2008: More Change and Catching up with Life!
January-March
Sarabeth is in Wisconsin dealing with one of the WORST winters the Milwaukee area had seen in 20years and without a husband or a snowblower. For those of you who don’t know, Joe took a great job opportunity in IL and moved back in with his parents September of 2007. Thank goodness our wonderful neighbors in Whitefish Bay (4600 Block!!WOOHOO) rallied around Sarabeth and got her through! By the end of winter the Milwaukee area almost broke the record of 110 inches of snow in one season.
April-June
Every weekend Joe went to visit his wife and dog (Cayman) in Whitefish Bay to work on the house to get ready to sell. He did a great job because they sold their house in 70 days in a tumbling real estate market.
July
This was a BIG month, Sarabeth’s little brother Dave married the love of his life Stephanie Williams and Sarabeth was privileged to not only stand-up in the wedding but participate in the ceremony. This was also the month that we closed on he sale of our house, Sarabeth finished her masters in Instructional Technology, went to Jimmy Buffett , Sarabeth moved in with her parents and then we went to Door County for one of Sarabeth’s best-friends wedding. It was a whirlwind! Sarabeth also got into networking and job search mode, trying to get back into business.
August
Up in Door County Sarabeth was reunited with an old friend, Jamie PR, from Accenture (previous business position) who was working in Chicago for a small company, Healthy Interactions. During our reunion she realized that my background could be a fit for the company she worked for. After meeting other employees and interviewing I was hired at the end of the August and started on Sept 2.
September-October-November-December
Joe and Sarabeth living with Joe’s parents with their dog, who tore a ligment and is still not healed ☹ Sarabeth started commuting to Chicago via the Metra and loves it – along with her job. There is some travel but so far it has only taken her to London, England and Toledo, OH. We bought a house (the market actually really helped us get our DREAM house) in Frankfort, IL and we are loving living together and being a real married couple again.
The year has brought a lot of good fortune and we are very grateful. There are friends and family who have not been as blessed as us so we are praying for you to get through your hard times and we will support you where you need us.
We are looking forward to reconnecting with friends and family in 2009!
12.30.2008
12.29.2008
To buy, or not to buy - that should be the question.
Happy Holidays!
I know it is the season of giving..stuff. So why am I irritated? Why do we need so much stuff? Here are a couple of observations: It seems that people over buy - especially for kids! I mean, lots of time I have witnessed a child open a bunch of gifts and then just play with one. Or the really little ones just want to play with the paper, or the box it came in - hmmm... what about putting all that money into a savings account for the child? I know why - because people don't really have the money, they are using credit. Doesn't that seem like a problem? But our government does it? Spends more then they have, then others have to pay for it. This year I did not get a lot of stuff, almost everything I got I will use frequently - and it felt great! Being a financially responsible family we decided to scale back on the amount of gifts to purchase, how smart is that? How did we figure that out? Basic high school consumer economics, sign your child up for Consumer Economics or better yet - Financing.
I know it is the season of giving..stuff. So why am I irritated? Why do we need so much stuff? Here are a couple of observations: It seems that people over buy - especially for kids! I mean, lots of time I have witnessed a child open a bunch of gifts and then just play with one. Or the really little ones just want to play with the paper, or the box it came in - hmmm... what about putting all that money into a savings account for the child? I know why - because people don't really have the money, they are using credit. Doesn't that seem like a problem? But our government does it? Spends more then they have, then others have to pay for it. This year I did not get a lot of stuff, almost everything I got I will use frequently - and it felt great! Being a financially responsible family we decided to scale back on the amount of gifts to purchase, how smart is that? How did we figure that out? Basic high school consumer economics, sign your child up for Consumer Economics or better yet - Financing.
Goal for 2009!
I just wanted to say that I am going to make more of an effort to update our blog at least a couple times a month.
7.21.2008
On to the NEXT chapter!
Well, Joe and I sold the house, said goodbye to our laid back Milwaukee lifestyle with readi-access to great beer (micros, not Miller). We are both living with our wonderful parents!!!
