Jenks and Jenks - An Update

If Women Ruled

2009-02-15T20:14:00.000-08:00

Funny?

2009-02-15T19:50:00.000-08:00

We Had Almost 3 Weeks of Snow!!!

2009-01-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

December was a crazy month for us here in Vancouver. We had almost 3 weeks of snow! We usually get anywhere from 5-7 days of snow per year if we are lucky. It was woooonderful! We even had a white Christmas.

Eric and I really enjoyed taking Eli and Greta on night walks in the snow. Everything looked so beautiful and we loved seeing all the Christmas lights reflect on the white backdrop.

But Eli didn't necessarily like waiting in the car while mommy scraped windows and swept snow off the entire car before we could leave. He thought it was really boring!

November Through Eli's Eyes....

2009-01-23T11:03:00.000-08:00

Learning to eat out isn't always "fun"...

But reading-time with daddy is!

And so is hangin' out with Uncle Brendan (Eric's brother who is living with us)

And being precious and sweet is fun for mommy...

But sometimes I bet my little tush swatted when I try to stand up in the bathtub.
That isn't so fun...but sometimes it can be worth it! :)

Riding Greta...waaaay fun...the scary kind of fun!

Will This Stage Ever End???

2009-01-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

Eli has always been prone to spitting up. It is just one of the warnings I have to give anyone who holds him. Well, a few weeks ago I happened to have a camera in my hand when he urped right on Eric's face and then turned around and smiled, evidently he thought it was quite funny. Well, so did I, I must admit. :)

A ridiculous new law being passed...this is insane!

2009-01-23T10:59:00.001-08:00

CPSIA Overview

The CPSIA (Consumer Produce Safety Improvement Act) was passed in August 2008 and goes into effect on February 10, 2009. It was passed in response to recent lead paint scares involving imported toys. While all good parents wants safe toys and other products for their children, the unfortunate truth is that this law was written FAR too broadly.

Because this over-reaching law mandates expensive ($400 - $4,000 per test) testing on every part of every batch of everything made for children 12 and under, the ramifications are terrible. Mid-size and small companies of all sorts will go out of business as they cannot afford the testing. If a company makes clothing, for example, they would have to test every batch of every color and style of fabric, every batch of buttons, snaps, zippers, thread, elastic, etc. Even if they used the same bolt of fabric to make several different products, simply testing that one bolt would not appease the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Instead, every size of every style of finished product would have to have every component tested individually! This scenario applies to every product made for use by children - clothing, books, DVD's, craft products, toys, sporting goods, furniture, bedding, educational products, and so forth - even if the items are made from completely natural components.

Here are just a few results of this law:

1. The children's resale market will be seriously impacted. While new updates to the CPSIA state that resale shops can continue to sell used children's items without testing them, the updates also state that no one can sell used children's items that violate the new testing standard. Selling these "banned hazardous materials" is a felony offense with a $100,000 fine and jail time - and without performing the testing, resale shops and other resellers have no way of knowing if their items are in compliance. Many used children's items venues just aren't willing to take that kind of risk and are closing their doors in spite of the updates to the CPSIA.

2. The used children's book market will cease to exist.

3. All small and cottage industries related to children's products will have to close their doors. This includes natural, organic, and/or handmade products.

4. Many mid-size companies are closing because of the enormous financial burden of the testing and the paperwork nightmare created by the necessary labeling, tracking, and certification of their products.

5. Many homeschool authors and publishers will be going out of business.

6. The economy will be impacted on several levels: economically challenged families who rely on the children's resale market will suffer, families who lose their businesses will suffer, and families with members who lose their jobs due to businesses closing will suffer. Many related industries (those who produce support products like packaging, equipment, etc.) will suffer from the loss of companies who once bought their products. The companies who can afford the testing will surely pass their costs to all of us.

7. The environmental impact will be staggering as resale shops and other business are forced to dispose of their inventory, and as families who would have donated or sold their children's used items will be forced to discard them.

8. Our freedom to choose the products that we feel are best for our children will be severely hampered. We, for example, place a high value on children's toys made from natural materials like wood or wool, or items that are handmade. We will no longer be able to purchase these items for our children.

9. At this point, libraries will have to ban children 12 and under OR remove all children's books. I have no idea what the impact will be on schools!

Is there a Santa Claus? - a physicist view

2008-12-17T12:36:00.001-08:00

Consider the following:

1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.

2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.

3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical).

This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house.

Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc.

This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight.

On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that 'flying reindeer' (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine.

We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each.

In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second.

Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.> In conclusion - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

New Report from Celent

2008-12-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

It is amazing to me that with all the information we have at our finger tips, how LITTLE knowledge we have. I saw this report from Celent on an industry press release and it is shows how crazy things have become. It seems the media reports what ever they want to / need to to suit their story - with little concern for the facts. Check this out:

This goes to show - we do not have a credit crisis in the US. We have a government crisis. Another quote from the article:

In many cases, it appears that these policymakers’ assumptions regarding the credit crisis are incorrect. Far from seeing a tightening of credit, a number of measures show that credit has expanded, and Celent finds that the lending markets are in surprisingly good health. Data published (in most cases by the Federal Reserve itself) show that:

Overall lending by US banks is at a record high and has increased during the credit crisis.

Interbank lending is at record highs and has increased during the credit crisis.

Consumer credit is at record highs and has increased during the credit crisis.

Commercial paper markets are operating within their historical norms.

Lending by banks to businesses is at record highs and has been growing rapidly.

Municipal bond markets are operating within their historical norms.

Deposits at banks have shown a substantial increase since the start of the credit crisis.

“It appears that policymakers are making a variety of mistakes regarding the current financial crisis. If that is the case, the policy tools that they are employing may very well be the wrong ones,” Octavio Marenzi, head of Celent and author of the report.

I think it time that we aggressively start to share the bad news. We need a revolution again.

E

Common Sense not so common

2008-12-11T21:34:00.000-08:00

"What is outrageous economically and is outrageous morally is that normally in times like this, people who are competent and who saw it coming and who kept their powder dry go and take over the assets from the incompetent," he said. "What's happening this time is that the government is taking the assets from the competent people and giving them to the incompetent people and saying, now you can compete with the competent people. It is horrible economics."

Just say no to bail outs. Contact your representatives and tell them to vote against another bailout. Remember you legislators that voted for the them and voted against them next time around. Lets end the madness...

Christmas Tree

2008-12-10T17:11:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from our u-cut Christmas Tree shopping experience. We found a farm here in Vancouver that has tons and tons of Nobles (my favorite - and always harder to find) so we've gone there the last few years.

Eric and Brendan (Eric's brother who is living with us for a while) with our selection.

If only Eli had a Starbucks, it would be a perfect picture. :)

Eli sees a decorated Christmas Tree for the 1st time.
He was kinda nervous about it...which is nice because he has pretty much ignored it since.

But daddy makes every thing all better!

Borrowed Toys...

2008-12-10T16:57:00.000-08:00

Recently my friend, Leslie, loaned us a few toys appropriate for Eli's age. Oh my gosh...he loves them. And they couldn't have come at a better time because I have been holding off on any new toys until Christmas. Thank you Leslie!!!

[These pictures are from his first play with them]

If he is ever crabby (a little more common these days with some new teeth popping through) all I have to do is put him in front of this pop up toy and he lunges for it and plays happily.

I love sleeping babies!!!

2008-12-10T16:46:00.000-08:00

Have I ever mentioned that I looooooooooooooooooooooove sleeping babies? Poor Eli is going to think he spent the first year of his life just sleeping (ha...as if!) but I just can't help but snap pictures when I see such sweetness.

Sleeping at the Tillamook Cheese Factory after his Uncle Brendan & Auntie Alyssa's wedding.

For a few weeks he really got into sleeping on his tummy.
I think he was having a Superman dream here. :-)

Daddy will stop anything he is doing if it means he can hold a sleeping baby.
The biggest guy around turns into melted butter instantly!

Oktoberfest 2008

2008-12-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

Last September we joined Lee & Sara in Mt.Angel to celebrate Oktoberfest. It was quite an experience being there with babies for the first time! But we made the most out of being unable to go into the drinking tents by sitting down at a German restaurant and being the talk of the establishment as people "oooh"ed and "awww"ed at our babies (well, more over Lee & Sara's little Elaina who was like 2 weeks old at the time!).

But you know what? We all commented later that we thought the new "parent" version of Oktoberfest was almost better. At least this year we didn't get bumped and annoyed by drunk people!

Here are some photos...

Eli's first Oktoberfest

It is hard to tell, but Lee is not holding a white football...that would be Elaina! :)

Soft Ball

2008-12-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

Last spring and summer Eric and Lee joined our friend James on his softball team here in Vancouver (yah for a Vancouver event at last!). Here are a few photos.

PS - They won the championships for both the spring and summer leagues. :-)

Good Blog from Salon...

2008-12-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

I concur with these comments posted today from Camille Paglia:

Meanwhile, an area where too many in the mainstream media have been oddly AWOL is in the response to the attack on Mumbai, India, two weeks ago by a squad of Pakistan-based terrorists, who killed nearly 200 people. Reaction in the U.S. was somewhat muted because the protracted standoff occurred over the Thanksgiving holiday, when many Americans were traveling or absorbed in family business. But I was troubled by a persistent soft-pedaling of the identification of the attackers as Muslims --as if the mere reporting of that fact would be offensive and politically incorrect.

