School is for Fools

Well just like everyone else (except for Jeff, Breein, Laurie, and the old guys) its back to school again. I started class yesterday and it appears that this just might be the easiest semester of school since Mr. Kellstrom's class in 5th grade. I'm only taking 13 credits this semester and they're all pretty remedial courses. I'm finally taking a college level math class but it still seems beneath me, at least I'll get some credit towards something. In case you don't know last spring I was in a math class that I went to about 4 times and it was so easy that I still got like a 98% in it for my final grade, thank you very much stupid placement tests! So apart from my easy math class this semester, I also have intro to Biology (last spring I was in a much harder biology), intro to criminal justice, and then another CJ class. So really I have no excuse to not pull all A's this semester but we'll see.
I also got all of my school paid for except $265 or so through a federal pell grant and the WUE program. It's all pretty sweet! Next semester I will be a Utah resident and still have money from the grant so next semester is paid for also! So I'm beginning to think that moving out here to Utah was a good idea after all.
Janna had her appendix taken out for anyone who hadn't heard. She was feeling kinda sick all weekend that we were there and then by Monday night it hurt her to even stand straight up. Tuesday we went into the doctor, something we'd been avoiding since she doesn't have health insurance, but they sent here for a ct scan and it turns out that she had appendicitis! Needless to say its been a pretty crappy experience for her. She's really tough though and has really impressed me! Anyway, she's getting better and is recovering well.
That's about all I have for now, good luck guys as you get back into school and I'll talk to you all later.

Thanks!!

I'm really glad most of you guys got to come to Klamath last week. Sorry Dan and Jeff...it would have been nice if you'd been able to be here too.

I fully agree with Laurie's last post...Janna will be a welcome addition, and Tom is very lucky that he somehow was able to convince her to agree to marry him. I'm REALLY impressed that she was able to put up with Tom's friends, all of us, and be so pleasant with Emme and Calvin while she was fighting appendicitis. It's pretty amazing.

The patio is looking pretty good. Donald (mainly) and Doug have been a big help, and the thing is almost completed. It's not perfect by any means, but it looks a lot better than the gravel pad we've been dealing with for the past couple of years. If I can convince Donald or Doug to show me how to do it when we're finally done I'll stick a couple of pictures on here so you can see the completed project.

There's not much else to say...thanks again for coming to visit.

Let me be the first to say...

...way to go Tom! I think he's done quite well for himself with Janna. I tell you what though, he needs to get a ring on that finger of hers and get that a little bit more on "lock down" before she comes to her senses!

Seriously though, congratulations Tom. Janna is even more beautiful in person (and much taller) and she seems to have everything going for her: looks, personality, athletic ability, education/intelligence, ambition... she's everything Tom isn't (ha ha just kidding... mostly). If Tom would shave off that facial fuzz they would look great together!

So, let me be the first to say (or at least type... I don't know what people have been saying to you) Janna, welcome to our family you would be a welcome addition (even if you do make me feel shorter than I have been feeling of late) and we're happy to have you here. I hope you don't come to your senses... actually Tom is a pretty decent guy (most of the time) but don't tell him I said that...

Journal Giveaway

I thought I'd enter a giveaway for a cool hand made journal. You can check it out here. I get an extra entry if I blog about it, so here I am, blogging about it. They have some cool things though, you should check it out.

Sorry dad, guess you raised a "prize pig".

Emme Can Ride

Stephanie got her started a few months ago, but over the last few days, Emme has officially become a bike rider. She can now start and stop all on her own and steer around almost anything. (I say almost, because she and Leona had a little mishap that gave Emme a pretty big skinned up elbow and Leona nothing visible but probably a nice headache.) Now all we have to do is teach her to tie her shoes and our parenting will be complete, no?

New Mexico... good or bad?

