Happy Valentine’s Day (and thanks, brother)

I originally created a facebook account because I wanted to see all the pictures my friends were posting of their kids.  Since that time I’ve enjoyed posting a few pictures of my own, sporadically following some friends and more often than not shaking my head at the things I see there.  I definitely don’t use it as my main means of communication and I rarely check the inbox (email-like) feature. For whatever reason this morning I noticed a message in my “other” folder so I clicked on it to find:

Hello Jennifer, My name is Tammy and I am hoping you are who I am looking for. I use to be friends with a a guy by the name of Dan Anderson and he worked in Slater Missouri for a Company called BHA.

He was always talking about his sister who was named Jennifer and always wanted me to met her. Dan passed away Nov 2005 on the day I graduated from the Police Academy. If you are his sister I would really love to get in touch with you.

This has been in my inbox since New Year’s Eve.  I guess  that I just found it this morning is my brother’s way of saying Happy Valentine’s Day, sister.  He has a way of sending me these messages…

I’m still choking up at “He was always talking about his sister…”  That’s not the first time I’ve heard that from friends of his.  How privileged am I!

Well, I wanted to share this with you as a reminder that not just today but EVERY day make sure the people who you love KNOW IT!  Thankfully I never had to question it for a minute…my brother and I loved each other very much.

Happy Valentine’s Day friends! (And thanks bro…)

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Happy New Year 2014!!

Hello!  It’s been WAY too long.  But … at the least I’m back.  Most importantly I want to wish everyone (fan or foe) who is reading this a very Happy New Year!  It’s a time to forget the past (unless it propels you forward IN A GOOD WAY) and to realize that life is beyond too short to hold on to baggage.

I had intentions of posting a photo of my outdoor Christmas decor (that I received many compliments on this year) next to my New Year’s day transformation photo only to find when I went on my phone to transfer the pictures that I hadn’t taken any of the holiday porch!  Oh well.

In short, I still have things to do tonight before I rest for another day at my new job tomorrow.  So I’ll leave you with a photo of where I’m starting outside this year.  AND my thoughts that despite some great loss (my dear friend Lisa – and for John, his dear friend Austin), searching for a new job (SO glad that I found one where I think I can really contribute and thrive) and all the bumps in the road of life, I had a really pretty fantastic 2013.

Cheers friends!  Peace, love and happiness.

jen (Archie and John Cook)

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I must admit I’m not a holiday person; I actually find the season a bit depressing. Nonetheless, it’s always nice and John, the Arch and I had a merry Christmas and are into a happy New Year with family and friends.

Part of my time out of the office was filled with our home office project. I decided I wanted to make one of the walls a magnetic chalkboard. Remember now, the house was built in 1860 and I’m not working with fresh drywall here. Well, John got two coats of magnetic primer on and when I came home we had to leave the house. We took Archie with. Word of caution – if you are going to do magnetic primer be prepared that the smell is outrageous! I applied a third coat while John was gone the next day and was able to keep a window cracked, air moving and candles burning, keeping the toxic fumes at bay.

After a break (and dry time per instructions) I decided it was time to start applying the tinted latex chalkboard paint. I opened the can to find what is supposed to be “garnet” looked like fuschia. Not wanting to make a mistake considering the cost and the time it took to do the magnetic primer, and not wanting to apply too many coats over it to render it magnetic-less, I headed to Home Depot. Well, the color is right and one coat is on the wall. Thankfully I didn’t select a lighter color because trying to cover black primer is difficult and I will have to visit the Depot for another quart of tinted chalkboard. I’ll keep you posted on the outcome.

Meanwhile, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

jen (by Jennifer)

Wall in progress

Happy New Year!

Ok… so I’m a little late with posting that but it’s the first time I’m writing since before it so it still counts.  Kinda like if it’s the first time you see someone at work after the holiday, right?

What a great time we had!  Starting with an AWESOME Bears game Monday night the 28th.  My nephew Jake and I were a last minute addition to the planned event for brother Bill and our friend Carter.  Jake and I got a vibe as soon as we got out of the car… ask him – it’s true!  Here we are before the game.  As you can see the seats are almost all empty around us.  We got there early to make sure we infested the stadium with that winning vibe we had…

Notice Jake in just a hoodie but me in my down “sleeping bag” – ha!

The next day Jake and Bill followed Carter, Archie, and me out of town and headed to Missouri where we met up with Mom, Dad, Sam and Ely at M & D’s house.  Then began the multiple games of Scrabble, and two Euchre tournaments, bottle rockets to be shot, wine to be drank, munchies to be grazed upon…  good times.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, too!

Now it’s down to business if this shop is going to open in May!

Cheers ~

jen