Because seven years have passed since 9/11 without another attack on native soil, many Americans, particularly urban professionals, seem to have been lulled into a false feeling of security. But jihadism as a world movement -- even if its membership is a tiny fraction of young Muslim men -- will continue to pose a serious threat to every open democratic society over the next century and more. Anyone who has studied ancient history knows that great civilizations, from Egypt and Persia to Rome and Byzantium, broke down in stages separated in some cases by many superficially tranquil decades. Because of the unprecedented fragility of our intertwined power grid and complex transportation system, the technological West is highly vulnerable to sabotage and chaos.

The tragic fate of so many innocent victims in Mumbai deserves our pity. But what should live in special infamy was the ruthless execution of the Lubavitcher rabbi, Gavriel Hertzberg, and his lovely wife, Rivka, who was 5 months pregnant. These were two idealistic young people of obvious warmth and humanity, who sought only to serve. The rescue by their Indian nanny of their orphaned 2-year-old son, Moshe, crying and smeared with his parents' blood, is already legendary. Was this zeroing in on the Chabad Jewish Center in Mumbai about Israel, or was it simply a gruesome eruption of the medieval tradition of anti-Semitism? Why have Muslim organizations, very quick to protest insulting cartoons, been mostly silent about the atrocities in Mumbai?

The slaughter of the Hertzbergs and other Jews at Chabad House should be a wake-up call to Western liberals who believe that jihadism can be defeated through reason and happy talk."

Eric

Trust Me

2008-12-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

Pirated Article:

As gun sales shoot up around the country, President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that gun-owning Americans do not need to rush out and stock up before he is sworn in next month.

"I believe in common-sense gun safety laws, and I believe in the second amendment," Obama said at a news conference. "Lawful gun owners have nothing to fear. I said that throughout the campaign. I haven't indicated anything different during the transition. I think people can take me at my word."

But National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said it's not Obama's words — but his legislative track record — that has gun-buyers flocking to the stores.

"Prior to his campaign for president, his record as a state legislator and as a U.S. Senator shows he voted for the most stringent forms of gun control, the most Draconian legislation, gun bans, ammunition bans and even an increase in federal excise taxes up to 500 percent for every gun and firearm sold," Arulanandam said.

Obama answered "yes" in 1996 to a questionnaire from an Illinois group on whether he supported a handgun ban. But he later said a staffer filled out that answer and he did not support a ban.

Nationally, background checks for gun purchases jumped nearly 49 percent during the week Obama was elected, compared with the same time period last year, according to the FBI's National Instant Background Check System.

Anecdotally, gun dealers around the country have reported spikes in sales. The Illinois State Rifle Association Reports gun sales for November were 38 percent higher than last year.

"We don't dispute [the gun sales hike] because the numbers from the federal system certainly confirm that there is increased activity out there. We just think it's a bit stupid," said Peter Hamm, spokesman for the Brady Campaign against Gun Violence.

"Anyone who thinks they need to rush out and buy a firearm clearly has not been paying attention to how quickly we make progress on this issue. We don't think these are first-time buyers. We think they are people who already have more than enough guns at their homes to protect themselves and are buying more."

Let me see - gun sales are at a all time HIGH - but gun control second nuts are making progress? Not sure what that means.

In the mean time - I am lookign for one of these:

Get in line and take your...

2008-12-05T09:39:00.000-08:00

I really try to patron locally owned and operated businesses as much as I can. But Shaunna and I (mostly myself) are total suckers for Starbacks. And the Christmas season is not started until we cut down our tree with red cups in hand...

It trully has to be one of the most successfully marketing campaigns in American. No wonder they are trying to roll out the red cups in August...

:) E

Merry Christmas

2008-12-03T23:11:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas! to everyone. :) I hope you are cranking the Christmas carols and enjoying the season. The older I get (and Shaunna likes to remind me of that all time), the more convinced I want to be the kind of person who thoroughly enjoys Now and squeezes every ounce of richness out of the Present...

All while being intensely jealous of my sister in law vacationing through Europe...

:)

Merry Christmas!

Eric

New Fair Deal

2008-11-18T14:26:00.000-08:00

Fellow Business Executives:
As the CEO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama will be our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Clients will have to see an increase in our fees to them of about 8% but since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go. So, this is what I did. I strolled through our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These folks wanted change; I gave it to them. If you have a better idea, let me know.
Sincerely,

Welcome to the United Socialist States of America!

2008-11-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

According to this article linked from Drudge : our "friends" in Washington have spent $2 TRILLION dollars as part of the bail out of the banking and credit industry. And according to them, it is in your best interest for them not to let you want or where they spent that money.

I know that for many of us, math was not our favorite subject in school, so lets break it down: $2 TRILLION is $6666.66 per person for every man, woman, child, and baby in the country when we hit the 300 millionth baby last summer. That means beyond the the already outrageous sums they take from our paychecks and various other sundry taxes - today they took another $18.26 out your pocket - and the pocket of every person in the country - including the beggar on the street corner - to "buy toxic debt clogging our nation's credit system". And they will need to dip into your pocket for that $20 every day this month. From you and your brothers and sisters and parents and every single person you see today (if you are in the country).

BUT THEY WILL NOT TELL YOU WHERE THEY SPENT IT!

But if you voted for McCain or Obama - it is okay. This is crucial time in American history and unlike the previous 200 years of American experience, and 6000 years of human history - we should just trust the government is making the best decision for us and our friends and families.

Not me. I have decided to listen to our president elect and cling to my religion and guns...

Where is the outrage?

We're back....did you think we disappeared?

2008-11-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

Finally - here are pictures of the addition. It is still empty because we pretty much left town for a few weeks once it was done and have been bonkers since we got back...click the pictures for descriptions of what you are looking at.

New Family Room
(flooring is cork tiles in a brick pattern)

Family Room colors:
Gold walls, moss green ceiling

Sorry it took so long to get these pictures posted. I kept hoping to take pictures when we get furniture moved into it - but obviously that hasn't happened yet. :) In the mean time, at least you'll get an idea of what we have been so busy working on. I didn't post a picture of the new Laundry Room because it is still in shambles. I'll post a picture someday when we actually get all the construction junk out of it.

* * * AT LONG LAST ----- IT'S DONE! * * *

2008-09-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

Where in the world have the Jenks been, you might ask yourself? In construction mode.

It is 12:30 in the morning and we just hammered in the last piece (!!!) of trim in our addition. We have our final inspection tomorrow (well, I guess "today" is more accurate). We're so glad!

This has been a loooooooooooooong ordeal. Although we were supposed to be completed by August 1st, it is now September 18th. We decided to save some $$$ and do the finishing work ourselves. We thought it would be fun to pull out the old miter saw and get all dusty together. It was fun - for about 3 weeks. But these last 2 weeks have been grueling! We've been up until 1am - 2am night after night after night to the point where we are not thinking clearly or communicating with any sort of clarity. We've hit the end of our rope with buying trim, prepping trim, staining trim, sanding trim, polyurethaning trim, cutting trim, nailing trim, etc. TRIM IS MY ENEMY! I literally have dreams about trim at this point...I hate trim. Trim should die.

But - yahoo - we're all done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures to follow soon. I gotta go...I'm so excited to be in bed before 1am.

~Shaunna the Builder

Grant's Birthday

2008-08-04T23:26:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was my brother Grant's 12th birthday. He was given a list of a few different birthday activities and decided on a day at a natural wildlife preservation (a "safari for the Northwest") near Tacoma. My parents, sister Kristine, brothers Grant and Ethan, Eli and I all went. It was awesome!

I'm sort of a sucker for the zoo. But this was way cool because the animals were free-roaming and in their natural habitat! Here are some pics:

The birthday boy...Grant Alexander is 12!
(that just totally freaks me out!)

Holy Bison!
We were able to see a whole herd of them - including a few babies.
They are ENORMOUS creatures!

White bottom Caribou (I think).
"There's Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen.
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen...but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?"
If you answer "Prancer" from the old 90's retarded movie I'll laugh my butt off!

Show off!!!

Rams.
Ok, I know these are all supposedly animals from the Northwest, but have you ever run across a ram while hiking up Multnoma Falls? Yeah, me either.
Liars.

Eli hanging (literally) with Grandpa on the "safari"

There was no food allowed on the safari...but Eli broke the rules.
What kind of mother am I after all? Sheesh!

Grandpa and Grandma

My bigger little sister, Kristine.
Kristine referred to me as her hero that day multiple times. Of course, you're thinking I saved her from a deadly stampede of wild bison, or the stab and flinging of a crazy ram. But in reality, I actually got the cougar's attention. See, when we were going by the cougars they, like all cats, were snoozing and refused to look up or move. Since violent, ravenous and deadly cats are Kristine's particular preference she was quite disappointed that she didn't get a good look at them.
How did I save the day?
Well, I waited until no one was looking and then let out multiple mimics of my own cat's meow...only, really loud...like when my cat is trying to wake me up in the middle of the night to feed her (beast!). I kept meowing and meowing under at last...ah ha!...two cougars started prowling towards us (-we were safe btw-) trying to figure out what the heck that meow was coming from.
Entrance into the zoo: $20
Safari ride: $15
Being stared-down by a curious cougar: Priceless

Auntie Kristine and Eli
(I thought this picture was particularly endearing)

I'M 6 MONTHS OLD TODAY!

