Kevin: November 2002 Archives

Isn’t this a great picture?

Jill, Hale and I arranged some time together with Uncle Buzz Arney — photographer extraordinaire — for a short shoot. This is one of our favorites from that day.

Buzz and Mary Jo (my father’s sister) live in Shelbyville, Indiana; near Jill’s parents, coincidentally. Buzz is “retired” and is an amature photographer, doing weddings, parties, and senior pictures mainly. One brisk day this Fall he worked us in. Also, Mary Jo is working on her RN degree, and is finishing up early next year. I’m very proud of her for this!

Congrats to Mary Jo for her ambition, and thanks to Buzz for the pictures!

I just wanted to add a link to my brother Joe and sister-in-law Jeanette’s family website: http://home.dejazzd.com/jjjordan

If you haven’t been there, check out the pictures from November — including some neat ones of Kaylea and Ryan out in the leaves. Those pictures conjured up memories of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown for me, a video that is a Halloween staple.

Thanks for sharing, Joe and Jeanette!

Also, the whole Jordan family is getting together at Thanksgiving later this week for the first time in many years. The Thanks-Christmas at Aunt Jan’s is going to be jam-packed! Thank you, Joe, for agreeing to drive Kaylea and Ryan all the way here from Pennsylvania for half a week, and thanks to Jeanette for skipping her return flight yesterday. It’s going to be GRRRRRRRR-EAT! (with special emphasis on the EAT!)

From a great Seinfeld episode, The Merv Griffin Set:

[Celia�s apartment]
GEORGE: More wine and turkey? [Pours Celia more wine]
JERRY: So when I saw George on the street with an 18 pound turkey and a giant box of wine, I thought: ... What a coincidence. We�re just about to eat.
CELIA: What is that stuff in turkey that makes you sleepy?
JERRY and GEORGE: Triptaphen.
JERRY: ... I think. Have some more wine.
CELIA: What video did you get?
JERRY: Oh, George brought home movies of his boyhood trip to Michigan.
GEORGE: Four hours.
JERRY: More heavy gravy?
[Celia is sleeping]
GEORGE: [playing with toys] Yes! Touch down! Your turn, Jerry.

For those of you who cannot (or don�t want to) picture it, that�s George and Jerry trying to get a woman named Celia to fall asleep so that they could play with her toy collection � which included a white, handheld electronic football game which we used to have. That brings me to my point: what is it about turkey that makes you sleepy?

... Thanksgiving, but I am already anticipating next week�s festivites! Our plan, as it stands, is to head to Shelbyville early on Wednesday afternoon, arriving in time for a wonderful dinner at the Ingle household.

After an anticipated night of blissful slumber we will awake to Hale, hilarity, and hospitality both there and in Frankfort - which will be our destination in the early evening. This Thanks-Christmas celebration is a yearly favorite. (Now if I can only find that perfect man�s gift.) Then back to the �ville for a night or two. It will be a great week!

Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.

That's how I've been feeling lately. The good Lord has been watching over Jill and I and it is through His grace that things are working out as they are in our lives. As many of you know, a year ago I lost my job suddenly -- only a few weeks after finding out Jill was pregnant with Hale. It was at that time that I really felt lost in life, unsure of where we would end up and how ends would be met.

Jill is a subscriber to Marth Stewart Living, and I have to tell you: I love this magazine. The jury is still out on whether or not Martha was in the right or wrong in last year’s stock fiasco, but I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Anyways. In the December issue, MSL has some great ideas on how to create your own Christmas present tags using downloadable clipart (like the Noel banner above). All you have to do is travel over to Martha Stewart Online and download the free PDF file. Print it out on cardstock and — voil� — instant custom Christmas tags!

Am I domestic, or what?

I want to apologize in advance for any weirdness that you might experience on the website over the next couple of days. In preparation for our Christmas design, some background changes need to be made. I'll try and keep the disruption to a minimum.

For those of you who are interested, the site will begin using cascading style sheets (CSS) to lay out the page you see rendered before you. I would talk further of it, but I don't think anyone cares... they just want to see pictures of Haley!

Last Monday morning I was outside early in the morning and snapped a couple of photos of the house in its present state of (dis)repair. You can visit the gallery of pictures, but basically the entire thing has been scraped and is ready to prime.

Jill and I both will be very happy when this project is complete, but we may have to wait until next year for that... come on, Mother Nature - give us an Indian Summer! Does anyone with an almanac know what the forecast is for the rest of this year?

Welcome to November! (Inarguably the best month this side of December)

I wouldn't make such a big deal if November was only the month I was born, but its got a lot of other things going for it:

• Thanksgiving officially starts the holiday season.
• We'll put our Christmas tree up sometime this month. (tonight, honey?)
• Ordinarily, I'd say "the first snowfall of the year," but that happened during this last week.
• Christmas at Aunt Jan's.
• "Free" days off of work.
• Our house painting project gets completed. (keep your fingers crossed)