Tennis Anyone?

Earlier tonight I went to the Illini Men's Tennis match vs. Michigan State. I really enjoy Illini tennis, even though I am a bit of a tennis dummy. It was a very good match. The Illini won the doubles point, and many of the singles matches were close and exciting, so the Illini's 6-1 win is not indicative of how close and exciting it really was. My friend Lindsey and I were sitting upstairs near Court 3, and it was quite the match. The player for MSU was a total jerk, he questioned a bunch of calls and at one time even stormed over to the official and just started to go off on her... so much for Spartan sportsmanship... Tom Izzo would be so ashamed. This kid, John Allare, was a total tool. Sadly he besmerched the good name of John's everywhere... John Todd, John Thomas and John Marquardt you guys should so kick him out of the club. John Allare has red hair and Linds likened him to Tom Coverdale, Indiana Hoosier guard from a few years back that was a bit of tool himself... it was a fitting comparison.. definitely another "Opie on crack" as Nik, Karen and I fondly referred to Mr. Coverdale. Fortunately Mr. Allare's unsportsmanlike behaviour was not rewarded and my new hero, Illini Sophomore, Billy Heiser (pictured above) so completely came roaring back from big deficits in each set to beat Mr. Pissy Britiches aka Richard Cranium 7-6, 7-6.... now that is karma don't you think? KUDOS Billy Heiser... you totally rock.

Besides the awesome tennis, it was great to hang with Linds a little bit. I have missed her since she left Busey and went back to school. She has finished school and is back home while she looks for a job so hopefully I can take advantage of her close proximity for awhile and hang out with her more.

Sorry it has been over a week since my last post. Not sure how that happened, I guess I just got busy doing nothing. I have been training two "new hires" at work the past two weeks, and I guess it has me tuckered out. Training is going really well and I think we have two really solid additions to the team, but being "On" most of the work day does take its toll. Saturday I am meeting Eric in Peoria and I am definitely looking forward to spending a little time with my sweetie! We head to Jupiter, Florida for Spring Training in a week. Woo Hoo!... baseball and an escape from this dreadful Illinois winter.... double bonus! Stay tuned for daily spring training blogs.

Bravo Eric

Saturday I headed up to the Quad Cities to spend the weekend with Eric, and see him perform in a play, "Light Up the Sky", for Richmond Hill Players. The theater itself was just really cool, as it is in the round and located in they hayloft of a converted dairy barn. I grew up on farm, and although we raised beef cattle not dairy... I feel completely at home in barn! I saw two performances, Saturday night and the Sunday matinee. Both were great, but I caught so much more of the humor the second time around. Eric was great, and it was lots of fun to see the actor in him.

Eric's family came to the Sunday show, and we all went out for dinner afterwards. It was lots of fun to meet them. They are all Cardinal fans and Illini fans so it wasn't too hard to fit in. After dinner we went to Travis and Steph's house (Eric's brother and sister-in-law) and we played a little Euchre. Never in my life have I ever gotten such good cards... I am a mediocre player at best, and I could not lose even if tried. Eric and I totally kicked their booties... poor Travis was pretty much speechless as I just laid down trump or an ace every time he thought they were going to make a move. I am thinking Eric and Travis must still have a little bit of a competitive sibling rivalry of sorts going on because Eric alluded to the fact that if going to two play peformances didn't give me "fabulous girlfriend" status already... I pretty much sealed the deal after leaving Travis in a cloud of dust at the card table :) I was quick to let Eric know not to get used to it, that I really was blessed with incredible cards that night, and am certainly no card shark.

Eric and I also celebrated Valentine's Day over the weekend. He gave me THE cutest, sweeetest and laugh-out-loud funny gift. To preface the gift, you have to know that Eric and I were having a conversation a few weeks ago and he mentioned something about referring to me as his girlfriend, and asked me if I minded the "title"... to which I replied, "Well, does it come with a crown and sash?", because well if I was going to have a title I wanted one with a little bling. So for Valentine's Day Eric gave me a custom screen printed green satin sash with "Eric's Girlfriend" in silver lettering on it, along with a rhinestone tiara/crown. It was just the best gift ever... totally the kind of gift I would pick out. I think Eric definitely "out-fabuloused" Jano Fabulous.

