Tjardes Girls Really Do Sparkle!

August 1, 2007

So July is over, but the birthdays just keep coming. The birthday blogs were quite popular among my loyal and dedicated readership so they will continue as the birthdays present themselves. There won’t be as many as there were in July but August does get off to a roaring good start with my oldest niece, Ashley, and my Mom.

Happy Birthday Ashley! Ashley is my oldest niece, and will be a junior at SIU Carbondale this fall. She is on the track team there where she competes in the pole vault. Besides being a jock, Ash is a beauty queen too. This picture is of the two of us a few weeks ago when Ash turned over her crown as Ford County Fair Queen 2006. I enjoy hanging out with Ashley, she is pretty “go with the flow”. We both love pedicures and have an undying gratitude to the poor salon workers who have to deal with our nasty Tjardes feet!

I have a zillion funny Ashley stories, but I will only share a few. When Ashley was just learning to talk and put sentences together she was at my parents for the weekend when I was home from college with a couple of my friends from school. It was the spring and my parents had just put several pairs of cows and calves out in the pasture in front of their house. Ashley kept going to the kitchen window and looking at the cows then would say to anyone who would listen “Cows! See ‘em? Moo!”. If she said it once she said it a million times. To this day my friend Jeanne who was there with me that weekend always asks me how “Ashley-Cows! See ‘em? Moo!” is. About that same time Ashley also had some imaginery friends, every kid does, but her friends were not people but chickens that lived under the guest bed at my parents house. She would take everyone back to that bedroom to show them her chickens.

Also, one time when she was 3 or 4 and I was putting pepper on my food (not to worry the shaker was GTA-see July 16th post), Ashley scolded me, “Aunt Jane! Pepper is for boys!!!!” Don’t know what that was about, I know plenty of girls that rock the pepper, but whatever.
Another great story is when I was living with my parents post college and my brother and his family were between houses so Phil, Jayne, Ashley and Taylor moved in for few weeks as well. One morning I woke up to Ashley and Taylor (probably age 7 and 4, respectively) having a huge screaming match about who had more marshmallows in their lucky charms. (Side note I think Ashley had a thing for marshmallows because she actually tried planting them in Jayne’s garden one year hoping they would grow). Everyday I would come home from work and go upstairs to my bedroom and change and get my clothes for the next day gathered up and bring them down because I was actually staying in the guest room downstairs while Ash and Tay shared my room. Well, everyday Ash would hide somewhere upstairs when I was changing (the hall closet, bathroom, the other bedroom etc.) and pop out and scare the crap out me. I know I was the grown up, but she did it everyday, I knew it was coming I should have been prepared but she did it every day without fail then ran away giggling while I stomped down the stairs yelling “Mom! She did it again, can’t you make her stop!”

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Happy Birthday Mom! Today is my Mom’s 70th birthday. Ashley was born on her 50th birthday. My Mom is the most patient person I have ever met. She never gets in hurry… ever! I wish I was more like that. I have gotten much better in the patience department over the years, even my Mom will admit that, but I still have a long way to go.

My friends and roommates in college gave my Mom the nickname Mrs. Claus. Besides being short with white-hair and rosy cheeks my Mom just is Mrs. Claus… all things warm and homey and full of Christmastime goodness and joy. The nickname came about when in college my Mom got a flier from my dorm asking if she wanted to send me a finals week care package that the dorm folks had put together. I don’t know what was in the dorm care package but my Mom thought she could do a little better so she showed up one evening with every kind of homemade cookie and brownie known to man, along with other snacks, fruit, soda, gum and other random fun stuff. Ahh, Mrs. Claus… I have never been so popular as I was during finals weeks at college.

My Mom cracks me up. She doesn’t try to be funny, she just is, and the older she gets the funnier she gets. My favorite story about my Mom is when she went with me, Nik and Karen to a Cards game a couple of years ago. My Mom really likes the Cardinals… it started out because my Dad liked them, but now especially since they have satellite and she watches them on TV, she just really likes them on her own. So anyway at that game Jason Marquis was pitching and so my Mom says to me “I call Jason- “Sparkle.” I was like what? You are going to have to explain that one. Well she told me that the marquis cut (my Mom works part time in a jewelry store) has the most sparkle… Jason Marquis=Sparkle. Funny I just realized that this is pretty much how my Mom names their various farm cats. The gray cat=Smokey, the cat that sat in the sticker bush=Tuffy (aka Sticker because Ashley could never remember Tuffy, just that is was named after sitting in the sticker bush), the black and white cat=Holstein. Anyway I digress… another funny from that game was when Mark Grudzielanek came up to bat. I told my Mom that he was one of my favs, we were born the same year, and that well he was just REALLY attractive, to which my Mom said “Uh huh, his blue eyes go on for days!”.
My Mom was awesome when I had a cast on my foot for six weeks this spring and was on crutches and couldn’t drive. She took me to the grocery store and we had a blast as I got to use the little motorized cart at Schnucks and County Market. Sometimes she would just go and get my groceries for me, or do my laundry, make my bed, and take out my garbage.

Well I could go on and on and on about my Mom… let’s face it she rocks! She is the best cook and I know, and inspires me not to culinary greatness, but that if you cook with a warm heart, it always tastes good.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Editor's Note: The first pic is of Ashley and Lane (see July 27th post) when they were little tikes. It is one of my favorites of them, I bought them the matching Dinosaur pajamas. I don't really have a good picture of my Mom handy, so I thought Mrs. Claus was appropriate

Happy Birthday to one Flessner, Happy Birthday to them ALL!

Today, July 30th is Tena Flessner’s birthday. Tena’s younger sister, Lindsey, is one of my former Busey co-workers and one of my best buddies. Linds has a twin sister, Meredith. The three Flessner girls are truly one of a kind. Like the title of this post says, if you are wishing one Flessner a happy birthday you are wishing them all a happy birthday. Linds and Mer celebrated their birthday on May 1st so this is a belated birthday post for them as well.

The “one Flessner/all Flessners” verbiage comes from something that was said to Mer’s boyfriend (now fiancé, Chad, aka Chadster… congrats by the way guys). I believe the phrase was “You date one Flessner, you are dating them all”. They truly are a package deal, they share everything… hopes and joys, clothes, laughs and tears, clothes, ups and downs, clothes, make-up and recipes, clothes, good times and bad times, shoes, defeats and frustrations, clothes, homework and papers, shoes, faith and caring for others, granitas and pecans, shoes, passions and pet peeves, and oh, I almost forgot… clothes and shoes.

As tight as they are they are all truly unique. Linds the ex-banker turned fashion merchandiser, Mer the speech and language pathologist and Tena the future pharmacist. The Flessners are farm girls like me, I like that we can all drive tractors if the situation calls for it. However, unlike the Flessners I do not have a “ski slope Barbie” sweater. They have a sweater that is pink/purple with suede patches on it that is just very ski slope Barbie. One winter we saw each of them wearing said sweater on separate occasions… the “ski slope Barbie” thing just stuck. The Flessners are the ones that dubbed my chocolate sheet cake (aka cowboy cake) Cowgirl Jane cake. I like that. I like that they are passionate about things, often times simple things like pecans, turkey bacon and granitas. They notice things like when you get your hair highlighted, and ask about things you were stressed about the last time you talked to them.

One of my favorite Flessner stories is when I introduced Nikki to them for the first time at an Illini tailgate. When heading into the game after visiting with them for a few minutes Nikki said to me “I never thought I would ever be friends with girls who would wear a skirt to a football game, but they are so nice and sweet, I know that I am!” Side note: Nik and I have both since worn skirts to a stadium and/or ballpark.

One time I can’t remember what the situation was but I was referred to as an “honorary Flessner”… it was one of the best compliments I have ever received.

Happy Birthday Tena Flessner! Happy Belated Birthday Lindsey and Meredith Flessner! You love one Flessner you love them all!

Editors Note: I don't have a picture of all three Flessners, but this one is of me and Linds at Busch Stadiaum... FYI, neither one of us are wearing skirt.

Hairspray & Alcohol?

So another Sunday and Nikki and I were once again almost thwarted in our chosen activity of the day (see I am a Princess your not post for details on the pedicures that never were). Anyway after brunch we headed to the theater to see the 1:10 show of Hairspray, only to discover I evidently can't read the paper correctly and the next shows are at 1:40 and 2:10. We buy our tix for the 1:40 show and are prepared to wait it out. After using the ladies room I came up with an idea to kill time, and this is why Nik is my best bud because she didn't bat an eye when these words came out of my mouth "Hey, want to walk to Friar Tuck and well... look at alcohol?". Instead she just shrugged her shoulders and said "Hey, why not, it isn't like we have anything better to d0."

