane ticket!!!!! She will fly into ord on the 23rd and back to MYR on the 27th. Thank you Heather and Doug for picking her up and dropping her off.

Kristin, you can ship any Christmas presents you want here, it makes no difference to me. They will just go in the present closet.

I LOVE YOU ALL

Amy

amazon wish list

I am posting this as a real posting because I am afraid that if I don't you won't notice it. Amy, I looked for your wishlist on amazon and could only find a listing under Amy Foxworthy and everything on it was posted in 2000. Heather, yours was very short and everything was posted in 2004. Are these really the wishlists? Can you put some ideas on the blog so I don't have to go to my least favorite site on the internet?? (CURSES TO AMAZON! THE ROMANIANS CAN HACK THEIR SITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!) anyway...that aside, Jess, congrats on raymond! I am sure you a way excited! Amy, we will be wrapping up a case of 90 shilling for Stan (how much more Wisconsin can you get for a Christmas gift?) I posted stuff on the amazon wishlist but there were old items on there that I could not remove. Ok...nothing else to write. Hope you are all well! Lucy says hi!!!!!!!!


kf

amazon wish list

I am posting this as a real posting because I am afraid that if I don't you won't notice it. Amy, I looked for your wishlist on amazon and could only find a listing under Amy Foxworthy and everything on it was posted in 2000. Heather, yours was very short and everything was posted in 2004. Are these really the wishlists? Can you put some ideas on the blog so I don't have to go to my least favorite site on the internet?? (CURSES TO AMAZON! THE ROMANIANS CAN HACK THEIR SITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!) anyway...that aside, Jess, congrats on raymond! I am sure you a way excited! Amy, we will be wrapping up a case of 90 shilling for Stan (how much more Wisconsin can you get for a Christmas gift?) I posted stuff on the amazon wishlist but there were old items on there that I could not remove. Ok...nothing else to write. Hope you are all well! Lucy says hi!!!!!!!!


kf

Report Cards

It's Halloween and I am avoiding the trick-or-treaters at home by staying late at school and working on report cards. They are due on Friday, but since I am leaving Thurs. morning I need to have them done by Wednesday. I HATE doing report cards. When I was in third grade I would never have imagined how difficult it would be to determine report card grades, I'm sure I would have thought it would be great fun. Just like in when I was in 5th grade and I would sometimes get to go help one of the younger grades teachers grade papers. I LOVED it. Now I hate that too. The thing that kills me is when students could accomplish so much more, but if I were grading based only on what they actually turn in, they will get terrible grades. I know how hard it is for some of these students to do homework. I know what they have going on at home. Yet it is hard to justify giving a grade based on what I think the student could do. Well, I guess I better get on with it. Soon it will be over and I can start the new nine weeks fresh. I will chase down kids with missing work. I will grade papers as soon as they are turned in. I will not let stacks accumulate on my desk!

Raymond Rocks!!

Yay, I got season two of Everybody Loves Raymond! I know I've been putting it on my Christmas list, but the opportunity was just too good to resist. I figured that if anyone had already gotten it, then they would have gotten season 1, so here I am with my wonderful boxed set of humor. There's still three other seasons in case any of you are still wondering what I'd like for Christmas!
Love Y'ALL!! (hehe)
Jessica

Christmas Plans

So I was wondering if we all wanted to chip in and buy a pre-paid cell phone for Grandma and Grandpa this year. I thought they might need one and that way they aren't stuck with a plan they won't use etc. If anyone is interested let me know.

Be prepared, you are all going to have some Martha Stewart-esque gifts this year. They aren't lame. I promise. Nothing like the magic towel and silly socks Christmas...Amy I know you loved that monkey puppet despite what you say!

Can we please do burritos on Christmas Eve? I am assuming that the coffee cake is a given on Christmas morning. Amy let me know what we can get for Stan in the way of Bronco gear and are there any microbrews he misses that he can't get in WI? Heather...we have no idea what to get for Doug. Any ideas on the in-laws would be appreciated! Jessica, thanks for putting a list up...that will help a lot! Do we want to "draw names" to get Christmas Jammies for each other? I thought it might be fun so we can all wear our new pj's to bed on Christmas eve...and jeddy red reddy...we will call to make sure you have yours on too! ( I wish you were coming! ) Amy, do you have TABOO or do I need to bring it with me? Ken will also want to play MONOPOLY...be prepared. He may pack his Dale Earnhardt Monopoly board. ( you don't need to say it I already know...IF YOU OWN A DALE EARNHARDT MONOPOLY GAME...YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK!)

