Freddy Freeloaders.

Oh I know I haven't been here in forever. It wasn't the right time.

On Rebecca's blog she wrote of how we keep specific dates in our minds. My mom died Aug 7th, 2009. That's in a few hours going to be two years ago.

I think I should lighten up so I'll tell you the true and nutty story of our day. We went to visit with Jay's dad and sister who is in town for a reunion. I don't get into reunions but respect that others like them. Anyway, she was going to get a hotel room near the airport shuttle, thus near us.

She decided to stay with a friend instead but my father in law already paid for the hotel room. So what to do? Well, we "stayed" there after having our wonderful Rockne's lunch with them. With our room key we went straight for the pool. It rained on us and we went up to our room and watched tv. Granted our own tv is maybe a mile away. hee. Then it cleared up and we went down and had a grand ole time swimming the day and evening away. That's how we roll. Tomorrow morning we are going there for the free breakfast and to check out. I'm not even kidding. I hear they have Crispy Cremes.

Do I know how to have fun on a budget? Yes indeedy I do!

Mom would have been so proud! ha ha.

I get it now

One of my absolute favorite memories of childhood was running around the fair with Debi and getting on all the rides. There was no eating or stopping or worrying about anything but having fun. I went with Debi because her mom didn't mind us on the rides. My mom didn't like me to go on rides- she worried. Overprotective, I thought at the time. Now I get it.

Fast forward 30 years. Yesterday, I took the kids to the fair. Tara wanted to go on the ferris wheel. Nice slow sweet ride. ALL I could think of was something going horribly wrong and Tara plunging to her death. My rational brain said, calm down weirdo, this is a safe sweet ride. My mommy brain said, OH MY GOSH I HEARD A SNAP. "Tara, hold on. Tara don't rock the seat. Tara don't lean. Tara don't slip out under the bar." Tara was understandably getting annoyed with me. So I feigned a smile and weakly and pathetically whimpered-
"Isn't this fun? Look how high we are. Yay." Tara asked me why I was gripping the bar so hard. I told her she'd understand one day when she had kids. She sighed- just like I did 30 years ago.

We went on my mom's birthday. I think she may have looked down from heaven and smiled.

Thoughts after a long time

Goofy picture in the hotel. We poured out the ice from the cooler right before I was going to take a shower. Brrrr.

Jay won this shirt for Emily. Thank you Rebecca!

At Debi's house with Tara.

Hungry Mother Mountain where Nancy and I stopped for lunch. We walked 5.7 miles and it got really tiring! But it was beautiful in the mountain and among the trees.

In a coal mine. If the coal didn't have the "grave" bump, the miner wouldn't get paid. Kids came to help. Many died.

A cave in Tennessee

I lost my grandmother a month ago. She was 91. One of her cousins who is 93 came. She looked just like my grandmother! I had never met her before. They were distant cousins since my granny was an only child. I hope she is enjoying heaven.

I can't put into words how much I miss my mother. Mostly I feel sad for her that her life is over. Surreal.

I have not had the motivation to blog but am coming around again.

I have to start sentences without "I".

Nancy and I went south for a mini vacation. I came back with bed bug bites all over my feet. I know it's gross. I called the hotel and they didn't believe me. I faxed them a doctor's paper and picture. All I want them to do is get an exterminator. I didn't even ask for my money back!!

Caves are very cool. I got to see one for the first time in my life.

Coal mines are also very cool. I read a book about a coal miner after visiting the mine. Hard workers those miners.

Online classes are a necessary part of my job. Sigh.

I'm excited to go to Virginia Beach with Jenny and family. Go Alex!

Abbey, Tom and Sheri's daughter, is ADORABLE.

Tara donated her life savings to Kenya. She did it without any prompting. She was recognized at VBS. They said her note which explained her desire to give 126 bucks to feed starving kids, made them cry. Tara is special.