So, we actually went and "browsed" at Friar Tuck. I didn't realize that they have all the little tiny bottles of alcohol that you find on airplanes and in mini-bars. We found a couple of other intriguing items that may make there way on to our shopping list next time we are in party mode.

Then we went to see Hairspray, it was awesome! I give it 5 stars, and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good movie. I have since down loaded the soundtract from i-tunes. At the end of the show I actually said "That was really good, I just want to go out into the street and dance!". I wasn't sure how I would react to John Travolta in drag, but somehow it worked.

On a completey unrelated note: Todays Kudos to one Mr. Scott Rolen on his 1,000 career RBI. Scotty Ro decided to "bring it" against the Brewers this weekend with some key hits/RBI's. I heart you Roley!

Pillow Talk... from Down Under

So yesterday I bought a new pillow, one of those memory foam, kind of expensive ones. I have been having trouble with my left shoulder and left side of my neck being jacked up and sore for the past month or so... so I decided I needed a new pillow. I tested it out for the first time last night. My neck and shoulder are still kind of stiff, but I don't think that will just go away in a day and they don't appear to be worse, and otherwise I slept well... so crossing my fingers the new pillow turns out to be worth it.

Just before I went to bed last night I got a phone call from my buddy Nathan in Australia... he has some sort of internet phone something or other and called me using his computer so it is like calling from Chicago to Champaign not Australia to Champaign. It was good to talk to him, I quickly got used to the half second delay between saying something and being heard, and I thought the delay would be worse, but it wasn't bad at all. The computer connection was at times a little sketchy, it would take random words and just repeat them 6 to 12 times upon ocassion. For instance, I said "OK" once, but Nathan heard it repeated 12 times. We kept giggling about it because the computer seemed to know what words we would want to emphasize and those are the ones it would repeat, then we felt compelled to tell each other "You just said (insert word here) 8 times"... very 3rd grade I know, but typical of me and Nathan. Funny, you kind of had to be there. When I talked to him at 10 p.m. Friday night, it was 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon in Australia. Nathan had not been up all that long because he had gone out to drink beer with his work buddies on Friday night for nearly 12 hours. That is my Nathan. I like Nathan, I like beer, I am pretty sure I would like Australia... I think I would really like to drink beer with Nathan in Australia. Guess I will have to wait until he gets back and drink beer with Nathan in Champaign and/or Chicago and perhaps we can just pretend we are in Australia and talk using Australian accents, of course for it to really seem like Australia everyone else would need to have accents as well. I will have to work on that one.

Anyway, I had never talked to any one "Down Under" before, that was just kind of fun. I was telling Nathan about how I was excited to try out my new pillow. That just sounds kind of weird, but again that is a relatively normal conversation for us. I guess it was a more exciting Friday night than I thought. Well, G'Day Nate... call me again sometime.

For the Monkeys of Course!

Again with the birthdays, enough already! Today is my friend Karen Patterson’s… oopps make that Karen Christner’s birthday. Karen is yet another buddy from the Hall. Karen, Nik, Sarah J, John Todd, Nathan and D-Vak all started at the Hall within a couple of years of one another… no offense to our current student staff, but there is no comparison… the late 90’s were good years... co-workers who would become life-long friends and Dawson’s Creek, how could one girl be so lucky. I digress…

Happy Birthday Karen Christner! (still getting used to the new name, evidently so is Karen, she said she accidently signed her hold name three times the other day). Karen lives in Effingham with her new hubby, Ben. She teaches high school math/computers/business at Cowden-Herrick high school. I remember what I was like in high school, and I was a good kid… I couldn’t do what Karen does, I admire that she can.

Back in the day Karen lived with Nikki. Karen loved Damir Krupalja, Nikki loved Robert Archibald, I loved Billy Gillispie… all was bliss. Those were good years, we wore spirit beads and lived to hear Jim Sheppard say the words “That’s a three, Corey Bradford!” After graduating UIUC Karen went to work for Payless Shoe Source, this only served to fuel the “shoe thing” that Karen and I both have. I learned about UPT’s (units per transaction) and that sadly lots of people steal shoes- the general public and Karen's employees alike. Then Karen when back to school at EIU to get her teaching certificate, and when she student taught at Centennial Karen was my roommate for a semester. There are many things I remember from our “roomie” days but these two come to mind. First, Karen and I went through a phase where we made smores every night before we went to bed… sitting on my kitchen stools roasting marshmallows over the flame from the gas stove… microwave smores are for whimps. The second story is truly unforgettable. One night Karen and I were awakened from peaceful slumber at about 12:30 a.m. by pounding on the door. Upon peeking out the door we saw a couple of cops, my neighbors, a crashed car and an ambulance right outside in front of my house. Unfortunately we did not see Karen’s car that had been parked along the street right in front of my house. Karen said “Jane, where is my car?” To which the officer said “Um, yeah, it is down there.”, pointing along the curb two houses down the street. Another car plowed into Karen’s and moved it nearly half the block. Karen’s car was totaled, and needless to say her new car was then moved into my driveway every night.

I heart Karen! I can always count on her to go “halvsies” with me. It never fails we both can’t decide between the same two menu items. I get one, she gets the other, then we split… “halvsies”… it is a beautiful thing. Jenn got me into Starbucks, I take claim to getting Karen into Starbucks. I have never been to Starbucks with both Jenn and Karen, I need to work on that. Jenn lives in Nebraska, Karen in Effingham, that may take some planning on my part.

Several years ago I went with Karen and her Mom to Disney World for a week… it was a fabulous trip… we laughed at lot. We stayed at the Toy Story hotel at All Star Movie resort… this is where the picture posted was taken in the ginormous version of Andy’s room in our hotel courtyard. Karen and I kept making her Mom, Janet, laugh that trip by doing the lines from the Toy Story out-takes… “And some monkey chow.” “Monkey chow?”…”Why for the monkeys of course!”

Karen is a Cardinal buddy too! She had a thing for Fernando Vina, she bought his shirt, Freddy left the team and went to Detroit. Then she had a thing for Bo Hart, she bought his shirt, and then Bo never made it back up to the big league club. She had a thing for Mark Grudzielanek, she bought his shirt… the next year he signed with KC. Karen is now forbidden from buying Cardinal player shirts, unless they are players we are looking to dump.

Happy Birthday Karen! Next time I see you, the frappachinos, smores, and monkey chow is on me! Whatever you do, don't by an Albert Pujols shirt for yourself for your birthday!

The Sour Girl Says "Da Pootie Pootie Pooh!

Today, July 27th, is another bonus double birthday blog day. My nephew, Lane, turns 19 today, and shares his birthday with my friend and former roommate, Jeanne. It is great that they share a birthday because one of my most favorite stories ever involves the two of them. Jeanne and our friend Sheila came with me to my parents house for Easter dinner one year. This would have been a few years post college, so I am guessing Lane would have been approximately 6 or so. Anyway when we got to my parents house I was introducing Jeanne and Sheila to my family, and Lane came up to us and said “Aunt Jane, you brought the ‘Sour Girls’!”. To this day we don’t really know what the “Sour Girl” reference was about, but it was just really funny. It is even funnier if you can hear Lane’s 6-year old voice because it sounded more like “Sowa Girwas”. My sister, Jan, was of course horrified that Lane called them that, but you if ever there were two people on the planet who would roll with being a Sour Girl it was Jeanne and Sheila.

Happy Birthday Lane Pfeiffer! My nephew Lane has got to be one the most special people on this planet. I have never met another person who so genuinely cares for others. And when I say others I don’t just mean his friends, family, co-workers etc. Lane cares about the clerks at Wal-Mart, the janitor at school, the ladies at church, the Illini basketball players, the waitress at the restaurant. If he has ever seen you or said hi to you, he remembers your name, and wants to make sure you are having a good day.

When Lane was little he went through a bit of potty mouth phase, and so Jan and Larry told him he needed to “trade in” some of his words that he would now refer to as “inappropriate language”. I still remember one day him telling me “Aunt Jane, I don’t say bad words like shit and shut-up no more, I traded them in, and now I say shucks and be twiet!” When Lane was really little he used to get excited about different stuff and kind of squeal with delight what sounded like “Da Pootie Pootie Pooh”. It was just the funniest little phrase it just absolutely tickled me so, and Larry commented to Lane that I just really got a kick out him saying that. Ever since then, to this day, EVERY time I have visited Lane or he has visited me at some point he will say “Hey Aunt Jane… da Pootie Pootie Pooh”. Everytime, never fail, sometimes he says it the minute I walk in the door, sometimes it is the last thing he tells me as they leave, it just randomly pops up at some point… I never ask him to say it, he just does and we both get kick out of it. It is just “our thing”. Some day when I am old and gray and Lane comes to visit me in the nursing home (he will that is just the kind of thing he does) he will probably be telling me “da pootie pootie pooh”.