I headed for home this morning, when Eric left for work... poor Eric no banking and/or government holidays for him. I did make a slight detour and stopped in Geneseo to have breakfast with Dave Roome and family. Dave is an old family friend, my friend Jenn's (of Jenn, John, Sidney and Abby) older brother. Today's kudos definitely go to Dave's wife, Janice, for making waffles for this morning! Yummy! My favorite.

2 x the Ja(y)ne, 2 x the Fabulous!

Happy Birthday to the "other" Ja(y)ne Elizabeth Tjardes! That's is right, there are two of us. The "other" Ja(y)ne is my sister-in-law, Jayne.

Jayne is a special person... you kind of have to be to be married to my brother for 25 years! Not that I am complaining about Phil, mind you... in the past month he has fixed my garage door opener and pumped nasty flood water out of my crawlspace... but still it takes a special person, he is a bit of a "character". Jayne and I obviously bond over the fact that we share the same name, with the exception of her "y". Everytime we call one another on the phone it is the same routine... "Ja(y)ne? This is Ja(y)ne."... followed by a little giggle. Yes it is silly, and you would think after 25 years it might get old, but no it really doesn't. Needless to say the same name thing does cause for some confusion... perhaps the creepiest is when one of my co-workers saw Phil at the Hall one time and asked, "You are Jane Tjardes' brother, right?" to which Phil responded, "Yes, and her husband." Luckily said co-worker was aware of the "two Ja(y)nes" because otherwise... EW! After 10+ years of having both of us answer when she called "Ja(y)ne" my Mom came up with new "labels" for us... "Mom Jayne" and "Bank Jane". We don't particularly care for them at all, we even suggested "Jaynie" and "Jano" (Jayne does not share my aversion to "Ja(y)nie") as an alternative, but isn't happening. I will admit that we both immediately know to which one she is referring and I don't know that Jayne plans to get a job at a bank, or I plan to have a baby just to make my Mom stop.

Jayne has a way of making things look "put together". She used to be a visual merchandiser for Von Maur and now she stages homes for sale. I guess I have some style, and perhaps could be considered crafty or slightly Martha Stewart-esque, but I need directions and a specific materials to put stuff together... Jayne puts me to shame, she could organize your broom closet and make it look "designer" or plant a few seeds here and there and have it look like the cover of Better Homes & Gardens.

Happy Birthday Jayne!

Happy Valentines Day

Hello everyone, I hope you are all enjoying a faboulous Valentines Day. I celebrated by returning to work today after being out for 3 days for what I like to call "Snotfest 2008"... otherwise known as a wicked case of flu/bronchitis/ear infection. I am feeling much better now. Actually I did treat myself to a pedicure after work.

I do have to give a special shout out to my Valentine, Eric. I met Eric on Eharmony right around New Years. I am not quite sure we will be starring in the Eharmony commercials just yet, but things are definitely going well... very well! :) Eric lives near the Quad Cities, and I am looking forward to visiting him this weekend and seeing him perform in a play for a local community theater. So Happy Valentines Day, Eric! Needless to say I think you are FABULOUS!

A Valenteen Birthday

So today is my nephew Jeremy's birthday. It is also Valentine's Day. Jeremy is kind if making me feel just little old today, you see he is the youngest member of the Fab Five, the baby is you will, and he is now a teenager... the big 13!

Jeremy and I share a special bond in that we have both logged many a mile watching our older siblings play basketball. We have both spent a lot of time "dusting the bleachers" as my Dad likes to say. Jeremy is in 7th grade now, so he most of the basketball games he goes to these days are his own. I give Jeremy credit for surviving growing up in a house with two older sisters relatively unscathed... at least so far. One great story was when Jeremy was like 3 or so... old enough to talk in sentences. My Mom was staying with the kids because my sister-in-law Jayne was out to town, and Phil wasn't home from work yet. Ashley and Taylor (then probably 11 and 7) where in their "fight about everything stage" and Taylor was going through her "rage years". Anyway the two girls were evidently having a big knock-down, drag-out fight and Jeremy must have feared for his safety, and didn't think my Mom could handle it because he found my Mom and simply said in the most serious voice "Grandma, I think you'd better call my Dad".