NOVEMBER 18 is when Harry Potter~The Goblet of Fire comes out in theaters! Ken and I will be there! I can't wait for it to come out! I saw a preview for it today and it looks great even without the old Dumbledore. (the new one is lame). The one bizarre thing is that apparently there are no barbers in Hogwarts. Harry and Ron have hair that reminds me of Uncle Jesse's twins on Full House! It's long and shaggy not at all flattering.

Otherwise, not a lot going on here. I miss you all!!!!!!!!!!!

Kristin

Christmas List...as promised

Hello Everyone! This is mostly for Heather who wanted to know what Christmas gifts she could buy at Borders this week with her special teacher's discount. SO, here's a list of some great books and stuff.

These, you can find in the Christian Fiction section; they're all by the same author, and this is just a list of books I have not read from her...I don't necessarily want all of them.

Ok, books by Francine Rivers: Redeeming Love, Unafraid, The Scarlet Thread, and The Last Sin Eater

Movies: Everybody Loves Raymond (of course!!) or The Phantom of the Opera (wonderful movie!!)

That's all the Border's merchandise I can think of for now...so I will leave it at that. Y'all need to get your Christmas lists up here, so we can get started early!
Love you guys!!
Jessica

Bugs

Ok, so Friday night, Kyle and I went up to Coastal Carolina University to see a play. He's taking this theater class and he is required to have so many hours at the shows, so I've been going with him every once in a while. This particular play, Bugs, was supposed to be a little weird, but I figured that it would be an adventure if nothing else. Unfortunately, the word "adventure" can't accurately describe our little experience. It was more of an "episode."

So Kyle and I walk into the Blackbox Theater (a small, completely black room with a platform that has three rows of seats and a stage that's way too close for comfort). At my suggestion, we sat as far away from the stage as we possibly could (which was still all too close in my opinion). Kyle looked around and said, "Wow, Jessica...this is looking a little sketchy." The set was a dumpy, run down and falling apart motel room, and there was really random music playing in the background. Well, Kyle opens up the program and says "Uh-oh...." In big, bold letters at the bottom of the page it said:

*CAUTION*
Adult content, Smoking, Nutdity, Language, Violence, Simulated drug and alchohol abuse, Intense Lighting Effects, biting, kicking, screaming, and a whole lotta "God Bless the USA."

WHOA!! I had heard that this play was a little out there, but I did not know what I was getting myself in to. Needless to say, the whole story was completley messed up and twisted....definately something to put on another blog entry when I'm not as scarred as I am now. All I can say, is Thank God we were sitting in the back row!!

Pics ala Anne of Green Gables

Florida Pics

Winthrop Pics

Why I hate Romania

Ok...So I am going to get gas today after work and to save time I pull out my debit card. It says enter pin...I do...Pin incorrect...WHAT THE &^%$ so I try again...pin incorrect...more curse words. I go inside and explain...the guy says I will swipe it here. I say ok...he says ummmm...its not accepting it. I was shocked and said fine I will pay cash. (knowing that everyone behind me in line thinks I am an irresponsible twit). I pump my gas and start to drive home. I call my telephone banking thing to check my balances...plenty o money. So I call the bank and tell them what is going on. The lady puts me on hold and comes back after 5 minutes or so. She asks if I have been vacationing in Romania lately. (HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!) I reply with the calmest no i can muster. She puts me back on hold again. to make a long story short they had to cancel my debit card and re-issue a new one. Fortunately they didn't get any of my money.

I'm here!

Hey everyone! yes, i'm out here...it just took me a while to get "in the mood" for the whole blogging thing. Not a whole lot is going on. I got a new job, working in an insurance office doing some secretarial stuff. I'm going to be really upset to leave all my babies at the daycare, but this job was a lot more practical--less hours, more money, plus good experience, and it looks great on a resume.
School is going well. I'm finishing up government next week. Hallelujiah (can't spell that, sorry)! I'm just about to send off my Teaching Fellows application and I'm taking the ACT for the third and FINAL time next saturday, so please be praying for everything go well. Hmmm....like i said, there's not a whole lot going on, but there's a brief update, and I figured that I needed to 'blog' something at one point or another. I hope I did it right.
I love you guys!!
Jessica

The Drawing

Okay ladies, I have spent most of my day trying to draw self-portraits for my class tomorrow night and have finally produced one that didn't end up in the fireplace. Check it out on my blog. I will have much to post later about life changing decisions, but for now I've got to get on with the rest of the assignments for my class and get ready for school tomorrow. As for Christmas lists, I have a feeling that as far as clothes requests I may be asking for those suited to a colder climate. J

Jessica are you out there?

Life Update

I started my new job this week at WG&R Furniture, and it's a lot of fun. It's a very laid back atmosphere and there are a lot of people my age that I'm excited to get to know. I'm so glad I was able to do this over waiting tables. There is no stress and the nights go by pretty quickly.