Another fun Lane story was at a family birthday party several years ago. Lane was just getting tall enough that when he walked by a tallish adult sitting in their chair he could see the top of their head... he was probably 10 or so. Anyway he walked by my brother who for once wasn't wearing a hat and said very matter of factly "Ha Ha Uncle Phil's bald!" The entire table just paused for a second with the "Huh?" look on our faces then just laughed hysterically.

Happy Birthday Lane!

Happy Birthday Jeanne Genis! Jeanne was my roommate for two years in college and two years after college. Other than members of my family, Jeanne is the person I lived with the longest. I am the queen of a clutter-free existance, she was the deep cleaner… we coexisted rather peacefully. I actually met Jeanne our freshmen year at UIUC, although we didn’t live together until junior year. Jeanne lived on my floor, and I remember seeing her at a floor meeting our first day or two in the dorm. A couple of days later, my roommate, Maggie wasn’t around to eat dinner with and I hadn’t really made friends on our floor yet so I headed to dinner by myself. Once I was through the food line and saw Jeanne sitting at a table with our junior year roommate, Sonia, and recognized her from our floor meeting for some reason. She didn’t recognize me at all. So then I just decided eating by myself would be no fun so I just went up and said “Hi, I am Jane, I think you live on my floor, can I sit and eat my dinner with you?” This was completely out of character for me, I was rather shy at the time, but eating alone was scarier than approaching a stranger. Jeanne probably thought I was a little nuts, but said I could join them. The rest is history.

The picture I have posted was taken our junior year of college… wow that was 16 years ago… yikes. That day we decided I would be Jeanne and Jeanne would be me. We have completely diverging senses of style, especially then. Jeanne told me that she was anxiously looking forward to her birthday post and had thought of a great picture to post. I knew we were thinking of the same picture. It is one of the few pictures of us together, not sure why. I think we just both like this picture so much we decided we couldn’t really ever take a better one so why try. This picture is a little bittersweet for Jeanne. It is the last photographic evidence of her most favorite fish necklace aka “her soul”. I feel honored to have been able to wear Jeanne’s soul for a day.

Our junior year of college Jeanne and I live in the "treehouse" apartment, the 2nd and 3rd floor of an old house on Illinois & Busey in Urbana. It probably should have been called the "Bat Cave" as we had 3 bats in that apartment over the course of the year, one even on the night before we moved out. By bat #3 we got really good at catching them, and even fashioned our own bat trap. Amazing what a poet/landscape architect and accountant can do with a wrapping paper tube, a plastic grocery bag, a vacuum cleaner attatchment, some cardboard and a little duct tape (Kudos to Dad... for the duct tape lessons see July 16th post).

Jeanne often refers to me as “The Voice of Reason”, not really sure how that started back in the day, but it stuck. One time Jeanne had a dream where I was in the “Room of Likely Wenches”… this is Jeanne’s mind, it was fun to live with it for four years. I am amused that I wasn’t a wench, just a likely one.

One time Jeanne woke me up to take her to the emergency room for what was eventually diagnosed as an ovarian cyst. It was the funniest trip to the ER ever, okay so maybe not funny for Jeanne, she was in lot of pain, but the rest of it was hysterical. There was family checking in ahead of us. The mom was describing the daughter’s various cold symptoms etc. then said pointing to her husband, “Oh yeah, and he is having chest pains and numbness in his arms”. What, you only brought your possible heart attack having hubby to the ER because you were bringing the sore throated daughter in anyway. Crazy!

For some reason whenever we were together, especially when shopping, people/clerks would always stop us and say "Are you sisters?". Jeanne and I look nothing alike, except we both have dark hair and are "far from petite" so to say... beyond that nothing in common... brown vs. green eyes, olive vs. very fair complexion, strait vs. curly hair. Whatever, even if we were sisters would it be uncommon for us to shop to together. We attracted a strange fascination. Anyway after awhile we decided we should just say "Yes, and she gave me her kidney".

Jeanne lives in Florida with her husband, Ted and their bird, Woo. Jeanne should live closer to me, I miss her. We are good at entertaining each other without even trying. Jeanne also makes me waffles, my most favorite breakfast ever. A few days ago Jeanne sent me an email that absolutely made my day. Here is an excerpt…“A lot of the blogs I check out on a regular basis bore me at least half the time. People write about political crap or their existential thoughts or about whatever theoretical crap they were just exposed to. Blah blah blah. The best part about your blog is even though I may not know the people/stuff you're writing about and may not want to memorize every detail, each entry is a pure shot of Jano---which makes me smile."

Happy Birthday Jeanne Genis! Da Pootie Pootie Pooh, Sour Girl!

Magic Shoes

So I have some new red shoes. Red canvas Mary Jane flats. I think they might be magic shoes. First of all they are just cute and red, so they generate the "Oh, cute shoes!" comments wherever I go. Second, they were a total steal, $60 shoes that I picked up at Bergners for $12, can't beat that. I wore them to work today and I realized that these shoes just make me happy. I don't know why. I had little red Mary Janes when I was about 5, so maybe they just make me fondly remember my youth. Today at work I noticed that I made a point to get up from my desk more often than necessary just to walk about in the magic shoes... oh, they are comfortable too. When walking around I almost wanted to skip, good thing I wore pants today instead of a skirt because I had the urge to twirl, and well twirling, in a skirt no less at work I am sure violates some sort of HR rule, or at the very least isn't overly professional. Well that is all I have for today, just wanted to share the story of my magic shoes. They are so wonderful, I actually got my camera out and took a picture of them.

Please tell me about any magic shoes you have... everybody should have at least one pair of magic shoes.

Peace, Love & Chocolate Cake

So yesterday I made a meal to take to a family from church who have a new baby (and a 2-year old). I decided I would make a chocolate sheet cake for dessert... I must admit I make a pretty good chocolate sheet cake, which by the way in the Tjardes family is referred to as "Cowboy Cake" for some reason, not sure why- maybe because in some circles it is referred to as Texas sheet cake, and cowboys live in Texas. I was probably age 30 before I realized that the rest of the world does not know what the heck you are talking about when you say "Cowboy Cake". These days my friend Lindsey's family, The Flessner Girls, call it "Cowgirl Jane Cake"... I kind of like that name, for some reason it just makes me smile.

So anyway, back to the cake I made. Cowboy Cake feeds a whole lot of cowboys, and I wouldn't need to take the entire cake to the family from church, and I certainly didn't need to finish it off myself, so I decided to share a little peace, love and chocolate cake today. So after church I packed up the cake in the cooler and after a few phone calls hit the road delivering peace, love and chocolate cake.

My first cake stop was at Judy's house in Urbana. Judy is the commercial lending receptionist at Busey Bank, and basically my "bank mom". She had knee replacement surgery about six weeks ago so she hasn't been at work lately. It was great to see Judy... I really miss her at work, it just isn't the same place without her. I think Judy keeps better track of my life than I do.

After Judy's house I continued east to Royal to see another co-worker on the mend, Linda Smith (see July 9th post). Linda was in an car accident about 3 weeks ago and has a really jacked up shoulder/collar bone aka seat belt injury. She doesn't have to have surgery as originally anticipated, but still needs time to get that broken wing healed up. It was great to see Linda too, and really nice to sit and visit and not have to worry about our work not getting done.

Judy and Linda are two my favorite things about working at Busey... having them both gone at the same time... well let's just say I am probably getting more work done these days, but it isn't quite as much fun. I love Judy and Linda... they love my Cowboy Cake, we all like to talk, things were working out well today.

Since I was already in Royal, for my final stop on the cake walk, I kept heading east to Danville. There I stopped to visit, Richard, the fabulous man I have been dating. Turns out he likes my chocolate cake too.

Peace, Love & Chocolate Cake!

Kudo's today go to my Mom (Marilyn Tjardes) and my Grandmother (Doris Tjardes) for the Cowboy Cake recipe and for teaching me that it tastes better when you share it with others.

Maybe It's Not So Bad...