Emily has a passion for Stardoll, an online fashion site. There is a lot of cyber drama with "hackers" and "mean girls". It seems like more trouble than it's worth but it's her thing.

Summer vacation never gets old. :)

Landscapers are worth their weight in gold.

If I had it to do again, I might have tried to be a photographer or a pilot.

Emily gets her front braces in a couple of weeks. She has a separator so she wouldn't need to remove teeth. That's better than the 8 teeth I had removed for braces!

It is quite a generous thing to allow someone into your home. I never forget that when I enter any person's home.

I better stop rambling and put up some pictures.

The things kids hear, haha

We saw some fireworks for 4th of July, and a politican was walking around campaigning for congress, handing out his materials.

When someone asked for one position the politican campaigned on, the politician replied, "I wanna get rid of Dennis," a reference to congressman Dennis Kucinich.

After he left, my oldest daughter was staring ahead in disbelief. Finally she said, "I don't understand that man." We asked her what was so confusing and she said....

here it comes.....

Why would he want to get rid of DENTISTS???

This cat picture cracks up Jay every time

Good news for people over the age of 70

(Post being entered by Jay)

The good news is that if you're over 70 it is healthier for you to be overweight:
LINK: Overweight septuagenarians live longer

Weeeeeeeeeeell, doesn't this just fly in the face of conventional wisdom. Admittedly, the study said you can't go too overboard, and that moving around is still a good idea. But it's one of those things to make ya go hmmm.

Now that I have broached an uncomfortable subject, let's ponder it a little longer. Like lots of other people, I (Jay) am on a personal quest toward fitness. What I keep encountering though is that good science seems to be in short supply. If you watch one of the many TV shows about weight loss, you will be told the ageless mantra that the only way to lose weight is through extreme exercise and caloric restriction. While this works, I also think it is approaching the issue with tunnel vision.

Perhaps because it won't fit into a sound bite for radio or TV, we don't often hear about how the Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio of stomach bacteria may just prove to be the biggest cause of weight gain. Or that some colds and respiratory infections contain the adenovirus-36 strain which can trigger weight gain. Or that bisphenol A (BPA) can disrupt endocrine function to the point of forced fat cell accumulation. Even if these things are shown to be of only marginal effect, or exceptions to the rule, I would still like to see the media gurus acknowledging them.

[sarcasm mode]
NAW, let's just revert back to reductionist thinking and do things the way they've always been done. 'Cuz that's always right, right? That is why these guys cut their grass the way it's been done for thousands of years, using scythes:

You wouldn't dare tell those guys there is a more efficient way to cut grass, would you? Let's totally eschew anything revealed by science. Let's make sure to do everything like the olden days. The older the better. That's the way it was, and we liked it. And by the way, why doesn't my new-fangled doctor treat illness the way they did it in the good old days, through bloodletting? That was also used for thousands of years, and we liked it.
[end sarcasm mode]

I realize in my journey I am still gonna have to eat my veggies and hit the bricks. But while the "experts" keep trying to give everyone guilt trips about eating, I have a sneaking suspicion that one day they will receive a major guilt trip of their own. If it doesn't hit them from the grassroots side of things, it will come from empirical studies in laboratories. Prepare to watch them eat a steaming helping of humble pie.

I'm so glad software companies don't want to be annoying or anything

(Post being entered by Jay)

Just a minor rant. Before getting on here today I got a system request to update Adobe Reader. Again. This time it was the 9.3.0 update. Did you get that one recently?

How about the thirty-seven updates before that one? Seriously, a READER program. A glorified image-viewer. Except not even as complex.

We all know what is happening really. It's just another way for the software company to nag you into buying some "more" full version of their software.

This kind of stuff has been tried before. Anyone remember Real Player? If you don't, you're lucky. If you do, you are probably wondering why you don't see it anymore. It's because at the grassroots level, every computer user decided they'd had enough of its constant self-updating. Stock in its parent company, RealNetworks, Inc., has gone from $82.60/share to its present-day $4.52/share.