2008-07-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

HURRAY!!!

(well, technically he was 6 months old yesterday, but it's only 1/2 past midnight and I'm still awake so it feels like "today")...

"Dougbert"

2008-07-29T00:25:00.000-07:00

Here are the latest pics of our little "Dougbert" (my nickname for him...his middle names are Douglas Albert)...

-- His toothless Virgin Mary look---

--- His first day on the river ---

--- Daddy taught him how to play the "air guitar" ---
(daddy is an expert...heh heh)

--- Mommy's little pumpkin ---
aka "Moochie Poochie"

Update on the House Addition

2008-07-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

I've had many requests for pictures of the house addition. I'm sorry I haven't been very good at posting about our progress, but it is really hard to capture on camera. People keep saying, "it looks so small on your pictures"...where in reality it is quite large (relatively speaking of course). So I'm afraid my pictures don't really work to give an accurate dimension to our work in progress...but here it is nonetheless.

Last week was insulation and siding week. This week the builder is working on re-roofing the existing house and finishing roofing the addition. We are also beginning sheetrock this week. That'll be exciting!

My Anti-Stink-Doggy-Room:

One of the things I designed for the addition is living quarters for Greta our dog. She will have her own built-in kennel just outside the Family Room. The thing I'm most excited about is that I designed it to take an exhaust fan - like one you would put in your bathroom. Now her retched, gag-you-up-a-river dog smells (and believe me, they are great dane sized) will get sucked up and out of the house! It'll probably scare her to death the first few times it turns on (it's on a motion sensor), but either way I guess the dog smells will stop! :) ***I'm awful!***

Here's Eric installing the GLORIOUS dog-reek eliminator.

Our backyard is a horrible eye-sore!

Hey look! We have another bathroom already!
-uh, I don't think I'll ever be THAT desperate!-

Soft Ball

2008-07-28T23:42:00.000-07:00

This summer Eric joined a softball league. He plays with his friends James Tanneberger and Lee Hall. One of the things I have particularly enjoyed is that it gives us a reason to get out on a Friday night and enjoy the beautiful weather and it gives me an excuse to hang out with the my friends Laurel and Sara (the wives of James and Lee). I wish I could say that I pay close attention to the games, but the reality is that I'm sorta occupied chatting with my girlfriends! :)

Last Friday night their team came in 1st place in the championship playoffs! Way to go guys!

Here's Eric hitting the ball out of the park.
(Actually, this particular hit wasn't that great, but it was one of the moments
that I happened to be paying attention and with camera in hand!)

Eli waiting with daddy for daddy's turn at the batting plate.

Eli's Personal Ad

2008-07-16T23:21:00.000-07:00

Eli's Personal Ad:

--- Single white male seeking single female---

About Me: I am a 5-1/2 month old young man with lots of energy and a great sense of humor.
I pretty much spend my afternoons body-building. I've learned to roll over, oh yeah girls you heard that right, and that's not all! I do push ups sometimes. Yep, push ups! You ought to see my my forearms. They're like, well, strong enough to hold up my torso for a few seconds. Heh, don't try that at home, believe me. It takes an expert.

I'm a really good house-guest. I keep my diaper explosions contained...for the most part. I mean, sometimes I let one or two spring a leak here and there just to make sure my mom is operating at peek efficiency. I consider that my job. Don't want her to get lazy on me.

I would say that one of my greatest strengths has definitely got to be that I know how to get a woman's attention. I mean, when it comes to that...ladies...you happen to be talkin' to a pro! My mom can hardly keep her eyes off of me. Everywhere I go people are oohing and ahhing all over me. I'm practically like ---- a movie star. Brad Pitt, move on over because here comes Eli Douglas Albert Jenks. I, well, I pretty much have women beating my door down. But hey, don't let that keep you from contacting me. I am holding out for the right one. I figure that, you know, I need to make my rounds, experience the life of waking up in a different woman's arms at every afternoon snooze, you know...gotta get a sense of what's right for me.

Bad Habits: Well, to be honest, I sorta hate the smell of a clean shirt. If you have a clean shirt, I'll most likely urp all over it. Sorry.

What I look like: Two words for you, baby..."good"...."lookin"! Heh. I let my pictures speak for themselves:

Like, check out the profile! That's a quality double chin.
Hello, not every guy has one of those.

I work out a lot....obviously!

So, ladies, if you wanna have a little piece of this...shoot me an email and maybe we'll grab a bottle of milk together or something. You never know when true love will strike ya. I say you gotta be ready. I just hope I am not too hot for you to handle. Peace out, girls!

Eli's Baptism

2008-07-16T22:44:00.000-07:00

On April 13th we had Eli baptized (the Presbyterian form of "dedication" - not baptized to salvation as Roman Catholics do). It was a beautiful moment. Our pastor (now former - sniff sniff) John Jones IV performed the ceremony and everything he said was really beautiful. I actually have been telling myself that I need to type it out for Eli's scrapbook because it really was the most beautiful baptism I've ever witnessed...and it wasn't just because it was my son! I had several men tell me later that it moved them to tears. So maybe I'll pull out the video camera and type it out for y'all. Here are pictures though...

John's charge to Eric and me as witnesses of Christ in
Eli's daily life and as those who will teach him
to love Jesus:

"Sprinkling" - the Presbyterian way to baptize...

At the end of the baptism John called for the congregation to stand
and make vows to us that they will help Eric and I in any way
they can as we raise Eli. They also vow to pray for him.
Then John led the church in their first prayer (below) for him.

Afterwards we had a gathering at our house to celebrate.
The following pictures are from the celebration.
Below is my friend Melinda (left) and sister Kristine (right)

Susie Tosti - my former choir teacher and friend.

"Uncle Tony" - this is the man who helped diagnose and correct my low progesterone
levels which, in turn, ended my years of infertility.
The payment for his help...he gets to be called "uncle". :)

Friend Dava talking to my brother Ethan.
Behind Dava is Barb Kempe, the wife of our homegroup leader.

Back left: Randy Morris, my dad Bob, Eric Runge (only striped shirt is seen) and Dava.
Bottom left: My mom Rhonda, Melinda Morris and Diane Morris

My mom graciously made Eli the most adorable baptismal outfit. It is really hard to see from these pictures, but it is a white top and seersucker blue and while pin stripe fabric below with a blue satin waist band and blue satin bow tie.
Sweetly, it matches the outfit the she made and had my brothers baptized in.
He is pictured here with Diane Morris (who had always wanted a red headed grandchild but doesn't have one...I told her she can claim Eli if she wants too).

See the adorable bow tie?

Summer Evening Walk...

2008-07-14T00:22:00.000-07:00

We have this fantastic paved trail near our house that we love to walk during the evenings. I actually often walk it during the afternoons too - it is so lovely. Anyway, here are some pictures of one of our dusk-walks...

Isn't he looking like a full-blown BOY these days?
Where did my baby go?
Hey - at least he still has red hair...very red hair. :)

Bath Time with Daddy

2008-07-14T00:16:00.001-07:00

Couldn't help but post these adorable - yet obscene - pictures:

Blogger keeps turning this picture sideways - not sure why.
But if you can just stand on your head while looking at this picture you'll notice how much
fun Eli is having during his bath time with daddy. Huge happy baby smile...

Baby buns ... because everyone loves them.
(especially mommies)

Catching Up...

2008-07-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, we have definitely been absent from blogging lately. But we've been busy with the house remodel, church stuff and traveling 3 weeks in a row. Eli got to enjoy his very first Hoopfest - which was a total blast (pics to follow hopefully) and we also spent a WONDERFUL long weekend in Pacific City (on the Oregon coast) over the 4th of July. I'll post pics of our travels later. But for how, here are some of my favorite most recent ones:

Those of you who know Eric can totally attest to the fact that
the face he is displaying here is the face of absolute happiness and contentedness.
This particular night Eli just sat with Eric for almost an hour, completely still and snuggly.
I think Eric had had a bad day - so Eli's snuggles were just what we needed.

As you can see, Eli is now doing the 5 month old "airplane" position.
I caught this picture at one of the rare moments when he was enjoying it -
usually he cries. lol.

Eli Transfixed:
I just can't get over the fact that I have a blue eyed baby!!!
Eric has dark brown eyes and I have very dark copper colored eyes.
Where these blue eyes came from I cannot say - but I love em...

I had the pleasure of hanging with Grant, my little almost 12 year old brother, for a few days over the last week. It was fun to watch Grant grow into his uncle duties. I even let him watch Eli while I ran to the store. He is a great uncle!

Could anything be sweeter? I think not.

Our House Addition

2008-06-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

Well here are some of the long promised pics of our house addition...

This particular day I drove up to our house and saw all these trucks in my backyard.
That's the concrete truck and the "crane" like dealy is the hose through which they pour the concrete.After the concrete was poured...

The 1st wall to go up...(the right window is my new office, the left is our bedroom)...

Interior walls are up (the builder is in part of the Family Room)...

The trusses were delivered by crane...