So I have since realized that my last post was ridiculously pathetic, but sometimes you just have to wallow for a bit. I have also realized that relative to some others of you out there my life is pretty sweet and if my biggest health concern is a sinus headache, and my biggest inconvenience is chicken noodle phone I should count my blessings.

Speaking of chicken noodle phone I realize that it is an inherited trait, as a couple of years ago my dad lost his cell phone in toilet. I am my fathers daughter.

Okay, so here is a random thought. I just watched the last 15 minutes of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I just realized that in real life today, Ferris Bueller is married to Carrie Bradshaw.

I realize this post doesnt make much sense... a sign I need to go to bed. Good Night.

Worst Day Ever

So I came home at noon from work because I am sick, some sort of sinus/cold/sore throat/I feel crappy I am going to whine about it thing.

I heated up chicken soup, and while carrying it to the couch managed to drop my cell phone in the soup. I think phone is dead. It just randomly vibrates like it is in agony, so it is not even dying a quiet death, and is taunting me for being stupid enough to drop it in chicken soup.

So now I have to go to the Verizon store and get a new phone, but I can't go now, I am sick and whiny and pathetic. I can't make cell phone decisions in this state.

Like I said, worst day ever... I would say call me and cheer me up, but I don't think my phone will ring. Okay, that statement made me more sad. I am going to cry and eat my soup, now :( I guess from now on email me and make me feel better.

Update: Kudos to the folks at Wireless Mike's. I needed to update my phone plan anyway, because I was starting to outgrow it, they backdated my plan so I wasn't nailed with charges this month, and they called Verizon and got approval to let me use my "new in 2" phone credit a month early, so I have a new phone that cost me $0 after rebate. The only bad thing is that since my old phone was full of chicken noodle they couldn't transfer my contact list. I have a lot of phone numbers saved in my email address book but if you don't hear from me for awhile, I may no longer haver your number. Email me and let me know what it is.

Jenn XVII

I know I have a tendency to exaggerate but for once I really wasn’t when I said “Everyone I Know was Born in July”. Today is July 17th, my good friend Jenn Thomas’ birthday.

Happy Birthday Jenn Thomas! Jenn and I go way back. Other than my Dad, she is the July birthday person I have know the longest. Jenn grew up in Elgin, Illinois, west of Chicago. Elgin is about 3 hours from Champaign, or 2.5 hours from where I grew up, so Jenn and I never went to school together or anything, but we have been friends forever. Actually, our Moms were friends first, they lived in the same dorm together at the University of Illinios, McKinley Hall (for all of you UIUC students/alums out there, today McKinley Hall is Coble Hall and was the payroll office when I was in school, on the corner of Wright and John Street I believe). Anyway over the years our families have been friends and we often visited each other through the years. In a weird kind of coincidence our families ended up very similar… my sister, Jan and Jenn’s sister, Mary are about 3 weeks apart in age, my brother, Phil, is about 3 months older than Jenn’s brother, Dave. About 8 years later I came along… everyone thought I would be a solo act, but Jenn followed me exactly two months to the day later.

In our early years Jenn and I used to fight and argue a lot. My mom has a picture of Jenn and I at about age 3 fighting over a toy. When we were about 13 or so Jenn and I had huge argument over which was better… Miracle Whip or Helmann’s mayonaise. Neither one of us gave in, call us stubborn if you want, but I prefer to think we were just loyal to our sandwich condiment of choice and the ways in which were were raised. To this day I prefer Miracle Whip, but in college I grew to enjoy the occasional sandwich with real mayonaise as opposed to “salad dressing”.

In our high school and college years Jenn and I recovered from the “Mayo Wars” and became really good friends. We are still really good friends. We never lived in the same town, and sometimes we don’t see each other for months, even a year, but we can just always pick up right where we left off. I think one of the reasons Jenn and I are such good friends is that we know each other’s past. I know her parents and family, she knows mine… we never had to tell each other about our history, we lived it. Jenn lives near Omaha, Nebraska these days. Even though we are good at being long distance friends... I wish she lived closer.

Jenn is a good cook/baker… she learned that from her Mom. I like to think I am a good cook/baker… I learned that from my Mom. My three favorite cooks/bakers on this planet (in no particular order, they each have their specialties) are Jenn and our Moms. Speaking of Jenn’s Mom, I was in high school before I realized her name was Bernice. I always knew her as Bunny, a nickname from her family that she used in college. My Mom and Dad always referred to her as Bunny, it never even dawned on me that Bunny wasn’t her given name.

Anyway back to Jenn. There are lots of reasons I love and admire Jenn. Jenn and I embrace our differences. She is married with two small daughters (Sid & Abby, I blog about them a lot), I am single with no kids. She gets that our lifestyles are different and we celebrate that. When we get together we always try to do things with John and the girls, they are my family too, but also always try to get a couple hours of time alone for grown-up girl time too. Jenn is the one who introduced me to Starbucks, it is such a fun treat. Whenever I go to Starbucks I think of Jenn. Sometimes I think of Jenn a lot! Jenn’s family introduced me to rum slush punch, we became intimately familiar with said punch at my sister’s wedding, we were 13, not to worry we weren’t drunk or anything, just a little happy. I haven’t had that rum slush in a long time… I should make a batch. Jenn did a good job finding a husband. I like John, not just because Jenn loves him, but because we would be friends anyway. John and I get along well… one mutual interest we have is teasing Jenn, I love that she hasn’t killed us both. Jenn’s girls are pretty fabulous too… other than the Fab Five (my 5 niece’s and nephews) Sidney and Abby are the only kids that refer to me as Aunt Jane. Jenn can tie a cherry stem in a knot with her tongue… this talent amazes me.

One of my favorite Jenn stories is from a few years after college. I was living with my parents then, and she came down from Elgin for the weekend, and John and his friend, Todd met us for the weekend so we could go to the Illini vs. OSU football game (John and I are UIUC alums and were even in school at the same time, but did not meet until Jenn introduced after we were out of school, Todd was an OSU alum). We went out that weekend, and boys drank girls drove one night, girls drank boys drove the other night. Well the night of the girls drinking we came home and Jenn went into the living room to talk to my Dad and said “Hi George, I think I am OBLIVIATED!” Not sure if she mean obliterated or oblivious or what, but to this day obliviated is one of my favorite non-words.

Well like many of my July birthday buddies, I really could go on and on about Jenn. She is the best, and I wish she lived closer. I miss you girlfriend!

Happy Birthday Jenn Thomas! Go to Starbucks and think of me! Or I can go to Starbucks and think of you... maybe we should each go to Starbucks and think of each other.

Editors Note: Jenn’s maiden name was Roome, pronounced Rome (like the city). I find it interesting that the post three days ago was about Jen Rohn, pronounced Rone. Is it me or is that just kind of weird and crazy odd coincidence, they have almost identically sounding names, and they have birthdays just days apart? This pic is of Jenn and family at the Illini game last fall... one of my best weekends ever.

Georgie Peorgie, Puddin' & Pie

So today, July 16th is my Dad's 71st birthday. I am relatively certain my Dad does not read this, or any other blog. My niece does, so Ashely, maybe you can show this to Grandpa?

Happy Birthday Dad! My Dad's name is George Warner Tjardes. I have always thought Warner was a cool middle name for some reason. His name is George W., the same as our U.S. President. Awhile back I went through a phase of calling my Dad "Dubya"... I think he kind of liked it. When I was a little kid learning nursery rhymes, including "Georgie Peorgie Puddin & Pie, kissed the girls and made them cry" I felt compelled to call my Dad "Georgie Peorgie". I don't think he liked that as much as "Dubya". I thought it was great when I was four, and thought it was even funnier that my Dad had kissed the girls and made them cry. Speaking of crying girls, I only remember my Dad spanking me once when I was little. I can't remember for the life of me what I had done, but I remember being distraught about being spanked. From then on I remembered the tone of my Dad's voice immediately preceding the spanking, and then whenever it reached that tone again I knew to stop.

Growing up my Dad's favorite phrase was "Hide and Watch". Dad, where are we going? Hide and watch. Dad, can we stop for a donut and chocolate milk? Hide and watch. Dad, are we there yet? Hide and watch. We also got Monicals Pizza every Sunday night for dinner, always sausage, his choice. Dad always made us eat ALL of the outside pieces before anyone could have an inside piece... what was that about? And we all wonder where my structured, anal retentive nature comes from.