Are you listening, Adobe Systems????

Take THAT, Geek Squad!

(Post being entered by Jay)

May I share with you how I saved $167 by NOT listening to Geek Squad? (And you can too!)

It all started a couple of months ago with a new notebook computer for Joann's school. I made an error in judgment: I told Joann it might be a nice computer for the kids to use too. On their first night of use, the kids managed to do one of these:

"No problem!" I frantically assured everyone as I grabbed Q-tips and rubbing alcohol. Thankfully, I managed to clean out every key and the keyboard was working fine again. Bliss!

The following week, the kids were on the computer again. Although they were told to be VERY careful this time, they quickly managed to do one of these:



This time our home cleaning remedies were not so lucky. Half of the keyboard was acting as if something were on top of it. Like perhaps a 600-pound anvil.

I took it to Best Buy's Geek Squad, thinking this would be a 24-hour repair. But they told me it will be shipped to Kentucky and then I will get a call. ONE WEEK LATER I finally get a call from a Geek Squad representative in Kentucky. He told me that this repair will cost $191.00. ONE HUNDRED NINETY-ONE DOLLARS!!!!!!!!! I kindly asked him if he could explain what part of that cost was labor vs. for parts. He got very defensive and said "Either you want it done or you don't." I told him to cancel the repair.

Having NO IDEA how I was going to fix things, I stumbled across this very helpful website.

Then I searched online for replacement keyboards. Found one for $24, shipped. It arrived before our computer made it back to our local Best Buy, which must have used a shipping route that passed through the rings of Saturn because it felt like forever.

The keyboard snapped in place like a dream. The repair was easier than changing one's socks. Total cost: $24. Total saved: $167. Fight the power!

Some pictures that make me smile.

Becky's pup
Taking my own picture in the hotel I was at for my first business trip, a conference. I feel so grown up! I should. I am almost.... 40. Gosh, that sounds old.

Bonfire at Becky's

Family

The room is dusty but I love this picture of Emily being her happy self at my dad's house.

say what?

Emily came out and wondered why her feet have calculus. That's callouses Emily.

Tara was mad that more people didn't put on their porch light to give out candy. "Why didn't more people parpissapate?" Um. Uh.

Have you already had Halloween?

We just got home from it. The girls actually made the full trek this time without any complaints of headache, backache, neck ache, arm ache, stomachache, leg pain or foot pain. :)
They actually smiled a lot and seemed to get into it. They even helped dress up the dog for the first time, who went as a banana.

When they returned home, they wanted to stay by the door and pass out candy to any remaining trick-or-treaters and asked us to sit back & watch. Not a problem for Jay & me!

I guess sometimes they do grow up quickly

Today felt like a big race to get clothing and shoes to keep up with Tara. She is growing like a weed, right into that hard-to-fit zone between child and adult. Some days you definitely know when your kid is running the show.

Her royal majesty

You know those motivational sayings like "live each day like it's your last!" ? Ummm, yeah that's not really possible as a parent because some of your days will have to be lived in total sacrifice to the needs of your child.

I think today we finally got caught up with all of the kids' clothing needs. Although it is possible Emily is planning to thwart this calmness. She has stayed the same height and size as she was a year ago - remaining in a holding pattern, if you will. What will likely happen is just when we get all the winter outerwear she needs, her body will rise up in defiance against it all by growing a foot taller. Then the entire merry-go-round repeats itself.

But of course this is all said in a spirit of gratitude. Well, actually it's being said in a spirit of exhaustion. but gratitude should be there once we all have adequate sleep.

Real actual websites I visited today.

(Post being entered by Jay)

Fun on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Time to review websites I visited today. Try 'em!

ODDCAST
I had endless fun typing phrases in this and watching
virtual humans say it back to me. Changing the language
won't actually convert what you type but it makes the
person say it with an accent from that country!

