Dave and Jeff did a tremendous job with all of the framework today. Jenelle and Pam stained the underside of each of the deck boards, ensuring that we won’t have any problems with the deck rotting from the inside out. I helped with a variety of tasks, including hauling some excess soil away from the deck area and into a pile at the far corner of the yard. We’re in great shape to get the boards laid tomorrow.
The fun begins
This weekend is a time for exciting changes. Jenelle’s parents and brother have flown in from Oregon to build a deck for us. As of right now, we’re pouring concrete in the post holes. I’ll try and post a new picture to the BenCam every so often.
At the same time, my dad is working on mounting our new TV on the wall. He’s already drilled a lot of the holes for the cable, and his electrical expertise is certainly coming in handy.
We are extremely thankful for everyone who helps us out each and every day. From the simplest gesture of kindness to major favors, we appreciate it all very much.
Wednesday, September 13: Happy Birthday, Aunt Gail!
Tomorrow (September 16): Happy Birthday, Dad!
Smart, but not that smart
On Saturday, August 12, Jenelle and I went to Waukesha to try out for the Jeopardy! game show. We don’t watch the show very often, but we heard about the audition opportunity on the radio.
We waited in line for about an hour, and then we entered the room where the “Clue Crew” was handing out 10-question fill-in-the-blank tests quicker than people could sit down. Jenelle started her test shortly before I started mine. As I struggled through a few of the tough questions, I saw Jenelle hand her test in to be graded. In less than ten seconds, she was informed that she “passed” and was invited to a session the following day. A minute or two later, I handed in my test, knowing that I got at least one of the ten questions wrong. To my surprise, I also passed, and I got invited to the same session as Jenelle. Yay us.
The Sunday session was at the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. We had to take a 50-question test this time, and the questions were a bit more difficult. Out of about 60 “candidates” in the room, only six or seven “passed” to the next round. Unfortunately, neither Jenelle nor I were among those people. However, one of the lucky folks was right next to us, and he was very excited to be selected. Apparently, he had tried out several times over the years. Yay him.
We can always try again after a year if we like. I might do that, but for now, I’m just happy that we appear to be smarter than the average bears.
“Stupid people aren’t stupid; they’re just not as smart as us.” — Jenelle
Summer Celebrations
I haven’t announced any birthdays or other milestones since June. Without further ado, herrrrrrrrrre we go:
July 18: Happy 5th Birthday, Rachel! I remember the day when Rachel (my cousin and goddaughter) was born. It was also the day I purchased the Oldsmobile Alero that I still drive. We had a fun time celebrating Rachel’s birthday the following weekend, but I couldn’t help but occasionally think about the fact that the extended warranty on my car is now expired. 🙂
July 20: Happy Birthday, Uncle Jerry!
July 30: Happy Birthday, Adam W.! Adam has his own blog, but he hasn’t updated it in a while.
August 5: Happy Birthday, Ella! My niece / goddaughter is now three years old. She’s tons of fun. I was happy to give her two CARS toys that she didn’t have yet. More on that story here.
August 7: Happy Birthday, Eric!
August 8: Happy Birthday, Tanner!
August 18: Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!
August 18: Happy Anniversary, Andrew and Holly!
August 21: Happy Birthday, Gina!
Okay, I think I’m caught up. I’d also like to say Congratulations! to Adam H. and Allison, who got married on August 5. Here’s a picture of the happy couple.
I have a few more bits of news to share, but they can wait for another post. For now, it’s sleepytime.
Italian Festival 2006
The annual Roma Lodge Italian Festival took place from July 28-30. Jenelle and I were present on both Friday and Saturday, taking in the usual atmosphere. I’m hoping the following question-and-answer session satisfies your curiosity:
Did you eat any Pane Fritto (fried dough)?
You bet I did. I had three each day, for a total of six. It helped that the price remained at four tickets ($2.00) this year.
How was the pizza this year?
Not too bad. Buona Vita provided it for the second year in a row. It was much better than the frozen stuff they had in 2004.
Did you eat anything else?
Sure — I had my share of Tastee Taters and ice cream as well. And the entire family ate their share of beef sandwiches, corn, meatball bombers, pasta, and chicken.
Did you take any photos?
Not too many — Feel free to check them out.
Was “Mr. Roma” on the scene?
Yes, he was. He was still dancing and directing the music, but he didn’t seem as excited as in years past. Perhaps he is finally slowing down. In any case, it was nice to see him again.
Why didn’t you make a video this year?