This weekend we had a bbq.
I found it funny that he is bbq'ing in our future Family Room.
How many people can say they've done that? :)

Now the slow part begins. The next few weeks will be filled with plumbing, electrical, roofing and all the little things that don't make much of a visual difference. But we're pretty excited.

I'm 5 Months Old This Week!

2008-06-25T16:01:00.001-07:00

Sorry to be so long since my last blog, but we've been pretty scattered around here. The construction is going well (I'll post more pics soon), nearly all the framing is done. It looks so good so far!

The boy turns 5 weeks on Friday. I can't believe how fast this is going! He has been learning some special new tricks...he even grew 2 little teeth!

This picture was taken just a day before his first tooth popped through...

...he even learned how to roll over...

...and how to suck on his big toes (I'm so proud!)...

And how to sleep in a real crib (finally finished re-staining it and moved him out of his pack-and-play)...

And he learned how to turn himself to face outward when being held facing inward...

And he learned what face NOT to make when a pretty girl walks by
*cough* I'm sure it was me! heh heh! :)

The Only "Plant" I Can Grow...

2008-06-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

I, like my mother (no offense ma!), have the darndest of times trying to keep plants alive. No matter how much I try, I kill everything. I sort of think plants somehow know when I come near...they flop over and die just to get it over with quickly. Eric is always chuckling under his breath whenever he sees me attempt to keep yet another plant - and fail - and fail - and fail. I think I could manage to kill a cactus! *sigh*

Well, at last I discovered something I can keep alive. A potato. This is the most thriving "plant" ever to live in my house. I found it the other day when cleaning out a cupboard that I rarely get into (and that I use for paper products). I couldn't stop laughing at the irony. How ridiculous! First of all because, um hello little sprouting potato, how long have you been hiding in that dark corner? And secondly because, well, look at the size of its sprouts! Those sprouts are like 12-14" long...desperately trying to grow towards the little light crack coming from the cupboard door.

As much as one might say this proves me to be a poor housekeeper...I stand proud of the fact that, well, something thrived here at the Jenks' house! :)

Special "Daddy Time"

2008-06-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

I've been working really hard at getting Eli to get on a regular sleep schedule. He has always been a terrific sleeper, but he (like daddy and mommy) seems to be a night owl. For about 5 days straight about a month and a half ago he was determined to be wide-eyed until 1 or 2am. Then he would sleep 12 hours, but he just wouldn't sleep NORMAL hours. It was killing us! So while I was in Texas, I took advantage of the time difference and started getting him down early by allowing him to cry himself to sleep for the first time (so hard!).

When I returned home from Texas and showed Eric the new schedule that I was so proud of he was pretty much mortified. You could just see the look on his face....`what? CRY himself to sleep? our little baby alone in a dark room all my his lonesome?'...you could almost see a child-like pouty-face just dying to squeak it's way into Eric's face. I assured Eric that it is perfectly normal and acceptable for a baby his age to be doing this, but Eric was skeptical - yet, he listened to my mother's instinct and decided to go along with the schedule (clearly stating that he "isn't a fan" and does it under duress).

Well, things are going great schedule wise. But Eric's hesitation has grown because he realizes with Eli going to sleep so early, it doesn't leave much time for Eric to play with his son! So I suggested that Eric start doing some of the "baby chores"...like give Eli a bath, changing his diaper and getting him into his pj's...taking advantage of the time and learning to redefining these routine practices as special "daddy time".

While it may be true that little boys always love their mommies, but this special daddy time is instilling a sweet bond between them. Eli seems to be a turning into a real daddy's boy. Here are some pictures from a particularly "daddy-filled-night"...

"My daddy is SO fun at bath time!"

I had taken advantage of daddy-time by doing some business accounting in the office, but after about an hour I realized that Eric and Eli were oddly silent. Curious, I peeked my head into the Living Room and found them fast asleep on the Living Room floor..all snuggled up...

...and holding hands...

...and of course, Eli had to have a hand on his favorite little doggy!

I LOVE MY BOYS!!!

Construction Begins!!!

2008-06-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

Today marks the first day of construction on our house addition. Right now there is a Bobcat tractor in my back yard ripping up soil and trying to take down the stump from the large magnolia tee that we just had cut down. Here we go!!!

Last weekend Eric started cutting down the 30+ year old magnolia tree,
but he found it too spiral and decided it wasn't safe for him to cut it down.
We had professionals out last Thursday to finish her off.

Our poor tree. We tried so many architectural plans to work around her,
but it just became clear that she had to go. Actually, it's a good thing because
once she was cut down we realized that she was rotting from the center.

Here's the Bobcat in the backyard. He's trying to dig around the root ball
so he can knock it out and remove it. Bye bye tree!

The big coward:
Greta is freaking out about the Bobcat. She's been yelping and moaning in fear ALL morning.
When she saw it in the backyard she went dashing for the Living Room and leaped right onto my sofa (a BIG no-no!). I finally had to crate her because she is so scared. Not that crating her is helping (she's in there moaning and shaking) but she could not be consoled and I'm sick of her trying to sit in my lap while I'm trying to take care of Eli! Total coward. What happened to dogs being tough and cashing mail-men? I think the biggest dog on the block is a big sissy!!!

We look like "junk neighbors"...oh dear oh dear!

Back Home

2008-06-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Eric, Eli and I are just back from a weekend in Spokane. The Washington State Republican convention was held in Spokane this year. Eric and a fellow Ron Paul supporter (Merissa) were deligates so we all headed up there for the event and stayed with Eric's family.

While Eric and Merissa were off waging Ron Paul on the republican world, I stayed at Eric's parents' house with Eli and hung out with family. And boy am I glad...I got to witness Eli's very first roll-over. Sadly, Eric walked through the door less than 3 minutes later.

More later -

Shaunna

Our Austin Trip

2008-05-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Eli and I are finally home from our long (and prolonged) trip to visit my sister's family in Austin, Texas. We were gone a little over 2-1/2 weeks. There isn't much to report really. My sister Erika in at the end of her 3rd trimester with little baby Oliver so we tried to stick around home most of the time. Here are some pictures:

This is me and Eli with my sister's kids, Giancarlo and Grace (aka "Peaches"):

Peaches playing outside.
She's 18 months old and was cutting molars and eye teeth at the same time. Poor girl was miserable! She has such beautiful light hair with her dark 1/2 Dominican skin!
Gonna be a heart-breaker, that girl...

This is the first time Eli was able to hold a toy. I was so happy to catch it on camera!
(The toy was a gift from his auntie Elena)

Giancarlo (3-1/2) learns to hold a baby...(He LOVES Eli!)

Auntie Erika plays with her first nephew. She discovered that he too was teething.

Uncle Numi taught Eli to love listening to someone whistle.

GC tickling Eli. He was so cute with Eli. Every morning he would walk up to me and say, "I like my cousin," then he'd touch Eli's head and get a big grin and say, "He has red hair...it's cute!" And when he'd hear Eli crying GC would announce, "He wants me! I'm coming!" LOL

Sporting his high fashion "Mr.Darcy" style.

One day I taught GC how to make a crown. Then later I made a scepter for him using aluminum foil and a wooden spoon (he loved that cuz it meant one less spanking spoon)...

Eli naps in a swing (don't worry, I only had it open for the picture). I love this pic!!!

Starting to not HATE his carseat...toys help.

Peaches at the park...

Eli loves the little "breathable" bear Auntie Erika gave him.

See what I mean?

Last night we came home - Daddy was SO ready to have wife and child back.
[I think Eli is starting to look a little like me now...]

And Eli has liked being back home safe - and in his own bed...

A Mother's Love

2008-04-15T20:30:00.001-07:00

He has stolen my heart!

Miscellaneous

2008-04-13T23:00:00.001-07:00

Kitties' thoughts: "Look, now that that little human that makes all that noise is here we have got to stick together man. Just you and me. We just can't trust anyone. You get my back, I'll get yours. Cats Rule, Babies Drool!!!"

Eli's thoughts: "Yo people, check out my new kung-fu chop!"

Daddy's thoughts: "I have no idea what you're saying as you lie there and coo at me, but you're melting my little heart!"

Sleeping Baby...

2008-04-04T11:50:00.001-07:00

Sleeping in his bouncy seat:

Sleeping with Penelope the Cat

Sleeping with daddy:

Sleeping with mommy:

Cheapskate

2008-04-04T11:34:00.001-07:00

While pregnant and working on Eli's nursery I found these unfinished letters and plaques at a craft store. I figured a little paint and artistry would go a long way on these and give me something sweet to hang on his nursery walls. Instead of spending over $150 buying similar items from Pottery Barn, I spent $7 total and had fun painting them!

The plagues turned into little wall-hangings of a dragonfly, dinosaur and turtle.
I used the same colors as I painted the stripes on the wall.

The E-L-I letters hang above his crib. I love polka-dots in nurseries!
(they are the same size - the pictures makes them look weird)

Although his nursery is sweet - the thing that makes him happiest is his mommy!
(If I do say so myself)
:)

!!! FIRST SMILE !!!!

2008-04-01T22:55:00.001-07:00

This was the first smile I caught on film.
He had been smiling only a few days when I got it.
Such a sweet boy!

Fun Pics

2008-04-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun pictures taken over the last few (busy) weeks:

"Hey Mom, who is that striking figure of a male staring right at me?"