My Dad has taught me a lot of things. There of course is the whole work ethic, know the value of a dollar thing, stand up for what you believe in stuff. But some of the best things he taught me were about the St. Louis Cardinals, and the perfection that was Jack Buck's voice bringing the game to you. I was 12 in 1982 when the Cardinals won the World Series. That summer my Dad taught me what a suicide squeeze play is in baseball... as far as I am concerned, it is still the most exciting play in the game. We didn't really go to many Cardinal games growing up, but I love going to them now, my Dad taught me that. These days I take him to Cardinal games. He has a bad knee and a bad back and it probably is a lot more comfortable for him to watch at home, but he never turns down a trip to the ballpark. We usually share a bag of peanuts, sometimes we will drink beer... he taught me that too. We have a system, I fly he buys, it works for us.

My Dad taught me about the Illini too. He loves the marching bands, the Marching Illini in particular. The band is his favorite part of the game, he said he learned that from his Dad. The band is one of my favorite parts of the game too... (not to worry Jake, I am really starting to like the football part too). My Dad graduated from the University of Illinois, so did I, I like that we share that.

My Dad also taught me how to check my oil and transmission fluid, and told me he would always come pick me up if my car broke down, but not if I ran out of gas... if you weren't smart enough to fill up the tank, you could walk home. To this day my car rarely has less than a 1/4 of tank of gas in it at all times. Dad taught me the value of duct tape, I once saw him repair a lawn mower handle with duct tape and broom handle. Several years ago I made a similar repair with duct tape and a wooden spoon (okay so the wooden spoon is maybe more Mom, but you get the point). Beyond checking the oil, using duct tape, and measure twice-cut once, my Dad also taught me how to call professionals too... sometimes even duct tape won't fix it.

My Dad's favorite foods are gravy, butter, dressing and pepper. If you ever happen to be his server at Red Lobster know this... bring butter with the cheddar biscuits. Make sure his salad has "double" blue cheese dressing... not "extra" but "double"... that means he wants to see two plastic cups of dressing on the side of the plate. FYI, you can hold the cucumbers on the salad, but it is okay if you forget, because if you leave them one he will give them to me, and I don't mind a little extra cucumber. Now that brings us to pepper. My Dad likes pepper, so do I. He isn't the most patient when it comes to pepper. If the pepper shaker at restaurants doesn't shake much pepper he will take the top off and tap the pepper sans lid on to his food. If I were to try this I would end up with way too much pepper on my food, but Dubya has a pretty steady hand with the lidless shaker. This has become such a thing with him, and now me that when I am out with family and most of my friends we will actually comment on the speed of pepper distribution provided by various pepper shakers and will actually say "Well this pepper shaker is/is not George Tjardes approved". I get excited about the GTA shakers, I think I might start a rating system for the pepper shakers or something.

My dad is a farmer, the only farmer I know that can sleep until noon. Yet another quality to set him apart from others, along with the fact that he is the only man I know that hates to drive. If my mom isn't driving, then it is me. My Mom is nicer when it comes to the family rule of "Driver Has Control", and when she is driving she often lets him control the radio. I am not as nice as my Mom. A number of years ago I was driving with my Dad, he changed the radio, I changed it back, he started to change it again and I said "What's the rule?", to which he replied "Driver has control." I then asked "Did you want to drive?" He said "Hell No!", and took his hand from the raidio dial.

My Dad farms with my uncle and they raise corn, soybeans, Polled Hereford cattle, and MARIJUANA! Okay so they don't raise marijuana but a couple of years ago someone cut down some of the corn in my Dad's field and planted pot there instead. They managed to harvest at least a portion of it before my cousin noticed it when he saw the tarp some of the "harvest" was wrapped up in when he was on the tractor in the field. They called the sheriff and everything to report it, it was a big deal in Gibson City. It was just kind of funny because when you think pot/weed/reefer the image of my Dad so often comes to mind.... NOT! One of the best parts of this story is that my Dad was really mad that the "drug lords" cut down several rows of his corn from the field that was going to have the best yield... "if you are going to cut down my corn grow to grow weed, why can't you cut down the corn in one of my lower yielding fields?!"

My dad and I have the same eyelids... they are droopy, just like his Dad's. We can't open our eyes really wide. So I guess if you ever decide to throw us a surprise party, you may never know if we were really surprised or not, huh?

Well that seems like a good place to stop, how can I top the pot story? Happy Birthday Dad! May the pepper shake freely :)

Editors Note: This photo is of my Dad in elementary school. I actually work with one of my Dad's former classmates at the Hall (Ted for those of you from the Hall). Anyway several years ago Ted was cleaning out some stuff and came across a box of "stuff" from elementary school an found this picture of my Dad. Rather than throw it away he brought it to me. I love this picture... in many ways my Dad still looks exactly the same as this picture... the Tjardes droopy eyelids never change.

I'm A Princess, You're Not

So Nikki and I went to get pedicures today (her office now allows her to wear capris and sandals with no nylons... she officially sucks), only to find out that the nail place is no longer open on Sundays. This bit doubly hard because we had both just removed the polish we already had on our toes in anticipation of said manicure. We then went to the mall to Trade Secret to get some new OPI nail polish. Besides nail polish I left the mall with a pair of shoes, two shirts, and several other purchases... it would have been much cheaper to have gotten a pedicure.

I did pick up some great nail polish... OPI has THE best nail polish names. My buddy Nathan, currently Down Under inspired me to check out the Australian Collection... and I am now the proud owner of "Suzie Loves Sydney" and "Kangarooby". But by far the best color I picked up was "I am a Princess, You're Not!"

I just got back from the Blessed Union of Souls concert at Blocks Brewery in Decatur. Very enjoyable show, although the lead singer definitely could have pulled up his pants a bit during the last couple of songs :)

Last night I met Jake (the Illini football player I mentored last year) for dinner at Pickles. He is a cheap date... NCAA rules require separate checks :) It was good to catch up with him. For the entire school year we met for 30 minutes every week, and then I didn't see him for 2 months... we had lots to talk about. He said he thought the Illini football team would surprise a few folks this season... I hope he is right. The new freshmen are on campus now... so I will be getting a new mentee in about six weeks. Hopefully he will be as great as Jake, but it will be tough. Here is a picture of Jake and I from Football Family Fun Fest. I wonder how Jake feels about being featured in the "I'm a Princess, You're Not!" post? Jake is a kicker, perhaps he has used the "I'm Princess, You're Not!" line with some of of the linemen?

Jen XIV

July 14th is Jen Rohn's birthday.

Happy Birthday Jen Rohn! Jen is one of the leaders of my church small group. The first Sunday I attended my church, Quest United Methodist, Jen was the first person to say "Hi" and introduce herself to me. I just remember feeling really welcomed at Quest, and just kept coming back. Today Quest is such a big part of my life, and the faith community I have there has done some amazing things for me over the past three years. If Jen hadn't said "Hi' who knows if I would have felt so compelled to come back.

Jen has encouraged me to become involved in our small group leadership. I don't always see these leadership qualties in myself, but I trust her judgement, and I know it is something that will challenge me... I need to be challenged sometimes... thanks for doing that Jen, I need it.

I always seem to be complimenting Jen on her shoes and purses.... she has good taste. Or perhaps it is just regular taste, but similar to mine... nope I am pretty sure the two of us both have good taste. When I went to cardio kickboxining class (I really should go back) I would alway see Jen in the mirror, standing behind me grinning... she was always amused by the intensity and drama of my punches... it was funny, it really looked like I was beating the crap out of someone... who knew I was filled with so much rage. I like that me being filled with rage is something that Jen finds funny, and is not something expected.

One of my favorite memories with Jen is a trip to the Decatur Celebration. In the course of approximately six hours we saw performances by Jars of Clay, Cletus T. Judd, and The Village People... don't say we can't appreciate all types of music. Words cannot decribe the The Village People experience... they were so gay... and old, old & gay, yet at the same time doing the YMCA on the streets of Decatur with 1,000's of people with THE Village People is kind of cool, certainly a once in a lifetime kind of thing. The very first album I ever owned was The Village People, one of my friends gave it to me for my 8th birthday. I loved that album, I was devastated when I had taken it to a friends house then left it in the back window of my mom's car and it warped in the sun. When I was 8 I didn't realize the Village People were gay, I just thought the cowboy was really cute, and that they were just fabulous. At age 35... well let's just say I learned a lot during those 27 years.

Okay, enough about The Village People, and back to the greatness that is Jen Rohn. Oh, Jen was one of the many people to provide me with fantastic chauffeur services this spring when I was in the cast. Thanks Jen. Oh, Jen also makes the most wonderful peanut butter cookies with little snickers bars inside. I love them so much I want to marry them. I suppose I could get the recipe and make them myself, but they really are a Jen Rohn thing, I think if I made them they somehow wouldn't be as good.