I have so many Jeremy stories, I am not sure where to begin. In certain circles I refer to Jeremy as "BloneyHead" (not bologna head mind you). We he was about 4 or so Jeremy just randomly called me that one day, later I called him that (very mature of me I know) and then his Mom was like "So, you are the one that taught him that, huh?" My response was "No, sorry, he taught it to me!". Another great story is when my Grandmother died (okay so not a happy occasion but the laugh was definitely needed). Jeremy again was about four or so. He asked my brother "So Dad, when are we going to the festival?". Completely confused Phil was like "Festival, what festival? Is the PTA carnival this weekend or what?" He asked Jeremy again about the fesitval to which Jeremy emphatically replied "You know Grandmother, she DIED!... the Festival!". Festival... Funeral... it is all the same when you are four!

Jeremy is very diverse. I like that about him. He is totally into the farming thing... which scores big points with my Dad. He is also quite the sports fan too. I had the pleasure of taking Jeremy to his first Major League baseball game, along with my other two nephews. Jeremy has some Cub fan heritage as well, but he wore a Cards cap that day.. good boy he knows it is in his best interest to keep Aunt Jane happy. Anyway, this was the first time Jeremy had ever been exposed to beer vendors and their various "attention getting" yells. To this day when he does his "beer vender" routine I am in stitches. Now it is kind of a thing to critique the beer vendors and their "schtick" on the Jeremy scale, kind of like we rate pepper shakers as "GTA=George Tjardes Approved" after my Dad. On our way to the game that day Jeremy had me in stitches too. We has picked up Lane & Eric in Carlinville and were only about 15 minutes from the stadium. Jeremy asked how much longer it would be because "nature was calling". I said 10 or 15 minutes and we can stop and use the restroom at St. Louis Bread Co. next to the parking garage. Just as we were pulling in the garage, Jeremy again asked about our ETA, and I told him we just have to park and walk across the street, less than 5 minutes. His response was "Great! I can absolutely guarantee you 10, but any more than that and we may have a problem!"

I think this kind of humor comes naturally... basically Jeremy is just like his Dad/my brother. As such it has been very cool to watch him grow up because Phil is 8 years older than me so I really don't remember him before his teenage years. Now I at least have an idea of what he was like.

Some of the pictures I am attaching are of Jeremy at the Illini Football Family Funfest last year. I really wanted to go for some reason, so I recruited Jeremy to be my "family". We both had fun... so it all worked out.

Happy Birthday Jeremy!!

Honest Abe and Crazy Angie: A Birthday Blog

So this blog is a day late, just pretend it is February 12th okay? I have been wicked sick the past few days... so my apoligies for the tardiness of the post.

Happy Birthday Abe Lincoln. Being a native of the Land of Lincoln, I have a particular fondness for Abe. But beyond that I don't really have all that much to say.

I also need to say Happy Birthday to Angie Murbarger. Ang is Nik's younger sister and she just turned 21... watch out. It is hard not to end up laughing your booty off when you spend time with Angie. She is just a whole big ball of fun, and isn't shy about much, that is for sure.

One of my favorite Angie stories is when she was tailgating with us this fall. He friends who were 21 came along and were enjoying some beers. Ang and Nik's Dad, Captain Map was along as well so Angie piled on the charm and asked Jerry, "Daddy, can I have a beer?" The answer was no, but fear not Angie next tailgate you won't have to ask. It was just priceless moment.

Angie is going with us to Spring Training in less than a month. We are driving and I am counting on Ang to provide hours and hours of roadtrip entertainment. I am also counting on her good luck at just being in the right place at the right time. Last summer she was at Al Hrabosky's bar after a Cards game and just happened to be invited to come up to the private room where she hung out with Al, Brendan Ryan, Juan Encarnacion and Miguel Cabrerra. I am just a tiny bit jealous of that.

