Yeah, Yeah

Ok, because Jana was givin' me all this here hollerin' and complainin' n' such, I'm well decided that I'm better make one of these heer "blahger" profile whatchamacallits. I kinda figured you'd all love the display name I picked out for meself.

Things are goin pretty well down in my little parsect of Grover's Corners. I've started learning all the places that I have to sit n' stand n' walk n' such. Haven't started with the whole memorizin' part of all tha yet. If ya'll haven't heard anything about that, mah name is Mr. Webb, and I'm the editor in town. I live right next door to the Gibbs', and they're some nice folks. I really don't talk like this in person, but Ah'm just havin fun.

School... well that's a whole nuthah suggekt ('gg' like in suggest). The only AP class that I'm currently enrolled and obligated in working at, is AP Calculus BC (BC basically is just we actually learn 2 semesters of it, unlike AB which is 1 semester stretched out over 2 school semesters). We don't even get homework that we have to turn in in that class. He just gives us quizzes practically every day. They ain't too hard. Ah'm still warmin' up to 'em tho.

Well, Jana's obviously been thinkin' about this for a little while, so I might as well inform ya'll. Me n' Chelsea aren't together anymore. But I've gotten together with this Lauren Murphy gel. She's pretty much awesome. Nuthin major, just talk to each other on the phone every day, and hang out more than average. Pretty normal for how normal I can possibly get.

I took a WPM test the other day, and came out with 85 wpm. Needless to say, I was pretty darn happy.

Until next time, good'ay, and have a wonderful turkey sandwich.

****SCENE****

SCO vs. OSU

Southern College of Optometry or The Ohio State University? That is the question.

On Monday, the VP of Student Affairs at SCO visited with Jason's Pre-Optometry Club. Usually schools will send out a random representative, but we were fortunate enough to listen to one of their VP's. He also serves on the admissions committee as well as head of the scholarship committee. We walked him out to his car after his presentation, and he told Jason that he should be expecting an invitation for an interview as soon as they receive the rest of his application. Jason hasn't been able to send in his essays yet because of his busy school schedule. Jason has always liked SCO for some reason, even when we first started looking into schools he started gravitating towards it. Then he turned his thoughts to Ohio State (with more than a little encouragement from me) and has landed an interview there on October 23rd. WHAT TO DO?

I know, I know. You're all thinking that he hasn't even been accepted anywhere yet! Well, it appears his chances are pretty good at both schools and they are both great schools for different reasons. I secretly hope he only gets accepted into one so that we don't have to make a decision.

We gave in

After considerable grief from Jana, and after reading Mom's plead for everyone to write, last night around 12:30 we set up our own blog account. So, I guess that I should start with how things are going in our little world. School is going well for both of us...Eric has a bowling class that he is absolutely in love with and can't wait to get to every morning, and he says that he's getting better. It's funny because ESPN2 has been showing bowling recently every once and a while, and we sit and watch and he explains to me what they're doing-but, to me, it's just throwing a ball down the lane, and it's just luck how many you hit. Anyway, school for me has been a little bit harder...not my classes, but after more than a year of not attending school, it's hard for me to get out of bed and go to class. Work for both of us keep us away from home. Driving the van has become more fun, and the people in the hospitals are getting to recognize me and talk to me more often. But, it's nice because the drive is so long that I can talk on the phone if I want and listen to whatever I want because it's just me in the van. (Kurt and Heather: I am a courier for IHC a major healthcare corp.) Eric knows everything at the cafeteria now, so he can do everything. But, they just had people quit so now he's working almost everyday. But, we don't mind not being here because of the smells that permeate our apt. Usually it's just smoke and sometimes marijuana, but yesterday, it was probably the worst ever. The smell comes through our closet in our vanity that holds our water heater and when we would use the air conditioner it would come through there too. But, yesterday, we thought we would be sick....someone was making fish. We had to close the door to the back of the apt...but it also comes in through little cracks under the balcony door. So, the whole apt. smelled like rotten fish...and I was already sick from eating something that didn't agree with me. It was more awful than all the smoke incidents combined. YUM! What else....Eric has finished and submited his med school applications (finally!) and so now we are just waiting for the schools to send back secondary applications and then interviews. And this leads me to some news that is a little sad...but we're not coming home for Christmas. We just can't afford it. Plane tickets for interviews, primary and secondary applications-but wherever we end up next year, we will be there next Christmas. Well...I can't think of anything right now. Oh except, we were talking last night and we think that Jimmy should try out for the Beast. We think he would make an excellent Beast. That's all. Sorry that I wrote a novel, I apologize for taking up so much space. We love you guys and will do our best to keep contributing and reading.

Chimichanga!

Thanks to Heather, Jason and I now have (quite possibly) a new favorite dinner. You need to try her chimichangas, they are delicious and so easy to make! The recipe is listed in the comment section of one of my previous blogs.

