February 6th, 1999

On this day, 10 years ago Tim and I first met. We had our first date. I went to his college basketball game with my best friend Jenny Rush and her boyfriend Jerry Jeffers. Unfortunately, Jerry is no longer on this earth either. I bet he and Tim are celebrating our anniversary up there without Jenny and I. We went to the game, then I met him after the game. I also met his parents on the first night! Then we went to Cheddar's. I had the caesar salad and he had chicken fingers. I was scared and nervous, I couldn't look him in the eye. Afterwards Tim and I went to Perkins without Jenny and Jerry. He had a piece of an apple pie and I had a chocolate milkshake. That was the first time I discovered he was more of a vanilla fan than a chocolate fan. :-) I remember what I wore that night. I remember what he wore. I was 17...just a baby. It was always a great memory...even when he was alive. He always made great memories, never bad. I love him and miss him so much...so so much. He will forever be who I am and will I will become. He will influence every single decision I make, be by my side forever. I love you buddy...happy anniversary.

Tragedy

So anyone who knows me, knows what has happened in my life recently. I don't exactly feel up to talking about it a whole lot quite yet. I will, I know I will. But for now I think its best for me to contemplate things on my own. At some point I will be able to talk more about it and be able to help others in some way by what happened to me. But, I just want everyone to know that I am okay right now. I'm not saying things won't be hard, they will be. I just have to be strong and hold my head up and continue with life...but hopefully a better and stronger person. Thank you everyone for everything.

Temperature

Did anyone hear what the temperature here was last week? Friday imparticular was the coldest.

I guess it was 50 degrees warmer in Anchorage, Alaska! And it warmed up the next day 50 degrees. And that -23 was without windchill. Brrr.... And I know that is Belvidere. It was about -16 in Schaumburg at that same moment. It feels like spring now with temperatures in the high 20s. ;-)

Randoms

My dad brought over his camera to show me some photos he took. I wanted to put the photos on my computer. And while unloading the memory card I found some other fun photos. Sorry about the blurriness on some, my mom doesn't know her way around the camera so well. Enjoy the randoms!

Stove

How's it look!?!? We were ecstatic! But it makes the rest of the kitchen look cruddy. :-( What am I talking about...the rest of the kitchen is cruddy! ;-)

Snippets of Christmas

Since Tim is sick in bed I thought I'd take this alone/down time to post a blog. I've been busy, but also nothing of real significance has happened in a while. Well, at least anything anyone would care about.

One event that has happened in the past few months is Briggsie made a new friend at his playcare on Saturday mornings. The two dogs had a tendency to play together every week. And the funny part is, both of the doggy parents wanted to get another dog to keep their dog tired and happy. Now neither of us have to (with play dates in the middle of the week)! And the plus side is we have become great friends with Jen and JD. Briggs and Socks are only a week apart in age too!

Christmas was eventful. My whole family got the stomach flu. We had family in from two states and most of them got it. I count 9 or 10 people in my head. Tim just acquired it last night. Its quite nasty. I'm trying at all costs to avoid it by quarantining him in the bedroom and Lysoling everything. I know some relatives got different severities of it. I hope that if I get it I get the very mild version of it. I can't really afford to be sick. Postive point of this flu is that its only a 24 hour flu....if there is a positive point to a flu bug.

For Christmas (and birthdays) my mom and dad got Tim and I a new stove! I was so excited!!! Our stove was a pre-1976ish gas stove. It had pilot lights that were on all the time and if they went out and the gas was accidentally on, you were probably in trouble. And it was also dangerous because Russ (orange cat) would sometimes get caught lying on the stove.

What a difference a day makes

Oh how true those words. Is anyone getting sick of these yet? So this was today's outcome. Not NEARLY as good. By far the worst of them all. I just wish I understood why he did it. Tim wasn't happy about this.