CELEBRITY SOUNDBOARDS
Celebrity Soundboards is old but fun. The idea of a
soundboard is to call your friend and press the buttons
so it sounds like the celebrity is talking to them. Make sure
to check all five pages to find someone you like. My favorite
was Napoleon Dynamite at the bottom of page 1.

CUTE OVERLOAD
Nothing but cute animal pictures! Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

JACKSON POLLOCK
Make your own Jackson Pollock painting! Clicking your mouse
will change the color of your paint.

FALLING SAND
Falling Sand Game. Wait for it to load then go ahead and draw
things to divert the falling sound. Very pretty. I still don't understand
what the options at the bottom do (wall/fire/water/oil) but it looks fun.

WORD FIND
Free word find! Click 'New Game' and everything is done with your mouse.

CHURCH SIGN GENERATOR
Oldie but goodie. Put any words you want on a church sign! After you select the
style, you have to type in what you want it to say using the boxes on the left.

Danse avec les étoiles

(Post being entered by Jay)

Joann is watching Dancing With The Stars. I am not.

What more proof would you ever need that she is female and I am male?

Anyway, in playing with translators to write the title of this post, I thought it would be fun to do the old trick of viewing the blog in different languages. So for our massive international audience out there, here you go:

This page in French

This page in German

This page in Italian

This page in Polish

This page in Arabic

This page in Hebrew

This page in Japanese

On a MUCH lighter note

(Post being entered by Jay)

I was glad I could cheer up Joann the other day. I found a web page that makes your page get interrupted by rapper Kanye West, just like he did at the recent VMA awards. You simply put http://kanyelicious.appspot.com/ in front of your webpage URL, and voilà!

This is what made Joann chuckle:
http://kanyelicious.appspot.com/http://www.joannc.blogspot.com

Update on the family

(Post being entered by Jay)

Sadly, Joann's mom passed away on August 7. This should at least explain the lack of updates here on the blog. We knew that her mom (Faith Scriver) had been getting more ill, and all of this on top of the stroke she had 14 years ago. However, we're still grieving over how much it hurts to have her gone. We miss her laughter and her warmth. She really had a way of making everyone feel good. We miss you Faith.

The Kitty

I'm still here

Emily's note to the Easter Bunny.

• My mom is a constant trooper. She has been very weak but still with us. She even came over for Mother's day and saw Millie, which is what she said she wanted for the day.


• I am waiting to see if I still have a job for next year. I'll know by the end of next week.


• The girls are doing well. Both are getting bigger. Tara grew two shoe sizes this year alone!


• Emily went to camp and told us about getting a tick and being rained on.


• Tara had a barium test today at Children's hospital to rule out stomach troubles. The latest theory is that her stomachaches are a result of 1 in 5 girls getting stomach pain as a result of rapid growth. We just want to know how to make her tummy feel better.


• I think about my blog but don't have the energy to make it nice right now.


• Jay is fixing the tractor as I type this. I wish I could just buy him a new one.


• Our new cat is a wonderful addition to our family. She is, however, ornery as all get out.


• I still want to paint my living room. I settled for painting my nails.


• One day at a time.


• I am excited to start summer, hopefully with a job intact. If I'm still gainfully employed, we will go to D.C. and show the kids the museums, monuments and the White House.


• Stream of consciousness.


• It's hard to get the students motivated at this point in the year. During testing week, I had a student exempt from some tests so we worked a little and played a lot of board games. It was so fun.


• The cat just walked in front of the computer. I hope I am typing correctly.


• Now she is licking my fingers and laying across the desk, keeping an ever watching eye on Millie. Millie would like to play with her. Sheba would like to hiss and try to scratch Millie. It's quite a zoo around here.


• Dancing with the Stars jumped the shark a little for me.