I could go on and on, but I will stop here and just say.... Happy Birthday Jen Rohn!

Darling Nikki

More July birthdays, more Assembly Hall buddies.

Happy Birthday John Marquardt! John works at the Hall. He used to be on the usher staff but now he is a member of the Hall's permanent full-time staff. John's nickname is John Boobies... as this blog is public domain I can't divulge the complete story behind this nickname, but ultimately it involves him saying "Boobies" in a crazy little voice (mocking a co-worker) then giggling, and basically it gave me fits. I could be in the worst place, mad at the world, smoke coming out of my ears and John saying "Boobies" will have me doubled over in fits of laughter in seconds. John is a HUGE Rascal Flatts fan, especially lead singer, Gary. John loves Gary so much that he wants to be Gary. Gary wears a lots of sparkly and bedazzled shirts when on stage. In an attempt to be Gary John has at least one bedazzled shirt in his collection. If he says "Boobies" while wearing the bedazzled shirt, I am finihsed.

Happy Birthday John Boobies! (Sorry if you didn't get much press here, but you share a birthday with Nikki so you don't really stand achance in this birthday blog showdown)

Happy Birthday Nikki Murbarger! If you are new to my blog, or happen to live under a rock, Nikki is one of my dearest and closest friends and is as my Mom likes to say my "Runnin' Buddy". No we don't actually run together (hello, that would involve running) but we travel the countryside together seeking adventures... typically of the Cardinals, Illini or musical variety. We have gone to Spring Training in Florida, Milwaukee, Cincinatti, Pittsburgh and SanFrancisco/Oakland to follow our boys who wear the "Birds on the Bat". Nikki also introduced me to county singer, Cardinal fan and all-round hottie, Joe Nichols. I heart Joe, and we are actually proud members of his fan club. Yep we are dorks, and proud of it. Nik loves Rascal Flatts too, but she favors Joe Don (the hot one) and stays away from the bedazzled shirts.

I met Nikki at the Assembly Hall. She said she was from Oreana, where an assortment of my aunts, uncles and cousins live/lived. I believe I endeared myself to her by actually knowing of and having been to Oreana... it is even smaller than Gibson City. Nikki and I are the same height... tall. She will often wear high heeled boots to work at the Hall, I scoff at the impracticality of such footwear, but I am actually just jealous that my old lady feet can't handle it and that I don't have enough confidence to be a tall girl that rocks the hight heels. I like that she does have the confidence, but yet still has enough common sense to go with the athletic shoes for the all day events like wrestling.

Nik takes good care of me. She provided me with housing/a bathroom when mine was being remodeled. She also drove me around, changed light bulbs and such when I was in a cast and on crutches. She even pushed me around in a wheelchair at the Cards game, and missed exciting game moments to get me nachos.

Nikki and I often share the same brain, it is scary sometimes. When Nik lost her voice last summer of our "Redbird Riverbank Roadtrip" we could actually communicate rather well through our warped version of sign language. We believe in baseball players "rocking the socks" (more of them should ditch the long pants) and we are vehemently opposed to public marriage proposals, in particular those on a jumbo-tron. We both enjoy the tacky appeal of Tumble Inn and the cast of characters there. We vary greatly on our food favorites, but can always find a good place to eat. We differ on our choice of shoe fashions, but both appreciate the bliss of Designer Shoe Warehouse. We can endlessly debate who is the more "perfect man" Albert Pujols or Scott Rolen, often switching sides somewhere along the way. My late cousin, Bruce, once said that they should do a documentary on the random and wacky adventures that Nikki and I get into. I think it would be a sleeper hit and the "feel good" film of the year.

Happy Birthday Nikki! (If you don't have a chance to read this blog, I understand your Dad is one of my most faithful readers, so Jerry tell Nikki "Happy Birthday" for me)

Kudos today to Meg "Ace" Thilmony for coming up with the word "insufferable" which was the absolute most perfect word to describe the topic of our conversation. So is "Kudos" in my blog your first journalism award? Are you now an award winning journalist, Meg "Ace" Thilmony?

P.S. the title of this blog references the Prince song of the same name. It is a salute to Nikki who always saying "Because if there is ever a 'ho or biatch featured in a song, TV show or movie... of course her name is Nikki".

G' Day Nate!

My "little sister" (former Assembly Hall mate) Nathan left for Australia this evening. He lives in Chicago and works as a civil engineer and has been given the opportunity by his employer to work in Brisbane, Australia for the next 2-4 months. I think he is working on some big road/tunnel project, or something like that. Nathan is the person I always curse if ever stuck in road construction traffic. I know that he personally is not to blame, but at some point in the process he probably had something to do with a lot of the roads being constructed in the midwest so why not blame him?

You may be wondering where the "little sister" thing came from. It resulted from the two of us both spontaneously singing "2 Legit 2Quit" before an Assembly Hall meeting one night when the topic of MC Hammer came up. I said we we're "Soul Sisters"... it stuck. Nathan really is kind of like a little sister to me... okay he is boy, but we do discuss our hair a lot (we both sport the curls), we make fun of each other mercilessly, we have shopped together, I give him sage older sister advice, he will often ignore it, we watch Freaky Friday, decorate cookies and the like. Nathan is one of my favorite people to spoil and/or take care of because unlike many people he just lets you spoil or take care of him. So many people, myself included, seem to develop guilt complexes or something and are saying "Oh, please don't go to any trouble" which often times takes all of the fun out of the spoiling. Nathan gets that "taking care" of others is my thing, and just lets me do it, I like that about him.

Anyway, Nathan will be blogging about his Australian adventures, and his blog "Nate Down Under" is listed as one of my favorite links over on the right hand side of this page. Check it out... I am anxiously awaiting the Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Elle McPherson and Air Supply sightings! I am excited for him and his little adventure, I hope his nearly 24 hours of traveling goes quickly. I will miss my lil' sis though. I know he lives in Chicago and it isn't like we see or talk to each other all the time, but who will send me text messages to let me know Britney shaved her head, or Anna Nicole died while he is gone? Who will text me at 11 pm on a Friday night to let me pick out what song I want my ringer to be their phone when I call? (Walking on Sunshine btw... it is my most favorite song ever) Guess we will have to do those things via email/blog the next few months. So, G'Day Nate! Have a great time on your "Walk About"!

Straigthen Up & Fly Right: A Birthday Story

Continuing with the July birthday posts... I wasn't lying, everyone I know was born in July. Today, July 9th, is Linda Smith's birthday. I work with Linda at Busey Bank. There are a lot of Linda's that work here... there is even another Linda Smith. My Linda Smith is our part-time administrative assistant in the commercial lending department... shef ills in for the other AA's or the receptionist when they are gone, does all of our filing, and is basically the go-to girl. So that is her official job description, but to me she is best buddy, girlfriend, therapist, fashion advisor, finder of lost things, life coach, confidant, recipe tester, and most recently waitress. When I was in a cast and on crutches this past spring for six weeks I was unable to get to our employee break room/lounge because it was down a flight of steps and not accessible by the elevator. I had to bring my lunch everyday, and I was bringing sandwiches/cold lunch because I didn't want anyone to have to wait and heat up my lunch... it was bad enough I had to ask co-workers to take it down and put it in the refrigerator in the morning and bring it to me at lunch. Linda said you can't eat sandwiches for six weeks, bring a frozen dinner I will heat it up and bring it to you, and so she did... for weeks, always with a smile on her face and often with a diet pepsi in tow as well... just in case I was needing a pick me up. Don't get me wrong, all of my co-workers took wonderful care of me during my castastic days, but Linda went above and beyond. I will never forget that kindness.

Linda's birthday is extra special this year. Not just because it ends in zero, but because she was very close to not being able to celebrate it... she was in a nasty car accident with her two children almost two weeks ago, and praise God they survived. The kids were basically just scratched and banged up and really scared, but Linda suffered a concussion, cracked ribs and will have to have surgery on her cracked/displaced collar bone soon. Please keep Linda and her family in your thoughts and prayers. Linda is an angel, and she has a broken wing right now, but let's all pray for her to "straighten up and fly right" soon.

Happy Birthday Linda Smith!!!

Going with the Flo'!