"I either stuck my finger in a light socket, or I'm about to play the baby version of the professor from Back to the Future movies. Not sure."

"What in the WORLD is that thing dangling between my legs?
I don't know, but it is simply fascinating at bathtime!"

Bedroom Eyes: "I just lay here and let them look at me."

A body shape only a mother could love.
He looks like he is shaped like a peanut shell.
-- that did NOT come from mommy's side!-

Another First

2008-03-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

Today was Eli's first time giggling at me making a funny face at him. He's been laughing in response to me doing something physical to him (tickling or blowing on his feet) for a few weeks now, but he hasn't laughed at anything non-physical until today. So this morning I was just making a face at him and snorting [she admits sheepishly] and he started cracking up. I wasn't sure if it was a fluke so I waited and while and did it again, and sure enough, he started giggling. So there's another first. It melted my heart.

-------------------------

And on a humorous note: today Eli pooped through his diaper while Eric was holding him. Moments later I caught brave ol' daddy walking him to the changing table...arms outstretched, holding Eli as far away as possible. It reminded me of that old 80's movie "Three Men and a Little Lady". Why men can deem flatulence hilarious and then come unglued at a drop of scentless poop I'll never understand! :)

Our First Try

2008-03-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

Ever since the time change and our trip to Spokane, Eli's "schedule" (if a 7 wk old baby has a schedule) has been all thrown off. He sleeps too much during the afternoon (despite efforts to keep him awake) and then wants to be awake until 2am or later. Granted, he still sleeps about 5-6 hours once he actually goes down - but I certainly don't like staying up that late. I miss going to bed at the same time as Eric. And not only does Eli want to be awake that late, he likes to give me little false alarms by falling asleep earlier but then waking up once I lay him down in the bassinet and crawl into bed. Ah!!! Very frustrating.

Well last night I had had enough. I was up and down with him about 3 times and then finally decided I wasn't going to play the game anymore. So last time was my first try at laying him down in his own room while he was wide awake. I figured that since he was fed, changed and warm, there was nothing else I could do for him...so it was time for him to cry himself to sleep for the first time.

Ironically, when I laid him down he didn't cry. I turned on soft music for him and left the lamp on so that he could look at this mobile and then I tip-toed out of the room and went to bed. What do you know, the kid fell asleep all on his own and didn't even cry about it.

Of course this was a hard thing for mommy. I didn't like him being in a different room where I couldn't see him or hear him clearly. And I guess it sort of made me feel like my baby was growing up (sniff sniff). But.....lol.....I was asleep by 1:40! :) Saweeet!

Little Boy slept until 6am in his own room. Of course you want to say that I'm a lucky mommy, but the truth is that he slept until 6am, I however did not. I got up 2x's during those hours to check on him. lol.

...guess it's hard to let them go, isn't it?

:)

Love,
Sleepy Mommy

Eli's First Trip!

2008-03-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

Last night we returned from our first trip to Spokane with Eli. He handled the 6 hour drives beautifully. He slept the entire time, both ways. That was such a blessing to us. We were completely sure that we would have a screaming baby for at least a few hours of the trip...what a happy surprise!

While in Spokane we stayed with Eric's family, the Dibbles. Debby Dibble and my sister LeAnne threw us a baby shower. Here are pics:

My best buddy since we were 13 years old, Krista Martinez.
She moved to Spokane about 2 years ago (she beat me to motherhood by, oh, about 7 years).

My twin...or at least that's what everyone thinks (even though she's 4 years my senior), LeAnne.

Mommy writing a note to Eli for his scrapbook.

Eli and "Great-Nanna" Delaney

Krista holding my baby for the 1st time. :)

Eli and "Nanna Debby"

Friends: Mary Allen (left) and Karin Ray (right)

Uncle Runge

2008-03-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

Those who have known me for a long time know that I have been friends with a man named Eric Runge for close to...oh, I guess something like 6 or 7 years. We met at my old church, Westminster PCA, and stayed in contact ever since (even when he moved away for a few years). He and I have always been like brother-and-sister...iow, we tease and annoy each other constantly and find great delight in doing so. Eric doesn't have any siblings, so I've made it my job to act like a real little sister so that he doesn't have to go through life without knowing all the cons of siblings! :)

Anyway, he has affectionately taken Eli on as his nephew and considers it his "Uncley" duty to hold him whenever possible...

Here's Uncle Runge...

Meeting Eli for the 1st time at 1 week old.

Uncle Runge after a little cat-nap with Eli (5 weeks old).

Baby's Perspective

2008-03-06T21:32:00.000-08:00

SLEEP TRAINING FROM A BABY'S PERSPECTIVE:

OK, here is my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 7 months. The first
few months were great - I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day
or night. Then something happened. Over the last few weeks, she has been
trying to STTN (sleep thru the night). At first, I thought it was just a
phase, but it is only getting worse. I have talked to other babies, and it
seems like it is pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6
months.

Here is the thing: these Mommies do not really need to sleep. It is just a
habit. Many of them have had
some 30 years to sleep--they just do not need it anymore. So, I am
implementing a plan. I call it the Cry-baby Shuffle. It goes like this:

Night 1--cry every 3 hours until you are fed. I know, it is hard. It is hard
to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it
is for her own good.
Night 2--cry every 2 hours until you are fed.
Night 3 - every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some
Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may
stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Do not give in. I cannot stress
this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY! If you let her STTN (sleep through the
night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT IS HARD!
However, she really does not need the sleep; she is just resisting the
change. If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about
10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall
asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake
for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it. Last night, I cried every
hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE
CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with:

My sleep sack tickled my foot.
I felt a wrinkle under the sheet.
My mobile made a shadow on the wall.
I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn't eaten pears since lunch, what
is up with that?
The cat said "meow". I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20
times a day.
Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the
monitor in the other room.

Too hot, too cold, just right--does not matter! Keep crying!
It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4 am. Tomorrow night, my goal
is 3:30 am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in
order to reset your Mommies' internal clocks.

P.S. Do not let those rubber things fool you; no matter how long you suck on
them, no milk will come out. Trust me.

Being a Mommy

2008-03-03T21:24:00.001-08:00

Hi People!

I'm glad to see that Eric has been keeping up on our blog because I've been too busy to do much blogging. Right now he is holding Eli for me so that I can type with two hands (a novelty around here lately!).

So what's been keeping me so busy? Well, being a mommy! We've had BEAUTIFUL weather here these last few weeks so Eli and I have been taking lots of great long walks, visiting grandma (my mom) and sleeping when we can.

Being a mommy is great! I love it! I keep finding myself staring at Eli's little face and smiling. I couldn't even imagine how sweet an experience it is to be a mother. I'm a sap. :)

Here are some photos of my handsome little man:

Busy Weekend

2008-03-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

We had a great weekend. Saw a fantastic basketball game Friday. Saturday Dr Lo came down to join the Dibbles in meeting Eli. Shaunna and Debby went to a great shower Saturday (thanks Rhonda and Kristine). Don and I went to the Bridgeport Brewery and then toured 23rd Ave with the Los. After a quick jaunt through the Lincoln Dinner with Clark County's GOPs finest, then dinner with the Dibbles, and the Halls at Shaunna's favorite Chinese restaurant - Hunan's.

So now - after the busy weekend, I got in a quick cat nap....

With Eli of course...

Another Thing to Ponder

2008-02-29T10:35:00.000-08:00

Three Things to Ponder:
1. Cows
2. The Constitution
3. The Ten Commandments

C O W S
 
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that  during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow,  born in
Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she  slept in the state of Washington?  And, they tracked her calves to their  stalls.  But
they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens  wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.
 
T H E   C O N S T I T U T I O N
 
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq . Why don't we just give them ours?  It was written by a lot of really smart
guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we are not using it anymore.
 
T H E   1 0  C O M M A N D M E N T S
 
The real reason that we cannot have the Ten Commandments  posted in a courthouse is this:  You cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal,"  "Thou
Shalt Not Commit Adultery," and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building  full of lawyers, judges and politicians..It creates a hostile work  environment.

~courtesy of Uncle Tony Tosti

Howdy

2008-02-29T08:34:00.000-08:00

Busy week here at the Jenks house. We are actively getting quotes to build our addition. We paid for the plans last week. You can see it HERE. The first attempt the County Plan Review Committee was a failure. I have a much better appreciation for General Contractors. We are getting our ducks in a row, and hope to have more success next week. If that goes well, we may be able to start as early as a month.

I have to say - the plans look beautiful. Shaunna did most of it. I can not want to see the finished product. When all is said and done - we should have a place where we can live for a long time. I wanted a place where we could raise up to four kids, and still have a guest room. It will be cozy - but still feasible with this plan.

Tonight the Dibbles roll into town. We are going to catch the Blazers and Lakers tonight (those are professional basketball teams for Shaunna's friends). I am looking forward to it.

Election Spolier

2008-02-29T08:33:00.000-08:00

Very funny short video, perfect for the paranoid...