Well I probably could write lots more about Ang, but I have to save my energy for a few more birthday blogs this week. Happy Birthday Angie... I would buy you a beer for your birthday, but now that you can buy I wouldn't want to deny you the pleasure of buying me one.

Fabulously Sick

This blog will be very short. I was home sick today with the flu/chest cold thing... yuck. The fever has broken and I am over the hump, just have to get over this nagging congestion. Anyway, yesterday on my trip to Walgreens for supplies I discoverd the most FABULOUS thing ever.... Puffs Plus with lotion scented like Vick's vapor rub. They are the bomb diggity, all that and a bag of chips. The lotion keeps your nose from getting all raw, and the scent of Vick's helps keep those sinus passages open. Kudo's to the product development team at Puffs/Vicks for this little modern miracle.

Thanks Babe

Friday night I met Nik in Bloomington and we went to see country artists Luke Bryan and Trace Adkins at U.S. Cellular arena. One of Nikki's co-workers won the tix on the radio. I love free entertainment. Luke Bryan was the opening act, and he is quickly become one of my favorites. We actually saw him this summer at BagelFest in Mattoon about a month before his album came out. He put on a great show, even though he did not sing my favorite song from his album, "Don't Worry About Nothin', Pray About Everything". He did however sing a song he wrote awhile back that became a #1 hit for Billy Currington... "Good Directions". Love that song, so does my buddy Nathan... it is "our" song. After Trace's show Luke signed autographs. I don't have the picture because it is on Nik's camera, but Luke is definitely a good ol' Georgia boy. He was super sweet, and definitly told Nik and I "Thanks Babe!" when we said that we enjoyed his show. He even wrote that on the picture he signed for us.

Trace Adkins puts on a good show too. Trace always puts me in a dilemma. I do not find him remotely attractive at ALL... but there are times he just does, says or sings something and darn it if I am not oddly attracted to him. It is the weirdest thing... oh well.

Oh, and in other random news... this weekend's Kudos once again go to my brother, Phil. He brought his portable sump pump down on Saturday and pumped the water out of my crawl space. Needless to say it was a little wet here and Chez Jano with the recent thunderstorms and snow melt. Luckily there isn't anything in my crawl space, so the only damage was a musty odor for a few days all is well now. Kudos George Philip!

Happy Birthday Brewmaster!

Well here is a birthday blog to lift us from the winter blues… seriously what is up with the weather these days... 10 inches of snow, thunder snow, curtains of fog, then torrential rains.

Anywho, Happy Birthday Larry! Larry Pfeiffer is my brother-in-law (or one of the "outlaws" as he says), and I have to admit that even though I have known Larry Dean for more than 25 years I am not absolutely certain that Februrary 7th is his birthday. I am fairly certain it is, but it could be the 9th… I definitely have the right week though, if not the right day.

My sister, Jan, met Larry their first year of college. I don't really remember Jan dating in high school, but then she goes off to college and pretty much comes home with her future husband her first weekend home. They will have been married 25 years in June… talk about getting it right on your first try!! Besides putting up with Jan for a quarter of century, Larry is just a good guy. He is actually one of those people who says "I think I am going to…", then actually does it. One of my favorite Larry pastimes is brewing beer. I have been the beneficiary of many bottles of beer, and I have to admit he does a mean Samuel Adams imitation. Mmmm beer!

Larry taught high school ag/vo-tech for 10 years, then worked for the State of Illinois as an ag/vo-tech education field facilitator (basically a teacher of and resource to teachers) for another 10 years. These days he is the Superintendant for the Regional Office of Education for Macoupin, Calhoun, Greene and Jersey counties. It is an elected position, so Larry hit the campaign trail a number of years back… marching, waving, tossing candy and kissing babies at every parade, fair and festival in the 4-county area with the campaign workers (Jan, Lane & Eric) in tow. He tells some great stories. Way back on the day (in college) Larry worked as a meat cutter at a grocery store… to this day my Mom puts Larry in charge of all meat cutting and cutlery related duties at family functions. Larry slices a mean roast! :)

Larry is a fun guy to be around, but one of things I most admire about him… he is man of faith, and the spritual leader of their household. He definitely models being a servant, especially for his boys, Lane and Eric. Both boys have volunteered for countless church activities, spent time at the food pantry and rung the bell at the Salvation Army red kettle to name a few. Most recently Larry and Eric spent the week between Christmas and New Year in the 9th ward of New Orleans rebuilding houses… they were on the framing and drywall crew. Last spring Lane was awarded the first scholarship/award for volunteerism, named after a schoolmate that passed away in a tragic accident. Larry is a great role model in many ways, but servant leadership is definitely what I think of first.