• Tara will be 8 in a couple of weeks. She wants to go bowling. Isn't that cute? When we bowl, we use the bumpers and Emily weakly rolls the ball. SLOWLY the ball inches to the pins. Every time, we have to hit reset because the machine doesn't register that anything has happened. That makes me laugh.


• Well that's it. My head is empty. ha ha

One night of fun

It's usually true that it's not what you know but whom you know.

Thankfully, we are friends with Jenny Stika, who works with the road manager of singer Steven Curtis Chapman, and recently she COMPLETELY surprised us by setting us up with concert seats AND backstage passes to Steven's current tour which also features none other than Michael W. Smith!

It was on a weeknight, and we weren't quite sure how we'd do this since we needed someone flexible enough to watch our kids. Well, that's when another Jenny stepped up to the plate to help us: Thank you Jenny Walls!

The concert was way fun and the seats were perfect. Then after the concert we got to go backstage. This was the first time Jay or I have ever had backstage passes to anything. Out of the 2000 fans in attendance, only 12 had backstage passes and we were among them!

The official pass

Jay said it felt like we had the Golden Tickets from Willy Wonka.

If there were only one low point of the night, it was when Jay accidentally dropped our digital camera before the concert. He felt TERRIBLE because the camera ceased to work. He's still trying to get it repaired but it may be destined to go to that great camera resting place in the sky.

So we had to buy a disposable camera from a nearby store, which is why our pictures are far from perfect. But at least the memories are.


Here is when Michael & Steven were on the stage together. Sorry they look so small (disposable cameras have no zoom), but at least you can see how close our seats were:

At the end, we were ushered to the backstage through this secret passageway thingy that was way cool. Geoff Moore, a great singer in his own right, greeted us warmly and talked with all of us for a few minutes, then Steven Curtis Chapman came out. He was SO friendly to Jay and me, and asked us about where we live and about our kids and what music they like, etc. One of Steven's daughters passed away last year in a tragic accident, so it seemed very big of him to discuss kids with us.

Here are pictures of our meeting with him. Clearly Jay couldn't believe he was really there:

Michael W. Smith could not make it to the meet & greet, as he was getting ready to rush off to Washington D.C. to meet with senators about some music education issue. But that was okay. Our evening was perfect, wonderful and unforgettable.

The new normal

I got my mom an MP3 player and she was rocking it out on Friday.


After surgery with animals to keep her company

new pajamas

There is a sadness to the days- but there are still happy days to be experienced. I had a good spring break. Mom is doing ok. She is losing her hair in big clumps but has cute little caps to wear. She has her ups and downs. We are happy to have her as long as we can.

The girls went to the YMCA for date night. It happens a couple of times a year where they will watch your kids for a few hours. Jay and I went to a great Japanese Buffet called ICHIBAN. mmmm is not even good enough to tell how good it was. But then we went to the mall while talking about the kids and bought them clothes and pajamas. I guess that's what parents do. They talk about the kids on dates.

The one photo of my mom was after one surgery where my dad put her stuffed animals on her chest so that she would know we were there when she woke up.

When going over Em's paperwork for school there was a BIO page.

Here are the highlights. After reading Em's I asked Tara the same questions. Tara wants to be a hair stylist and live in Poland. What I pray is the fascination with Poland?

Back to Em....

Three adjectives to describe you. She said "ten, tall, animalish";

Wishes to: "verterinarian"

Dreams of: "Being the world's best veterinarian and making people get me stuff and getting rid of bullying."

Wants to: "I want to go to Poland"

Who wonders: "I wonder what I will look like when I'm 72."

Who fears: "I'm scared of spiders and going up eskalators."

Who likes: "Salt and tomatoes and getting new webkinz and getting out of the state."

Who believes: "I believe in God and aliens." mmm better get back to church.

Who loves: "My dog and stuffed monkey that is 23 years old".- I guess there's no love for the mama and papa.

Who plans: "living in Poland or Switzerland." Yah, good luck with that.