HERE

WA residents - time to contact your State Reps

2008-02-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

There is a new bill being proposed that would significantly raise the cost of registering a vehicle. This new tax is being proposed under the guise of emissions control. Details:

There is a bill that the Washington State Legislature is trying to pass in Olympia that, if successful, will directly add huge costs to our vehicle license fees. Everyone needs to know about so this situation so that you can contact your representatives and voice your objection.
The bill is SB 6900 and it adds an "engine displacement" fee to the vehicle license tabs upon renewal. The fee has a varied amount depending on the size of the vehicle's engine:

Engine Size (liters) Rate Schedule
Up to 19 $0
2.0 - 2.9 $70
3.0 - 3.9 $225
4.0 - 4.9 $275
5.0 - 5.9 $325
6.0 - 7.9 $400
8.0 or over $600

For each car & truck that you own, calculate the rate by matching the engine size in liters to the dollar amount. Add the amounts for each vehicle and you'll see that the average two car family will be paying $500+ every year in "displacement fees" on top of the normal license fees. If you have three vehicles, you'll be paying even more.

The average family is already struggling with the high cost of gasoline, electricity, food and everything else, and our lawmakers want us to pay more, thinking we have unlimited deep pockets. This will do great damage to the budgets of retirees on fixed incomes as well. Now is the time to be very vocal against this bill.

I have contacted all of our representatives, and I would encourage everyone reading this to do the same.

To view the actual bill - click HERE
To find your state reps and email them - click HERE.
- they will ask for your address and then show you your reps, and give you the chance to email them all at once.

Please email them and oppose this bill. It is bad science, and bad taxation. We have an old work truck we use once, maybe twice a month. We should have to pay the same about for emissions that someone who drives hundreds of miles each month. Personally I think that person should not have to pay either - but this bill especially penalizes families and the little guy. A gas tax would be more fair but our reps know that is a hot button and are afraid to touch that...

UPDATE: 2:45pm I received a prompt response on this issue:

"Hi Eric, you will be pleased to know that SB 6900 did not make it through the committee process before the deadline. In fact I don't believe that it was even given a hearing, that means that it will not pass this session. Please write again.


Jim 
Rep. Jim Moeller"

Especially impressive in that he replied so quickly - on a holiday...

CRISIS RESOLVED!

Time to Put the Kid to Work...

2008-02-16T12:37:00.000-08:00

Curious what it costs to have a kid these days?

We got the initial bills from the delivery. Grand total - $16K.

The epidural ran $3K - which Shaunna reminds me was worth every penny...

Ends up being about $200 a hour while we were there. But I would say the nurses and staff at SW Washington were fantastic. Night and day different from Kaiser.

E

I got out of the house once...

2008-02-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

It is pretty clear to all who know me that I'm not much of a home-body. I really don't know how I survived being homeschooled all my life, but it definitely didn't kick my desire to be out and about, around people. So now that I'm a stay-at-home mommy (and I'm grateful to be one), I must say I'm getting a little stir-crazy. It doesn't help that I'm avoiding public right now so that I can protect Eli (2-1/2 weeks old now) from germs during cold and flu season. I haven't been to church in 3 weeks and I think I've maybe been to a grocery store twice since his birth. (You know you're stir-crazy when going to a grocery store is like the most exciting thing you can imagine!)

So today I opened some old pictures to remind myself that I have actually been somewhere other than on my Living Room sofa. I feel refreshed. :)

In Seattle (Pike's Market). Eric bought me flowers.

In Venice (San Marco Square - where Saint Mark is buried). My favorite place in the universe.

Somewhere where the skies are blue. I love this picture of Eric! He looks so happy.

Hiking (something we probably wont be doing for a few weeks - at least until I don't have to stop and nurse Eli every 2 hours). That reminds me that I need to get a hiking baby carrier that fits Eric. Anyone know a good place to look beside REI? Can't wait to hike again!!!

On Mount Hood.

In London: hangin' on the gate of Buckingham Palace

In England: that's the London skyline behind us.

In Paris - I hate Paris

In Germany (Eric is behind my Aunt Sylvia)

All those places are great...BUT SERIOUSLY....
No matter how stir-crazy I am right now, I know what life is really about.

...being a mommy and kissing that sweet face is the only place I want to be!

Solutions

2008-02-14T15:50:00.000-08:00

Sent via email to me today:

Everyone concentrates on the problems we're having in this country lately; illegal

immigration, hurricane recovery, alligators attacking people in Florida . .

Not me. I concentrate on solutions for the problems. It's a win-win situation.

+ Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border.

+ Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levies.

+ Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican border.

Any other problems you would like for me to solve today ?

----------
Love it....
E

Labor & Delivery

2008-02-13T17:34:00.001-08:00

Here are some photos from my laboring...

While hooked up to Pitocin...Eric and I took many walks around the hospital hoping to help my labor get going. Those walks were interesting...hearing women in labor (yikes!) and the sounds of babies crying...it all made things very real. I remember just thinking, "Oh my word, I'm going to be one of those ladies in pain any hour now...and then I'm going to have one of those babies crying for me. This is really happening..oh my word...oh my word...am I sure I want to do this?" Panic sets in.

Once my water broke, the contractions went from 0 to 60. Here is Eric holding me in between contractions (my contractions were less than a minute apart right away - thanks to the evil pitocin). My mom in the background sorta took over as my coach. She held a stop watch and told me how many more seconds each contraction was going to be. I swear, the sound of her voice was never so nice. I remember at one point she stopped talking to me and I cried, "Mom, please don't stop talking!" Eric was my breathing coach, mom was my stopwatch and my sister Kristine was the expert massager.

This is how Eric felt, watching his wife in pain (pre-epidural). Utter helplessness.

And here's how he felt after my epidural. Allow me to translate...
"THANK YOU GOD FOR DRUGS!"

Once I got my epidural our room turned into quite a hoppin' place. Friends and family came in and said hi. I was just laying there, feeling nothing, happy as a clam. Meanwhile my body was working overtime. I was fully dilated just a few hours later (4? I think)...but I didn't feel a thing. I was, however, shivering like mad. Even though I couldn't feel the pain, my body knew it was happening and reacted. Kinda a strange situation actually.

Here is my good friend (almost sister) Melinda saying hi.
[She was with me when my water broke]

The waiting room: Tony & Susie Tosti, Lee & Sara Hall and Melinda.

Jenksie being my support, love and friend. I love this picture.

Meeting our son for the first time.

Eric cutting the cord. Poor little blue foot! :)

Eli meeting his mommy - skin to skin time (thank you mom for doctoring the photos for us!).

He took about 5 seconds to calm down as soon as they put him on my chest. It was very sweet, he knew my voice and was soothed instantly by it.
It was weird - I'm not used to being the one that babies want!

The Jenks Family: Eric, Shaunna & Eli!

A few minutes after he was born...fast asleep on his mommy.

...and daddy is awfully cuddly too!

He looks like his daddy...full "pillow" lips. What a honey!

Wasted Vote

2008-02-10T11:47:00.001-08:00

It is election season, and it seems to me most folks have already checked out. I keep hearing the phrase "wasted vote" thrown around. I am just going to say this -

the only wasted vote is the one not made.

We are privileged to live in a democracy where we have the opportunity to vote and influence government. That privilege carries with it a weight of responsibility. That responsibility is to vote your conscience. It burns me to hear someone to say they vote to candidate X rather than candidate P because candidate P "doesn't have a chance". Who gets to define - does not have a chance? It seems to me we are selling our vote, selling our rights, trading our responsibilities to the "experts" telling who is or who is not "a wasted vote".
I can understand folks voting "against" a candidate in the GENERAL election. But not in a primary. The primary is about ideas and principles. Shaping the direction the party should go and focus. It is not about the pundits deciding for us who has a better opportunity to beat the other parties candidate - who has not even been elected yet - but the pundits are picking for us.

Let me lay it on the table - we as a country need to wake up and realize that EVERYONE has an agenda. The media has an agenda - to sell more media. Of course they want a match up between candidate X and candidate Z. It is like the heavy weight fight of the year - GUARANTEED to bring in more viewers and SELL more media. It is not necessarily wrong - they have a vested interest in protecting / promoting their jobs. However the public has to wake up to this. I am not saying the media is evil. We have to have news in order to make informed decision. I a just saying

When the news informs of our decisions - we have a problem.

In other news - yesterday was the Washington state caucuses, which I participated in. Ron Paul won 20% of my precinct and 21% 0f the delegates out of our pooled caucuses. Romney won 40% and he is not actively campaigning. McCain came in second and Huck was a distant 4th. Ironically, Huck won the straw vote (had the most participates) but they were completely ignorant of the process, and bullheaded. They would not strike a deal with the Paul folks that would have gained Paul 3 more delegates and Huck in a tie for second. The Paul camp won the award for smartest campaign, leveraging 10 delegates out of 15 declared participates...

More Pictures

2008-02-10T11:40:00.000-08:00

"I am a super model"

Shaunna and I love this picture. The sleeping prince, holding up his head....

Mommy Writes

2008-02-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

Hi All!

Well, it has been one heck of a week for me. Eli was born on Jan. 28th - his actual due date. I was induced due to a complication of pregnancy. At first we thought all was well, but the last few weeks I had developed a terrible full-body itch...as though I had rolled around in a patch of poison ivy. When it first developed, my midwife said it was nothing to be concerned about. But after weeks of feeling like I had a thousand bugs crawling around under my skin we began to get concerned. I was finding myself lying awake every night scratching myself raw, unable to be relieved. It wasn't accompanied by a rash or anything - which seemed so odd.