I gave it some thought, but it would be a lot of the same things that appeared in videos past. My current plan is to make another video in 2008, when perhaps things have changed a little more. 🙂
Life is Precious
I’m usually pretty light-hearted on the blog, but I felt an obligation to share a story that touched our lives over the weekend.
Returning home Friday evening, we noticed that 30th Avenue was blocked off right around where it intersects with our street, and there were lots of blinking lights from police and fire department vehicles. After taking an alternate route home, we walked (less than a quarter of a mile) to the scene of the accident. We learned from several of the onlookers that a motorcycle accident had occurred earlier in the evening.
We took a few pictures with our cell phone camera as the Flight For Life helicopter arrived on the scene.
Someone exited the helicopter and brought a stretcher over to the ambulance before entering the ambulance himself. After several minutes of no activity, I was saddened when the stretcher was brought back to the helicopter. The ambulance left the scene with the siren on, and the helicopter took off shortly after that.
We weren’t able to find anything on the internet about the accident. However, when I went out for a run the next morning, I saw this on the tree near where the accident occurred:
Even today, there are still signs of the tragedy that occurred:
We learned the whole story when we read this article on the Journal Times web site today.
Though I didn’t know him, my thoughts and prayers go out to Mike’s family and friends. May they find comfort and strength in this time of mourning.
Frozen Fiasco
There’s a picture up from our cottage trip last weekend on the BenCam. It was taken shortly after the six of us completed a round of putt-putt fun at Island Golf in downtown Minocqua. I’ll have pictures up soon, but tonight, I’d like to tell a more recent story.
It’s been very hot here in Wisconsin lately. When I was out running this morning, I noticed that the local Speedway gas station was offering a fountain or frozen drink, any size, for only 79 cents. Shortly after dinner, we were looking for something to do, so Jenelle and I walked the 3/4 mile to get a slushee-style beverage. The deal was still posted on the sign outside, so we were somewhat eager to enjoy this treat, especially because it was still pretty hot out. To our surprise, all that we found by the slush machine was the phrase:
OUT OF ORDER
How very frustrating. No chance for a refreshing 79-cent frozen drink. We walked out of the building without purchasing a thing, and we walked across the street to a BP gas station. There wasn’t as big of a slush machine as at the Speedway, but it was there. Two flavors — cherry and blue raspberry. For whatever reason, the cherry side contained blue slush, and the blue raspberry side contained red slush.
Ben: “So, what flavor do you want? Cherry or blue raspberry?”
Jenelle: “Er, um, the red one.”
Ben: “Okay, one blue raspberry — sounds good to me!”
As we were about to pour, one of the station employees stopped us, notifying us that the slush wasn’t tasting quite right today. He said to put a little bit in a cup and try it. His assessment was correct — the slush was VERY sour. We thanked him for letting us try it, told him about the Speedway across the street with the same slush outage issue, and made our way to our next destination.
A few blocks west was a third gas station — a Kwik Trip. VICTORY! We walked out with a 32-ounce wild strawberry slush, and it was quite good. It was $1.26 including tax, but that really didn’t bother us at this point. We walked over two miles total (roundtrip) to get our frozen drink, but we did it.
And so ends the story of another small triumph in this thing we call life.
Where has the time gone?
Jenelle here…
I can’t believe it’s already the middle of July! This year is flying by, and it seems like so much stuff is going on.
I continue to be extremely busy at work — working on a number of big, exciting projects. It’s exhausting, but at least I really enjoy what I do. And I recently was promoted, so that makes it even more fun!
Last week Ben and I managed to sneak away from work for a week of vacation (Five vacation days for the price of three! Yeah!)We have a few pictures from the trip, and we’ll try to get them up on the site soon.
Along with our friends Janet, Jamie, Steve and Mary, we spent about five days up at Ben’s family cottage just north of Woodruff, Wisconsin. That’s about a five hour drive from our house. The weather was beautiful and we spent the time sitting on the pier, fishing on the lake, eating a lot of junk food, shopping in town and playing miniature golf. It was a lot of fun and definitely a much-needed break from the chaos of work and the new house.
Speaking of the new house…
We haven’t had enough time to do much with the house. We do mow the lawn, and I’m working my way around the house and pulling the 2-foot tall weeds that are growing everywhere. The fence guy is coming in a couple weeks, but aside from that we have hardly done anything.
We’re considering getting some ideas from an interior designer, simply because we have no clue what to do with the family room. It’s about 12 feet by about 25 feet, which presents a challenge when arranging furniture. It seems like every way we arrange things, there’s unused space. Maybe someone else will have some better ideas.