So as I mentioned in the previous post, Saturday was picture day at Busch Stadium, and fun was had by all. We had a great moment with my boy, lefty relief pitcher, Randy Flores aka "Flo'". First, some background on my history with Flo. He is one of my favs, I don't know why, he just is... the nice backside doesn't hurt, but he just seems well spoken, fun-loving and he worked in the minors for years before making it to the Bigs... he is just likeable. So last summer I got a Cardinals t-shirt with "Flores #34" on the back. It was a special order, he is a big leaguer, but still obsure enough that he isn't going to sell many t-shirts. Anyway at the Cards Caravan in Decatur last January Flo was on of the players featured, so Nikki and I made a point to go, along with her Dad. I of course rocked my Flo shirt, it was noticed by the panel of Cardinals, and caused quite a few finger points and smiles, so the emcee, Cardinal broadcaster, Dan McLaughlin, called me out and asked me to join them on the stage so I could "meet my man". Anyway, Flo was really tickled to have his first real fan, and was super nice and sweet to me, chatted with me during the program and signed my shirt. He was equally nice to me two days later when we met him at Winter Warm Up in STL that weekend, telling the volunteer ladies working his autograph table that I was his "Caravan Date".

So fast forward to Saturday afternoon at picture day, and we have a great spot right up front along the rope line, and are having a great time snapping pics of our favorite Cards. Flo walks by and we yell at him but he is in la la land. He got passed us a ways and April yells "FLO!", and she and Nikki point to the back of my shirt and he see us, recognizes us/my shirt and says "Hey! Winter Warm Up Girl!" and trots right over to us to say hi, shake hands and chat etc. I told him that we saw him in Oakland, he gave us some crap about how he pitched awful that series and that we were bad luck, we told him that we enjoyed the Flores Family showdown (his brother pitched for the A's, but Flo told us he just got sent down to AAA, bummer Ron Flo), and then he asked us about our vacation, thanked us for our support, and was just a delight.

I had taken a couple of signs to picture day, "Skip, Skip, Skip's in the Lou" for center fielder Skip Schumaker (currently up from AAA Memphis while Jim Edmonds is on the DL), and "I Heart Brendan Ryan"... please see Several posts back. When we first found a spot on the rope line and I took the signs out a young lady (12/13 I am guessing... that really awkward not girl/not woman stage) asked my what my signs said. When I mentioned the Skip sign she went on about how she loved him, he threw her a ball once, and how she had talked to him a time or two and that he was just sooooo nice, and he was her favorite and you could tell he was her one true love. I offered to let her hold the Skip sign, she thought I hung the moon... I too was once a 12 year old girl in love with a baseball player (sentimental pause here to remember STL's curly haired, oh so dreamy, second baseman Tommy Herr of the 1982 World Series champs)... the sign was so hers. Well as Skip went by he was in a bit of crowd so she missed him, we told her he is your boy, move on down the rope line get ahead of him and try again... off she went. A few minutes later she was back all excited, "He saw the sign, he rememberd me, he came over and took a picture with me and the sign, thank you so much, I just love Skip", she said. Her mother thanked us profusely for making her day, and needless to say I sent her home with that sign... it was never meant to by mine. I Heart Skip, but I do not Heart Skip enough to write him in on the All-Star ballot 1,382 times. Yes that is right, she voted in Skip Schumaker 1, 382 times! She just randomly volunteered that information... and let me tell you that is some serious fan dedication.

Brendan Ryan was the last player to walk the rope line and he was really tickled to see the "I Heart Brendan Ryan" sign. We told him that we met him at Decatur for Caravan/Warm Up and that I was Flo's date, and he was like oh yeah I remember that, and thanked us for the support. Brendan Ryan... totally "heart" worthy, and just an all around good guy.

The rest of picture day was delightful. I shook hands with Mike Maroth and David Eckstein. David Eckstein has quite the firm handshake... I shouldn't be surprised he is a professional athlete it should be firm, but I still think of him as a 12 year old boy sometimes I forget these things. Albert Pujols was particulary warm and fuzzy working the rope line. He called kids out to pose for pics, and was just really jolly. He stood on his tippy toes to try and be as tall as one of the freakishly tall ushers working rope line security... Albert on his tippy toes is just kind of cute, and I noticed he has "WWJD" embroidered on his shoes. Here are some of my favorite pics the day.

David Eckstein... firm handshake, killer smile


April's fav, Tyler Johnson. Do baseball ladies prefer blondes? The Ladies 4 prefer TyJo as a brunette.


Adam Wainwright... raisin' the roof.


Sometimes even the great ones have to stand on their tippy toes to reach great heights. But if you check out the "WWJD" (just below and to the front of the swoosh) and the cross on the side strap you will see that AP does not rely on his strength alone. (Okay, so could I make millions marketing this as an inspirational poster or what?)

For the game on Saturday, the Cards lost 6-7. Flo pitched well in an inning of relief, but his shortstop, Aaron Miles, showed him no love with 3 consecutive errors, and 3 unearned runs resulted. I was a little disappointed in Mr. Miles... usually he gets 'er done and we all yell "Bonus Miles"... not so much this time... must have been some "Black Out Dates". Anyway, I kind of wanted to boo Mr. Miles the rest of the weekend but I just couldn't do it, he got the golf clap instead... he didn't mean to mess up, and I had to remember AP's shoes... WWJD? Jesus wouldn't boo Aaron Miles.

After the game the Ladies 4 headed back to the hotel for free soda and popcorn and managed to hang in the lobby for hours just talkin' baseball. It was a treat. The game on Sunday was a little toasty but we were in the shade and there was a breeze most of the day. The Cards won 7-0, Brendan Ryan (I heart him... I heart a lot of people) got to play, and April caught an Albert Pujols home run at batting practice. It was a good day. It was a good weekend. April and Jane pretty much rock, we get them, they get us, we all heart Cardinal baseball and "Go with the Flo!"

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Saturday Nik and I met our new buddies Jane and April in the Lou for a girls weekend filled with baseball. Saturday was picture day at Busch Stadium- gates opened early and fans were allowed down to the field to take pictures of their favorite players. We have LOTS of favorites... and had a ball (no pun intended). I have so many stories to tell, but that will have to wait for later, almost time for the free hot breakfast at the Drury Plaza.

We are having a great time with Jane and April. Here is picture of us down on the field. More to come later.

The Birthday Hits Just Keep Coming

So, it is July 6th, and yet another birthday to celebrate. My goddaughter, Abigail, turns 3 years old today. She was featured in the "Milestones" post... big girl panties and all. Anyway, Happy Birthday Abby!

Abigail is a super cutie, strawberry blond curls, full of mischief... what is not to love. Personally I think she was born about two days late... she should have been born July 4th... definitely the "Independent" type. Sometimes Abby will talk to me on the telephone... most of the time I have now idea what she is saying, but she is usually excited to be telling it you. One time I understood her perfectly, she said "Hi Aunt Jane, we are at the MALL!". That is my girl. Abigail definitely has a bit of the "wild child" in her. One of my favorite stories about Abby is last fall when she and her family were visiting me for an Illini football weekend. Saturday night Jenn, John, Nikki, Sarah J and I were all hanging out in my living room after dinner, and John had just finished a beer. Abby wanted to try the beer, and since it was nearly empty John let her have it assuming she would make the "beer face" much like Nikki and that would be the end of that. Well... not so much she was licking on that bottle all night long. Abigail, Abigail... you are your father's daughter and you are going to have so much fun in college :)

Happy Birthday Abby!

My Favorite Firecrackers

Well as promised today’s blog begins a new feature for July, “Everybody I Know was Born in July”. Today I will feature two birthday boys, John Todd and Matt Dvorak, who are celebrating birthdays today, July 5th. Both are AssemblyHall buddies… John still works there, Matt wishes he did, but he had to go and move to Chicago after he graduated, and well that would be one heck of a commute. I just realized that several of the July Birthday blogs will feature Assembly Hall buddies. I have made some amazing friends there,I guess after 15+ hours of high school wrestling you form an unbreakable and life-long bond. Okay, so on to the birthday boys…


Happy Birthday John Todd! If you have read previous posts then you have already heard a little bit about the Todd Family. John’s son, Jeremiah, is one of my new favorite people and would be the baby featured in “Two Weddings & A Baby”. John Todd is one of the few people I more often than not refer to by both his first and last name. This is due in part to keep my audience from getting him confused with other John’s in my life, and also because I have realized that when your last name could also be a first name I just have a tendency to call you by both. Anyway, John Todd has a somewhat warped sense of humor… I like that about him. He loves to tell bad jokes, not dirty jokes like my brother, bad jokes… jokes so bad you can’t help but laugh. I will forever associate John Todd with the infamous muffin joke. Two muffins are in the oven, the first muffin says to the second muffin, “Whew, it sure is hot in here.” The second muffin says “AAAAHHHH, Talking Muffin!” Continuing with the warped sense of humor, John Todd has a very effeminate, French alter-ego, Jean Todd… Jean Todd is always quick to compliment your shoes or purse, and he just appears when you least expect him, often prompting me to bust a gut laughing. John Todd is mellow and go-with-theflow, a practical, salt of the earth type… to use my new favorite phrase… “He saves the drama for his mama!” A couple of years ago Nikki and I were deciding who to invite to various baseball games in STL. There was a game in April, there was great potential for rain, cold and just crappy weather in general. We invited John and his wife, Marla, because we knew they wouldn’t complain about the weather or want to leave, they would just be prepared and enjoy the game, regardless. Ironically, we had beautiful weather for that game. Another thing to like about John…his wife, Marla. Anyway, Happy Birthday John Todd!