Stan passed his real estate exam!! Which is a really hard test. He's working for Century 21 and very excited about his new job. The office is run out of an old victorian house next to Bellin Hospital so it's in a nice area. He's also helping the owner renovate the building.

Things at AVIS are going great. I had a new employee start last Monday and she's absolutely amazing. She fits into our office dynamic perfectly.

Last but not least, congratulations to Lucy for passing obediance class!!! As you all know Henry was also valadictorian, and now Lucy is following in his footsteps. Unfortunatly Toby is a drop out, which Heather can attest to and may be referred to as a spoiled brat. I'm living proof home schooling doesn't work.

Bye for now,
Love Amy

Updates...

So, I wanted to put this up here so we could all post Christmas Wish Lists. Its never too early! (personally i don't know what i would ask for but I will think about it and post as a response to this post)

I haven't heard back yet as far as Ken's Time off Situation yet. I hope he will find out this week.

Lucy graduated beginner obediance tonight. She was the star of the class (hehe there were only two dogs including her) but she was clearly the most improved! I am dog sitting for Lucy's brother until tuesday (today is thursday). My friend Kymberly had a death in the family...her son passed away...she had to fly back to Virginia with her hubby and we had some very last minute dog sitting request thrown in our laps...we obviously could not say no so its been a fun day so far. I think her dog needs obediance badly! (lucy looks like an angel by comparison)

So...thats all for now. I have to catch up with whats happening on the apprentice! I missed like 10 minutes already!!!!

kris

TV Scoop

It's Tuesday which means Gilmores and Real World and possibly The Amazing Race (I'm watching it right now and not sure yet). So what'd y'all think? K & J do you even watch any of these shows?

Thoughts...

Did the hairstylist for Gilmores just return from a "Bangs are In" workshop. Did it seem odd to anyone else that Rory and Sookie appeared with bangs in the same episode?

Did Rory become supervisor for the road crew? Or is she just ordering everyone around? She was putting on her Fight Face last week and now she's everyone's best friend?

TJ annoys the hell out of me. He needs to go.

Love Luke. Love him. Especially with Paul Anka

Will Rory's obvious regret during the freshmen orientation viewing and DAR induction/indoctrination change her mind about going back to school?

Where was Danny in this ep? Was this filmed while he was gone and this is being shown out of order? It seemed strange to me that he and Mel didn't have any storyline.

Lacy is getting a bit more annoying each week. She needs to get a life. She has a blog, but I can never remember the site address. I think it's MySpace like Kristin's.

Throwing clothes in the pool... so orginial. Seen RW/RR Challenge? Maybe RR was filming while it was being shown.

Can you imagine the 4 of us doing Amazing Race. I think we might kill each other. Or kick ass.

I hope I am doing this right...

So I had an epiphany last night while playing poker at our "home game". I think I want to be a professional dealer. There is a guy who plays with us that is currently taking lessons from an existing pro dealer and was showing us how he learned to spread or fan the cards...He sucked at it and this was after two lessons! So I decide I should try to fan the cards as well. Everyone was pretty much gone for the night and so I wasn't under risk of embarrassment. I split the deck and TADA a perfect fan. The guy who was taking the lessons makes a comment about beginners luck. I do it again. Again I spread a perfect fan. He wasn't that happy for me but did let me know that the cost of lessons is $500. From talking with the dealer that gives the lessons (ken and I know him from the casino that were we like to play cards) he makes approx.75,000/year! Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!! So I was invited to go and observe a lesson. I am definately going to do this and then maybe after Christmas seriously contemplate lessons. They are trying to open a huge new casino 30-45 minutes from where I live and that would be a fun new job!

Speaking of Christmas, Amy, Ken's work is not doing a shut down this year. This means that there is a possibility that I won't be able to come out for Christmas. He just found this out and will be putting in a request for PTO (paid time off) on wednesday. We hope he doesn't get beat to the punch.
I love this idea especially since I can never ever ever get a hold of Heather! (stop screening my calls!!!!!!!!!!)

Love you all!
kristin

Growing Old

I came home from work tonight and decided to get on the treadmill. With ITunes I have created playlists designed especially for my treadmill/exercize time so I have a little more pep in my step. It struck me while singing along to "Baby Got Back" using a spoon for a micorphone, that the song is old. Is there an age when "Baby Got Back" isn't acceptable to listen to? Does anyone else listen to La Bouche? Just my deep thoughts for the night.

My Dog is the Cutest and Other Potentially Competitive Post Titles

Testing...

Are you all there? Will we share this site with anyone else? Or will it be a place just for us? To share stories, memories, rants (ala Luke Danes), television shows we're watching, books we've read and of course.... the puppies.

Can't wait!