Happy Birthday Larry! I couldn't ask for a better Outlaw!

Editors Note: I don't really have a good photo of Larry… sorry. Maybe I should take more photos at family gatherings.

Wrapped Up in Kindness

So last week I received a package in the mail... an unexpected package. The return address was Easton, Kansas. That is where my football mentee from last season, Jake, is from. It turns out that Jake's mom, Trudi, sent me an orange scarf that she knitted for me, thanking me for being such a good mentor to Jake. As she said in her note "I am so thankful that Jacob (that is his given name, and how he is known back in Kansas) lucked out in the mentor department."

Seriously folks, how nice is that? I met Jake's parents on one occasion, at the football banquet last year. I always thought Jake was a good kid... it evidently runs in the family! I love the scarf! First of all it is orange, and well you all know that orange is a staple in my wardrobe. Second, it is handmade so it is extra special. Finally, it is from Trudi, thanking me for being a good mentor to Jake which is a) technically not even my duty anymore since he is no longer a freshman and no longer on the team (although we are still pretty tight) and b) certainly never was a hardship and most times very enjoyable, since some days I thought Jake should be the one mentoring me.

So Kudos Trudi. Thanks for the scarf, and more importantly the sentiment with which it was sent. Oh, so I didn't really want to take a picture of myself (it always looks like I have an abnormally large head) wearing the scarf and I didn't have a live model handy, so my cabbage patch doll (an original from the 80's I had handy for a recent 80's party), Maybelle Lulu graciously stepped in to model the scarf. Thanks Maybelle Lulu!

Super Anne

So I am giving major kudos and super snaps to Anne (see her & Matt's blog link to the right) for introducing me to Google Reader. It is fabulous, you let it know the blogs you want to follow and it tells you when there are new posts on them, kind of like having messages in you in box on email. No more checking each blog only to be disappointed there was no new post. It is a big time saver. Thanks Super Anne!

I did discover that it is kind of tricky with Jake's blog in on the UIUC admissions website, it lets me know whenever there is a new entry from any of the student bloggers not just Jake. No offense to the other bloggers, but I only really care about Jake. Oh well, I can sift through the new posts to find Jake's easy enough.

"Shovel Shoulder" and Snow Theater

It snowed a lot here last night... I am guessing in the 8+ inches range. Needless to say, when it snows that much I have lots of shoveling to do... why didn't I buy a condo? Anyway, I shoveled the first layer last night, and went out at 6:30 this morning to tackle the rest. All in all about 2.5 hours of shoveling. That is where the term "Shovel Shoulder" comes from... my left shoulder is killing me, not to mention my barking back. Actually I developed "Shovel Shoulder" about 2 or 3 snows ago back in early December. Argghh... it is my left shoulder so Nik says that I have Mark Mulder sympathy pains.

So the "Snow Theater" thing. When I was shoveling the drive this morning I was witness to a young couple driving by in a Jeep Wrangler. They had their little plastic windows unzipped I am guessing to keep them from fogging up. Anyway it was very quiet on my street and for the entire block I could definitely hear them having the biggest fight ever. The young lady launched about 20 f-bombs in in less than 30 seconds. I was starting to hit a wall in my shoveling at that point, so the entertainment was actually enjoyable. I call it "Snow Theater" because it reminds me of the "Beach Theater" Nik, Jeanne and I got to watch in Florida a couple of years ago. That time an older couple were having a big argument on the beach not too far from us. Oh, and after the "Snow Theater" was over some crazy lady came jogging by on my street... who jogs in this kind of weather? Anyway, she was very nice and encouraging and complimented me on my shoveling... I was nearing end then and need some encouragment.

Alas... the joys of snow!