Happy Birthday Matt Dvorak aka D-Vak! "D-Vak" is an Assembly Hall created nickname, short for Dvorak I guess, it kind of stuck. D-Vak liked that nickname so when Karen and I went to DisneyWorld we brought back some "D-Vak" mouse ears. Matt said he used them as study ears...he once was trying to write a paper and was struggling, he put on the ears and viola paper done... well it is the "magic" kingdom. I don't know how to best describe D-Vak, except to say he has an uncanny abililty to make me smile, and we have shared the guilty pleasures that are "Dawson's Creek" and "One Tree Hill". I realized D-Vak was extra special one year while working the IHSA wresting tournament. He walked by and I called him "Sweetheart" or something (some term of endearment starting with 'S'), the next time I used another 'S' term of endearment. He picked another letter and returned the favor, rules were you couldn't use the same term of endearment more than once, best game ever, we played it all weekend... changing letters for Day 2. To this day D-Vak will always be my Puddin' Pop! D-Vak lives in Chicago with his lovely wife, Erin... I like her too, she never had issues with the Puddin' Pop. One day Nikki and I had a discussion about D-Vak, we decided we wanted a tiny version of him (think "The Littles" cartoon from back in the day), Little D-Vak if you will, to have around at all times. Little D-Vak (LDV) would sit on your computer monitor at work... he would tell you he liked your shirt, would roll his eyes at annoying co-workers that kind of thing, just make your day brighter. D-Vak works at Pepper Construction in Chicago in their marketing department. Pepper has constructed a lot of buildings in downtown Chicago, when ever in Chicago I play "Pepper" (looking for thePepper plaques/signs on the sides of buildings or on the sidewalks indicating they constructed the building), and I think of D-Vak and I smile. Anyway, Happy Birthday D-Vak!

Happy Birthday Boys!

Independence Day

I have never been much of a 4th of July reveler, but I am celebrating my own independence day of sorts... a "Day of Jane" if you will. This morning I went to the grocery store, and worked out in my yard for several hours. The yard still needs work, but I did get a lot accomplished... it has been rather neglected of late with the whole cast/not walking thing. It felt good to get dirt under my fingernails... get back to my farm girl roots.

By noon I had moved indoors. I took a bath... it was relaxing. In the interest of time I am usually a shower girl, but it is good to take time to take a bath once in awhile. I am still working on getting the dirt out from under my fingernails. Plans for the afternoon include a little tv, sofa surfing, napping and nail painting. That is all for now.

Editorial Note: Beginning tomorrow I will be starting a new series of blogs entitled "Everyone I Know was Born in July" where I will be featuring the various birthday girls and boys.

Who Wants a Beer Now?

That was the line of one of the beer vendors at the Cards game Monday night. Very clever, he used it when the Diamondbacks tied up the game. Not to worry, the Cards came back with a flurry and won 11-3. We had quite the entertaining assortment of beer vendors in our section. It made me wish my nephews Eric and Jeremy were with me. One of their favorite things to do at the game is to watch and then immitate the beer vendors... Jeremy especially, he could do a one-man show of his various beer vendor immitations.

Nikki and I had great seats for the game, right behind the Cards dugout, about 20 rows off the field. It provided the perfect vantage point to engage in one of our favorite summertime activities... "boy watching". Before the game we got an up close and personal view of the DS (desiginated stretcher) working with Albert (please see picture). I don't think I could be the DS and not lose my concentration... heck I lost my concentration just looking at the DS's backside.

Scotty Ro flashed us with the perfection that is his forearms, and he seemed to respond positively to the "Rollin/Rolen" dance routine Nik and I would do to the tune of "Proud Mary" every time he was up to bat. My boy Jimmy is still on the DL, but he spent a good portion of the game leaning against the front rail of the dugout for me too gaze upon. One positive of the DL is that he was sans wristbands so we were able to sneak a peak at his "DK 57" tat on his right wrist. Thank you Jimmy, I don't get to see the ink that much.

Another favorite, Skip Schumaker is still up with the big club while Jimmy is on the DL. Nik and and I decided Skip needed a song... so now we sing "Skip, Skip, Skip's in the Lou" everytime he is up to bat. Also, Brendan Ryan... (see previous post I Heart Brendan Ryan) was there as Eck is not off the DL yet. He was standing next to his teammate, Ryan Ludwick (kudos to Ludwick for his 2 HR's on Sunday btw). So collectively their jersey's spelled 'Ryan Ludwick'.

My boy Flo pitched 3 up 3 down to finish the game in the 9th. He was worked a little hard and consequently had a rough June so TLR and Dunc had rested him a few days to get him right. Evidently the rest did him some good... he had a nice outing.

All in all a great game, and good times. San Fran and Oakland were great trips, but it was good to be back home again at Busch III... Baseball Heaven.

Two Weddings & A Baby

Saturday was kind of a busy day for me. I picked up Nikki, we went to breakfast then headed south towards Effingham for our friend Karen's wedding to Ben. For those of you not "in the know", Karen is one of my Assembly Hall buds, and lived with me for a semester a number of years ago when she was doing her student teaching in Champaign. Anywho, the picture above is of Nikki and I with the lovely bride. It is probably one of the few pictures out there of the three of us where we are not dressed in Cardinal red or Illini orange posing at either a baseball or basketball game, with some hand painted sign with a clever slogan declaring our undying love for our team. Yep, Karen and Ben were the ones doing the declaring of undying love on Saturday. Not to brag, but us sporty girls can clean up pretty good.

One of the very best parts of the wedding and reception was hanging out with one of my new favorite guys, Jeremiah. I enjoyed hanging out with his parents, John and Marla, too of course (John would be from the Assembly Hall gang as well), but they don't usually have as many new tricks to show me as Jeremiah does. The little J Man is almost eight months old, has blue eyes that won't quit, and is possibly the best baby ever! He is always such a good baby, happy as a clam, content to be passed around from lap to lap and smile and giggle at you. In between the wedding and reception he showed us how he as learned to crawl, and this is a picture I snapped when he was taking a break. At the reception we soon learned that he is quite the Kool & The Gang fan, as he was really into "Celebration". Jeremiah has his own blog (he is very advanced, but I think he has an assistant or editor perhaps), and a couple of months ago when we took him to Busch Stadium along with his parents, Nikki and I so made his blog. Thanks for the good press J Man, right back at you bud.

Unfortunately we couldn't stay long the Patterson-Christner reception, as Nikki and I needed to head on over to Oreana for a wedding reception for my cousin, Mark and his new wife, Sheri. They were married in Hawaii in March, and were having a reception to celebrate. Conveniently enough Nikki was invited to this shin-dig as well, as her family is good friends with Sheri because Nikki's younger sister, Angie, and Sheri's daughter, Courtney were best buds growing up. Anyway, it was nice to have company on the nearly 2 hour drive from Newton to Oreana.

We were a little late to the second reception, but still had a great time. I had a great time hanging out with the family, especially my "M Cousins" (Mark, Mary Beth, Marcia, Michael and Martin and their respective families) many of whom I don't get to see all that much. I can't really recall what all was said, but I know I laughed A LOT! I do remember the guys doing this whole bit about my Uncle Merv throwing a good party and spinning some jammin' tunes. The boys were all doing impressions of Merv as DJ, and they said his DJ name should be "Near Death"..., I suggested my Dad could be his sidekick and his name could be "Hop-A-Long G".

A lot of time in the car, but so worth it! Congrats to Karen & Ben and Mark & Sheri, and may God bless your marriages with much happiness and laughter. Love you all!