Next step - I need to find a job, then we will get the house.
Short post...stayed tune.
Next step - I need to find a job, then we will get the house.
Short post...stayed tune.
7.14.2008
Cellphone etiquette - necessary?
I am in Subway ordering my $5 footlong veggie, it's not really busy but the customer in front of me is on her phone. From the sounds of it, she was speaking another language. The Subway worker was trying to be patient asking her the same questions over and over again about her sandwich. I starred at her, trying to give her the none verbal - "can you concentrate here?" but it did not work. I passed her up and got my sub. I told the worker helping me that that is very rude.
After I left I thought, can a worker refuse to help someone who is on their phone and not paying attention? Should I have said something since the workers did not feel like they could call her out on her rudeness?
After I left I thought, can a worker refuse to help someone who is on their phone and not paying attention? Should I have said something since the workers did not feel like they could call her out on her rudeness?
7.05.2008
Lakefront Brewery - Cream City Pale Ale (CCPA)
photo taken from: http://www.lakefrontbrewery.com/ales.html
I have tasted many Lakefront beers and my personal favorite is Cream City. This is a pale ale with a slight caramel taste from the malt and slight bitter taste. Of course this is not for everyone but if you have tried this you should also try the organic ESB, first fully organic beer ever made.
P.S. Lakefront has been rated the number 1 tour in Milwaukee...you can even go on a Friday night and also have a fish fry!
7.01.2008
Stop pushing kids through
What is annoying to me is students who get pushed through the system when they should clearly not be graduating to the next level.
First of all, if they have not worked at the current level why would he/she work at the next? Then the next teacher has to take more time out to help this student, which ends up being wasted time since the student obviously does not care about school.
Second of all, parents need to step up to the plate! If their child is failing, they need to re-evaluate what they are doing to help their child pass. Parents made the decision to have kids, they need to realize that educating their child is partly their responsibility.
Third, administrators need to back their teachers and make parents responsible. If traditional behavior plans do not work (detentions, suspensions) then think outside the box - community service. This child is costing the district money by wasting teachers time and affects other students education - so they should give back to the district. I am sure the custodians have plenty of jobs they could do - or something.
What if the parents refuse to do anything except enable their child to continue to be a problem at school and fail multiple classes... well I have already talked about tax credits being associated with students grades. Another radical proposal is if the student is held back a year, the parents have to pay a certain amount. Yes, pay for public education - if they have to repeat a year because of behavior and/or grades.
Do I have kids yet? No, but if my parents could get me through school then other parents can do it also. I went to summer school, grounded, no TV in my room, loss of phone priveldges (which was HUGE to me) and etc. Nowadays, there are even MORE things to take away from kids - but that does not seem to happen for the majority of poor students (that I have seen).
What are parents afraid of?
First of all, if they have not worked at the current level why would he/she work at the next? Then the next teacher has to take more time out to help this student, which ends up being wasted time since the student obviously does not care about school.
Second of all, parents need to step up to the plate! If their child is failing, they need to re-evaluate what they are doing to help their child pass. Parents made the decision to have kids, they need to realize that educating their child is partly their responsibility.
Third, administrators need to back their teachers and make parents responsible. If traditional behavior plans do not work (detentions, suspensions) then think outside the box - community service. This child is costing the district money by wasting teachers time and affects other students education - so they should give back to the district. I am sure the custodians have plenty of jobs they could do - or something.
What if the parents refuse to do anything except enable their child to continue to be a problem at school and fail multiple classes... well I have already talked about tax credits being associated with students grades. Another radical proposal is if the student is held back a year, the parents have to pay a certain amount. Yes, pay for public education - if they have to repeat a year because of behavior and/or grades.
Do I have kids yet? No, but if my parents could get me through school then other parents can do it also. I went to summer school, grounded, no TV in my room, loss of phone priveldges (which was HUGE to me) and etc. Nowadays, there are even MORE things to take away from kids - but that does not seem to happen for the majority of poor students (that I have seen).
What are parents afraid of?
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