THANK YOU!

What's down in G-town

G-town is Greenville, by the way.

I've been meaning to post something for the last couple days with an update, but just hadn't done it. Jana's post spurred me into action. So here's the scoop.

I've recently finished making a bead loom for Heather. It's pretty exciting, especially if it works well. She saw these looms and really wanted one, because you can do big projects on them easily. But as you can see, they're a bit pricey. So we set about designing one ourselves. We borrowed from their loom design as much as possible, because they already know how to make looms. It turned out pretty easy to do, and only cost about $15.

Here's a picture of me hard at work. (Click on the pictures to see slightly bigger ones.)



It took about 4 hours to get all the parts cut to specs, but that's because the only power tool I own is a Dremel. It would be much faster with a table saw and a drill press, probably only 15-20 minutes. But you can really use that tool in some clever ways if it's all you've got. Here are a couple pictures of the final product.





She hasn't actually used it yet, so we'll see how well it works. I'm guessing we'll be making some refinements.

Heather has been working on beading projects, like usual. Here are a couple pictures of her latest. She did the bead-embroidery work on the turtle's shell. She named him Lawrence, telling me that it seemed to fit somehow. Then I reminded her of the big stuffed Lawrence, and she laughed and said that must be why it seemed familiar.





Speaking of beading, that's what Heather will be doing all weekend. She's part of a beading group that gets together every few months for a "bead retreat." She's really been looking forward to it, because she gets to relax for three days doing her favorite hobby with like-minded people. She only got to stay for one day at the last one due to other things popping up, so this time she'll get to enjoy the entire weekend. She's even teaching a couple of classes about different techniques! She's taking the newly finished bead loom to show off, and maybe interest some of the ladies enough to order them from us.

Next weekend, we'll be visiting Joe and Michele for one of the famous whirlwind weekends, flying up Thursday night and then back on Monday morning. We haven't seen them for something like six months, so we're excited about that.

Then the weekend after that (Oct 6), Heather is taking her geologist certification test, the ASBOG. She doesn't actually need certification to be a practicing geologist in Michigan, as they don't require certification there, but it will look really good on a resumé, and may be needed for some projects anyway (like something federally funded). I'm sure Heather will chime in and correct me if I said that wrong.

And I guess that's about it.

Kurt out.

PLEASE WRITE

Ok, this blog business will never work if we're unwilling to write stuff in it!

Well, let me share... As most of you know, Jason and I are trying to have a baby. I'm over a month late, and have taken three pregnancy tests--all negative. How frustrating! I'm never late, and just concerned that something else may be wrong. I'm going to call my doctor today and see what he says. He will probably tell me to just be patient, women have "off" months all the time. Our concern is that we only have a particular window in which to get pregnant or else we won't be covered by this wonderful insurance once a baby comes along because we'll be on to optometry school.

I just keep praying and having faith that everything will work out for the best. I know the Lord has our best interests at heart, and we'll have a baby when we're supposed to. Jason, even though he's supportive of this decision, is still very scared because of how much school he has left. He seems to think it wouldn't be a bad thing if we waited five more years until he was finished. Five years! That's a little long for me...

Well, keep us in your prayers. But, more importantly, keep Hillary and Charlie in your prayers, I just keep hoping they'll be able to sell their house soon and move on with their lives.

a request

As you know, I want to shed some pounds. I have been fairly good at exercise, cutting back on sweets, and stopping all eating at 8 p.m. every night. Unfortunately, I'm a terrible cook, and until I can learn to eat healthier meals, I won't lose the weight.

I am asking you to share some recipes with me that meet these three criteria: (1) delicious (2) generally healthy (3) quick and easy. Are you up to the challenge? I could really use your help!

Mom's now in

Hi everyone, Dad and I worked on this together until we figured out how to get me into this blog. I don't have much to say but just wanted to check in.

I am excited about our new landscaping. Jim and Dad planted shrubs around the back and West sides of the house for Labor Day (talk about laboring). They worked real hard and it looks great! You'll be amazed. Everyone try to add something to this every now and then so that we can keep up with what you are doing.

Love you all.

treadmills and window shopping

Some of you may have already seen this, but for those who haven't, it's worth passing on. This video is hilarious, and the dance is done completely on treadmills... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7658864377255179025&q=treadmill+dance&hl=en

How was everyone's Labor Day? Kari and I spent the day together, while Eric worked and Jason went four-wheeling with his brother and Dad. We window shopped at the mall and picked out the perfect home furnishings for our dream houses (if and when we get them), and we also scoured kid's clothing stores for adorable little outfits (yes, I'm DEFINITELY wanting a baby lately). That night Jason joined the two of us for a BBQ, where he nearly burned off his eyebrows playing with the lighter fluid. It was a relaxing day, not nearly as productive as planned, but nice.

I better get back to work...

The Beginning

A new beginning in family connectedness. That may or may not be a word.