Anyway, after 2-1/2 weeks of that insanity (and as I grew more and more exhausted and emotionally drained from night after night of 2 hours of sleep), Eric insisted that I see a doctor again about the itch. Saturday the 26th we went to the hospital (just expecting a consult) and discovered that I had developed a rare complication called choleostasis - in which the liver and gallbladder shut down and start storing toxins in the skin (thus the itch). The complication didn't pose much of a risk to me, but it posed a great risk to Eli...1 in 20 cases result in a still born baby. Naturally, the doctors felt it important to get him out as quickly as possible.

So we were immediately admitted and they started me on pitocin. Ug, nasty stuff! I was hooked up to pitocin from Saturday afternoon all the way until he was born Monday morning. It was quite a long few days. Eric, my mom, my sister Kristine and friend Melinda kept me company as I waited and waited for labor to start.

Sunday evening Eric decided to leave the hospital to go home for a quick shower and to feed the dog. Of course, after all the hours of waiting we thought nothing of it, but naturally that was when my water decided to break. Only Kristine and Melinda were there at the time - poor things! My labor went from 0 to 60 within about 30 seconds and I was crying for Eric. :( Thankfully we don't live very far from the hospital. Eric was by my side within 15 minutes.

Seven hours after my labor started, Eli was born. 7 lbs 9 oz, 20-1/2" long. He is perfect...cute fuzzy auburn hair and looks just like Eric. I swear, if it weren't for the red hair, I wouldn't know he is related to me at all.

Here he is:

Eli Says Hi

2008-01-30T17:17:00.000-08:00

Eli Comes Home

2008-01-30T17:00:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it home. We took the opportunity to spend an extra day at the hospital. A lot of folks ecommended it to us. And I am glad we did it. But it SO nice to be home.

Here is the proud new Mother with Eli (hidden by polka dots), on our way home...

Here we are, about to walk into our home with Eli for the first time.

Of course, being home means we had a few introductions to make. Here is Greta smelling Eli. Greta is very concerned for the little guy. Every time Eli whines, Greta jumps up and looks anxiously between baby and the nearest adult. So far - no licking yet. :)

2008-01-28T14:01:00.000-08:00

Not a great picture but shows the mane of hair he was born with. From this morning - about 8 hours old..

Last one for now. I have to get back to the hospital. :)
E

Introducing Eli

2008-01-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

Eli Jenks. Born this morning at 12:52am This is his first bath a little over a hour old..

Mom with newborn Eli - 7 pounds, 9.5ozs and 20.5 inches long - minutes old

The new Jenks Family...

Christmas 2007

2008-01-23T13:02:00.000-08:00

This year we celebrated Christmas here in Vancouver with my family. My Grandmother from
Reno flew up and we spent a long lazy weekend together. Here are some photos:

We had a WHITE CHRISTMAS in Vancouver! Miracle of miracles.
Snow fell in huge, huge flakes for a few hours while we opened presents.

Sure way to avoid accidentally eating "yellow snow" is to catch the snow while it falls.
My little brother, Grant, trying to catch a few fresh flakes.

My little brother, Ethan, got a compact bow (I think that's what it is called) for Christmas.
He was jumping out of his skin over that gift. He's such a boy!

My sister, Kristine, made out this year! This is what she had left after all the rest of us had opened all our gifts. Dang! It is good to be Kristine. :)

One of the stocking stuffers I gave Eric was the travel version of Connect Four.
He loves that game - silly ol' bear, I swear it was his favorite gift!

Eli didn't do too terribly on Christmas presents either. Especially thanks to Great-Grandma.
She gave us a huge box full of baby goodies!

Mom, Grant and me. We were all in red. Ho ho ho!

Our Christmas Meal (Eric took the picture which is why he's not seen)

"Girls Cook, Boys Clean!"
Bob and Eric did the clean up after Christmas dinner.
This is a great budding tradition!

Bigger ISN'T Better

2008-01-17T17:22:00.000-08:00

So, I'm officially not a small pregnant person anymore. I'm getting "oh, you're about to pop, aren't you?" comments from strangers and the constant irritating realization that people in grocery stores don't look me in the eye anymore, they're too busy staring at the fact that my bare belly is hanging out from under my shirts - no matter how often I try to readjust and cover. Ug. This is a pretty humiliating stage of pregnancy. But I can't complain, it is not as humiliating as the 1st trimester when I was throwing up into ziplock bags while sitting in traffic and people were honking and yelling at me to move my car the whoppin' 3 feet that had opened up in front of me. That was pretty bad.

My sister LeAnne took some pictures of my big-self this weekend. Here's Shaunna at 9 months prego...

The "Loot"

2008-01-17T17:18:00.001-08:00

On Sunday my church threw me a baby shower. What a blessing! Here are some photos of me showing Eric the gifts we received from our generous friends...(thanks to my sister LeAnne for photographing this moment)...

Been a Long Time...

2008-01-11T13:35:00.001-08:00

Hi All - So you thought we'd be more consistent on blogging right? Well, we're still learning. Actually, since Christmas I've been struggling with a nasty respiratory flu. I'm on day 13 today, and still feeling crummy. I'm due in 2 weeks, so I'm really hoping and praying this goes away soon. I have barely felt well enough to stay on top of laundry, let alone do the necessary "nesting"!

Here are some photos from the last few weeks:

Melinda & Kristine at our Christmas Party `07

Cori & "Runge" (Eric) - The headdressings were their prizes from our White Elephant Exchange.

Greta's response to mommy being home 24/7
Allow me to translate: "It's such a bummer! I get yelled at all the time now! Can't get away with a darn thing anymore...can't pass wind, can't get into the trash, can't paw at the kitties. What kind of life is this for a dog? Poor, poor me!"

Two weekends ago I got to catch up with an old friend, Jed Johnson, at a wedding. We graduated highschool together and had been buddies since I was about 13 I guess. He has 3 adorable little boys (for those who know him) and works for the Coast Guard. We hadn't seen each other in close to 7 years. It was awesome to catch up!

Other old friends: (left to right) Rose Tosti, Melinda Morris, me, Kristine, Sarah Johnson, Jessica Joner (formerly Holt), April Schultz and Cori Keisweather.

--- Memories! ---

Presentation

2007-12-24T11:16:00.000-08:00

I am putting together an End-of-the-Year presentation on effective communication for the office and ran across this....

I miss Calvin and Hobbes....

E

Getting Our Tree

2007-12-24T10:22:00.002-08:00

Last weekend we finally got our Christmas tree. We found this All-Noble-Fir farm about 15 minutes from our house. How awesome is that? Usually the noble fir pickings are slim at these u-cut farms. So I was thrilled to have so much selection. We found our tree in less than 10 minutes (we were limited to a small tree this year due to space restrictions)....

Christmas Cheer: Peppermint Mocha and a Christmas Tree Saw

Look at all the noble firs! That is Happy Land for an Ozaine!

The classic...dad carrying the tree.

It took us about two days to get the change to actually decorate the tree. But we managed.

He doesn't exactly have to stretch to decorate a tree. He's my own little Abominable Snowman who can put the star on top of the tree.

I, on the other hand, have to stretch.

Unemployed and Self-Employed

2007-12-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been a while since we posted. Christmas season is crazy as always, and it was made especially crazy by the fact that I was wrapping up my 9 years with Ellen Fichen Design. I'm now officially unemployed...and self-employed (I'll continue to work my design business). Eli is due in 4 weeks and I figured it was best to end my time with Ellen at the end of the year. So last Friday was my last day. And I'll tell you, it was a strange, strange day.

I don't know how you just leave a job that you have been working (very happily) for 1/3 of your life. It isn't like I'm off to another, more exciting career or that I'm leaving disgruntled. I left because this alien creature inside me is going to come out soon and, although I have no idea what is in store for me once it comes out, all I know is that suddenly I turn into a mom! Holy cow. I have no idea how to be a mom. I don't know how to give birth! I don't know how to nurse! All I know how to do is what I've been doing for 9 years. I just walked away from the "known" into the "unknown".

Of course I'm very happy about all this...............I think.............I mean, of course I am but I'm also a bit on the nervous side of things. I'm more nervous about the next 4 weeks than anything else. I'm totally excited to meet Eli. I'm totally excited to be a mom, even though I don't know how. But I have to admit that I'm not totally excited to sit around my house for 4 weeks twiddling my thumbs and waiting. You see, my life is fast paced. It goes and goes and never stops. I'm never at home, I only have time to check my voicemail once-a-week (working on that, btw), I eat dinner at 9pm, I've lost almost all my hobbies over the years because I simply don't have time........and now, for four weeks, time is on my side and I have no idea what to do with it!

I suppose most people would be jumping for joy to be in this position, so I keep asking myself "why are you so unnerved about actually having time on your side?" and I realized just this weekend why....

I'm in my third trimester, I'm tired, I'm round and move awkwardly, I can hardly breathe because this little baby is spooning with my lungs, etc....all this is a recipe for becoming a lethargic lazy bum. That is the last thing in the world that I could want to be.

So there is my challenge to myself: Take 4 weeks to rest up before the baby comes, but don't turn into a lazy bum. Not a CLUE how to pull that one off...but here I go...

The "too much time - not enough energy" rocket has launched....

Survey Says....