That’s it for now. Ben and I will try to be a little more on the ball with these updates!
Weeks In Review
So, what’s been happening with Ben and Jenelle in the days since the previous post? Here’s a recap:
Monday, June 12 through Friday, June 16: The usual work + Tuesday small group + Wednesday church. I think we did have someone come by our house on Friday to give us another estimate for a deck. Jenelle and I are still pondering our options — with luck, we’ll have both a deck AND a fence installed by the end of the summer.
Saturday, June 17: I braved 80 degree temperatures and managed to complete the 10-mile Lighthouse Run in about the same time as last year. Details here.
This is also the day that Andrew, Holly, Ella, and Lily arrived in Wisconsin. We had dinner at my parents’ house to welcome them.
Sunday, June 18: Happy Father’s Day! Did you know that Jenelle was born on Father’s Day?
Monday, June 19: This was a semi-interesting day. Back in 1997, I gave two small vials of blood to get myself on the national registry of bone marrow donors. Having received a call that I was a potential match for a leukemia patient, I went to LifeSource blood services in Gurnee, IL to undergo confirmatory testing. Bascially, I gave more blood — about six vials this time. There’s an 8% chance that I will be compatible with the patient in need. I probably won’t find out the results until mid-to-late July.
Tuesday, June 20: Since we moved in to our new house, all but the two coolest phones in the house would ring when we received a call. After a few calls over the weekend to convince the AT&T guy to pay us a visit, we finally got the problem fixed. Something about a bad card at a relay station. Our Uniden something-gigahertz cordless phone with built-in digit-all answering machine is once again working as designed.
Wednesday, June 21: Happy Birthday, Jenelle! After a busy day at work, I gave the message (formerly known as the “sermon”) at the evening church service because Pastor Tracy was gone on a camping trip with the high school youth group. There wasn’t a big crowd, but those who were there said I did a good job. I think I could do a little better with a bit more preparation. In any case, it was definitely one of those “outside my comfort zone” experiences that I need to have every once in a while.
After church, Jenelle and I had a low-key evening together, which included a trip to Arby’s and a stop at Pick & Save for frozen confections. Yum.
Thursday, June 22: We had our family birthday dinner at the Chancery in downtown Racine. We had the back room mostly to ourselves, which is nice, especially when two of the people in your party are less than three years old. It was lots of fun.
Friday, June 23: We spent a bit of time hanging out with Andrew, Holly, Ella, and Lily in the afternoon, and then we visited Aunt Liz, Uncle Randy, Amanda, and Tony after dinner, who we haven’t seen in quite a while. More family fun times.
Saturday, June 24: Another “outside my comfort zone” experience. Today, Jenelle and I got to watch Ella and Lily for most of the evening while Andrew, Holly, GrandTom and GrandPat were at a friend’s wedding. It wasn’t too difficult a task, but it is something I would have to adjust to if I was doing it every day. Shortly after our babysitting adventure began, both Ella and Lily went to sleep, which made our job easy for the first two hours. After that, taking care of Ella wasn’t too hard. She’s not really talking yet, but she’s fairly good at using gestures to explain what she wants. She also has a habit of switching the DVD in the player very frequently. Her favorite movie seems to be Lady and the Tramp. We watched this one several times. The funny part is that whenever we put it back in, we could not resume from the point where we left off — we had to start again at the beginning! Oh, well. Lily was a bit fussy after her nap, but we managed to keep her busy with a variety of things. In any case, I appreciated the opportunity to spend more time with my favorite nieces.
Sunday, June 25: Happy Birthday, Ed! Jenelle took me out to Tenuta’s for my birthday lunch (one day early), and then she baked me a delicious cinnamon swirl cake. We spent a fair amount of time just relaxing and hanging out to gear up for another exciting week.
Monday, June 26: Happy Birthday to me! I brought donuts to work, which were devoured at the usual quick pace. After work, I enjoyed leftover Tenuta’s for dinner. I also got a cute card from Jenelle which included a $100 “gift certificate” to RaceReady, which I used to buy most of the stuff on my wish list. It wasn’t exactly a “gift certificate” — basically, she told me I was cleared to spend that much. That works for me, since it all comes out of the same bucket anyways. 🙂
Tuesday, June 27: We recently finished a big project at work, so I received a bonus gift at a celebration in the evening. It will probably go in the savings account to be spent later on a fence or a deck.
Which brings us to today, when I posted this message. Have a great rest of the week, everyone!