So I'm not sure who has heard and who hasn't, but the last few months have been an interesting time for the Stewbros Franchise. Corporate KFC has begun doing some pretty intense inspections on all the stores across the nation and has been a serious headache for franchisees such as ourselves. The inspections are set up in a way that make it hard to get a good score if you don't have brand new equipment and buildings. Long story short, we weren't passing, actually failing multiple inspections in a row down in New Mexico-- Matt's neck of the woods. Jon's stores in AZ passed with mediocre scores and McMinnville actually did really well. So the past 4 weeks or so I've been basically cleaning up Matt's mess and getting his stores in shape. And since I've gone down there, they've started passing... yay for me!
So when they asked me how things were going I pretty much told them what I thought of Matt. I mean he's making a solid $20,000 a year more than me in addition to whatever his wife is paying herself and his stores are by far the nastiest places I've ever seen! It's a joke.
Well it looks like I've finally gotten the vote of approval because they've decided to ship us off to New Mexico to manage the area.
It means I get a pretty hefty raise and a $350 monthly allotment for a truck! So we're pretty excited about that. Unfortunately this all has to happen asap. I'm flying back down this weekend and I'll be down there until the 29th. After that we'll load up and make the trek down. (by the way we're looking for someone to help with that protion of the plan). Breein's mom and grandma are coming down to help her pack, but I may need a hand loading the U-haul and making the trip down. Donald? Tom? Dad? Too bad Doug can't drive yet. Or even mom if you wanted to ride with and help Breein drive. If anyone volunteers we can fly you home.
Either way we have a few weeks. I'm thinking we'll try to be out of McMinnville no later than the 1st of September and we'll probably swing through Klamath. But it's definitely going to be a trek. Google says it's about 1550 miles from Klamath. So just about 24 hours of driving... Not quite sure how I want to go about it. A lot depends on the volunteer thing.
Anyway it's late so I need to get to bed.

Tqacl

Just wanted to let you all know that Calvin has decided that he no longer "wants [his] name to be C-A-L-V-I-N", nope he would like to to be "T-Q-A-C-L". My response, "Oh, well is it still pronounced Calvin?"

"No mommy, it sounds like it's spelled".

"Oh, then we should call you Tqacl (Taquakill)?" I said.

"Yes, will you tell Daddy when he gets home? And everyone else too?"

"Okay Calvin. Now go to sleep."

"Mommy! That's not my name, it's Tqacl!"

"Sorry Tqacl, now go to sleep."

The things that go through that kids head never cease to amaze me...

Update

I'm sorry to say that Stephanie has officially moved out of the house. We left early Saturday morning, braved the blazing hot wastelands of Eastern Oregon and Western Idaho, and delivered a beat up, stained, nasty looking, used box springs and mattress set to her apartment in Boise. It's only Tuesday, and even though she wasn't home very much (and stayed in her room when she WAS home) I already miss her. As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, it gets tougher to deal with every time one of you heads out to conquer the world. For Laurie, Jeff, Tom, and now Steph, we miss all of you (I'm speaking for your mom here too, since it'll probably be months before she looks at our blog). I'm looking forward to our semi- family reunion in a couple of weeks...I really hope everyone will be able to make it.

The trip to Boise was pretty uneventful. Your mom slept most of the way there and most of the way back...I think all of you got the picture I took while she was peacefully sleeping. The most exciting thing was stopping on the way back to harass a giant man eating rattlesnake that was crossing the road just north of Abert Lake. I think I'm losing my killer instinct...I tossed enough little rocks on him to make him rattle, but decided he was in a remote enough area that he didn't warrant dying and let him slither off into the brush. He wasn't hurting anything and he really was big, so it would have been pointless to kill him. He was pretty close to 3 feet long and was one of the prettiest rattlesnakes I've ever seen. I should have killed him.

Donald's days of playing horseshoes, swimming, and driving around looking for deer and elk while ODF pays him have come to a screeching halt. There have been over 6400 lightning strikes in Oregon in the last couple of days, and we've been told that there have been 100s of small fires started as a result. Donald says the ODF expects some fires to smolder for a couple of days while it's cool and calm, and then when the temperature heats up and the winds pick up they anticipate some major fire activity. We have thunderstorms forecast through Sunday, and with the heat and lack of rain things could get pretty nasty.

Doug finally finished scraping the Stewart's fence, and plans on starting the actual painting tomorrow. I'll be amazed if he finishes it before Christmas. I think his football practices start next week, and when that happens he won't be doing any painting. Maybe we can paint the Stewart's fence as a family activity when Tom brings Janna to visit. (Just kidding!!!)

Congratulations are due to Jeff for bailing out Matt Stewart with the KFC inspections. Hopefully Matt will figure out that he needs to actually WORK if he expects his stores to stay open.

That's about it for my update. Feel free to contribute news of your own.