2007-12-13T16:59:00.000-08:00

Go take this 5 minutes survey and then come back and tell me what you ranked first and second. Not surprisingly, I came in Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul, separated by a point.

http://www.kcpw.org/select-a-candidate

It is not a perfect survey but a great educational and conversation piece...

E

A Soldiers Christmas

2007-12-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

There is a new Christmas song out there - I don't know who it is from - but it has got to me both times I heard it. Below are the lyrics:

'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER, ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT,
MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.

Remember

2007-12-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

So folks may not be aware that we got a lot of rain recently. A lot. So much they are plowing it out...

As humorous as that is, a lot of folks have been affected by this storm. I try to put myself in their situation where my home and job could have been flooded away and it is tough. Especially with the holidays so close. If you are in a situation where you can help, I hope you will.

http://www.salvationarmynw.org/

Once You Dream it is Possible...

2007-12-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

I have been taking a lot of flack for being a Ron Paul guy lately. And in large part I laugh and roll with the punches. After all, your friends are a reflection of your values and the freak show does roll in for a lot of RP events. It is entertaining for everyone. :)

However the thing that bugs me most is the frequent comment that RP simply can't win. Pardon me for being a grammar snob, but he can win. It is in the realm of possibility that Ron Paul could win. It is legally an option. For some it is morally and ethically an option. Increasingly it is looking like a financially possible scenario. Politically it is a long shot - but there a vast chasm between "can't win" and "not likely to win".

Which begs the question - why does everyone feel the obvious need to be a political expert and render the verdict "can't win" so flippantly? Laziness in speech comes to mind. Maybe they don't want him to win. Maybe (for those that think we didn't go to the moon) there is something more sinister behind it...

So - in private musing - I think it is possible. And the more one thinks it is possible, the more one sees it is probably. RP is my man. A man in the political world but not of the political world. The more you read about him - you will realize he is not sold out to special interests. He is a simple man who truly believes in government of people, for the people - not for lobbyists and special interests...

ttyl, E

Live From New York

2007-12-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

No - it is not Saturday Night Live. But this blog is coming to free courtesy of the wireless service provided by Jet Blue in JFK Terminal in NYC. It has been a long but good trip to the East Coast.

This morning, after a long night of networking - aka partying - Jonathan (a co-worker) decided to get another state under our belt. So - fighting a lack of sleep, I went and got a rental car and we drove to New Hampshire.

I did see a couple Ron Paul signs in the Live Free or Die state. It is very pretty - but COLD. They told us the high was going to be 22 degrees. However the local banks were showing 29 degrees. And very windy.

I am looking forward to seeing my wife and sleeping in my own room...

E

Budget

2007-11-30T15:42:00.003-08:00

While taking a walk we ran across this car and had to take a picture. How ironic!

Live from Portland

2007-11-30T04:40:00.000-08:00

State number 45 down for me as I attend a business conference in Maine.

Good times - had steak and their famous lobster last night. :)

That Portland to Portland red-eye flight is tough. I think I was running on 2 hours of sleep at the end of 2 days yesterday.

Got to run - more later. E

Welcome - GOP PCO

2007-11-28T10:29:00.000-08:00

Breaking news - the GOP nominated a new PCO to precinct 335 - and it is me! :)

It was a grueling race but I managed to come out ahead. The race consisted of really quality candidates: me, me, and me. I am humbled to have won...

For those who do not know what a PCO is - no worries. I did not either until a week ago. ..

ttyl, Eric

Autumn Walk

2007-11-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

Eric and I have a little traditional several-mile-walk that we take all the time. We start off at Officer's Row in Vancouver (our little apartment was a block away - thus how the tradition began), walk through downtown Vancouver (stopping at Starbucks for coffee) and then over to the Colombia River waterfront and back. We especially love this walk during the fall. As soon as leaves start falling all I can think of is taking a stroll through the fallen leaves of Officer's Row. Of course, this walk nearly kills Greta. Poor fat lard can heaves for air, tongue all the way to the ground, literally being pulled by the leash to keep going.

Here are some photos from our last stroll (waterfront behind us)...

Eric's Girls: Me and our Fat Lard

Shaunna's Personal Giants: My husband and my Fat Lard

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

2007-11-21T13:40:00.001-08:00

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.

I did not come up with that, in case you are wondering. :) Two more I liked:

Seeds of discouragement will not grow in the thankful heart.--Anonymous

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.--Charles Dickens

Shaunna and I year find ourselves deeply thankful to God and our friends for how richly we have been blessed as the year ends. We can only hope to be grateful and content as the exciting potential of a New Year unfolds. ttyl, Eric

Thanksgiving Thoughts!

2007-11-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A few pictures

2007-11-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

I wanted to throw a few quick pictures on of a few things that have been keeping us busy:

Shaunna's Note: Those cheesy curtains aren't staying...but we don't have blinds yet so we needed something on the window for now. Talk about high-water curtains!

The new nursery with HAND painted stripes. Yes - I know - we are crazy.

And the ugly rocking chair cushions are being recovered too. Nice Craigslist find though.

But they came out looking awesome. And thanks to Miller Paint - who has a new VOC (aka bad for baby chemicals) free paint we are able to enjoy the work of Shaunna's very steady hand.

And in case you you see this politico - wacko on the road...

its me...

:)

Eric

Our Anniversary

2007-11-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

On October 2nd we celebrated our 3rd anniversary. We took a weekend trip to Lincoln City (a vacation we had won through Eric's work last year). We stayed right on the water; it was beautiful despite the horrendous weather we had.

A king sized bed...we have no idea how couples can sleep on a king! I felt like I spent the whole night stretching and straining to find and cuddle up with him.

What we look forward to the most when staying at a hotel...CABLE! It's life's simple pleasures. And boy did we enjoy the unusually large tv...and the gas fireplace. Felt very homey.

We spent one afternoon at the Newport Beach Aquarium. We had been there before, but it was still fun. Here are some photos. Sorry, Eric had the camera so most pictures are of me.

These are Japanese crabs. They're bigger than our great dane. A little too much like spiders for my comfort. Not sure how I managed a smile for this picture. I was creeped out.
The otter who refused to wake up from his nap to smile for our picture.
Eric's anniversary gift (he had lost his wedding ring and I bought him a matching one):

My anniversary gift...3-diamond (for 3 years) necklace.
The Happy Couple:

My Vote - Ron Paul

2007-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have not heard - I am voting for Ron Paul in the primary. A lot folks are saying he can't win. It is sad - because I think Paul would have a harder time in the primary than in the general election. Quite frankly I don't think any of the Republican candidates get it. Except for Paul. He is not status quo and never has been. The other candidates talk doing something different - Paul has been doing it. I am reading his book and it has been intersting. He is not the polished politician. Quite frankly, he could use a couple sessions in Toastmasters. But I find that refreshing. He is guy campaigning for something, rather than against something (or someone)

Brief Overview of Congressman Paul’s Record:

He has never voted to raise taxes.
He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
He has never taken a government-paid junket.
He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
He voted against the Patriot Act.
He voted against regulating the Internet.
He voted against the Iraq war.
He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S.
treasury every year.

Ron Paul is a gynecologist who has delivered more than 4,000 babies and has
never wavered on his pro-life position. It's who he is.

Ron Paul, the man from Washington with no scandals, has been married
faithfully to the same woman for 45 years, loves America with a passion.

More on this later...

Eric

Back - Months Later

2007-11-18T12:02:00.000-08:00

Well, as it has been pointed out to us, we haven't exactly been very good at keeping up with our website. There are a thousand reasons for it (or at least a couple dozen) - our camera broke, I had morning sickness for 5 months and spent all my "leisure" time kneeling at the porcelain throne (or with my face shoved in emergency zip-lock bags while sitting in traffic), and...and...and...the list keeps going.

But now we're settling down a little. Just in time for our son to be born (due in 9 weeks) and for the holiday craziness to kick in. So we've decided it's time to get back online. We've given up on our website and have decided to join the easier realm of blogging. This might inspire more consistency.

For now, here is an update on our autumn:

One evening we discovered that our dog can eat an entire loaf of french bread in less than 2 minutes. She stole the loaf off the counter when our backs were turned and absolutely inhaled it. I still can't believe ANYTHING (even a dane) can eat so much bread so quickly. This is Eric disciplining her, making her submissively afraid of bread (her consistent weakness):

Learning to be near bread without licking her chops (although we assume she could smell the bread over those muddy boots - ew):

Here I am at 5 months - quite obviously still sick as a dog. I stayed this size pretty much up until recently. People at church even stated to get concerned and ask Eric, "Is she still pregnant?" Even at almost 8 months, my total weight gain has been, um, 3 lbs!
Yup, I was that sick:

Here is Eli's very first piece of mail. Auntie LeAnne sent him a cute froggy outfit and hat.

The next day he got another package in the mail. Grandma Debby sent him a little basketball outfit that should fit him for Hoopfest 2008.

Finally really "showing" at 7 months...I have the pointiest belly on the planet and it isn't my belly button - its the baby! I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to give birth to a YIELD sign.

Well that's it for now. More to come soon.

~Shaunna

Testing One Two Three

2007-11-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

We are listening to the requests of our friends and family and looking to get a blog going again soon.

Working on style and formatting now.

More to come shortly