SGK 3-Day....Walking 60 Miles in 3 Days!!!!!

As you can tell by the name of my blog, my wife Jennifer is very important to me!!! She is a breast cancer survivor for almost four years now. She has always been my inspiration and joy......the giver of 2 beautiful children....the rock that I lean on........and My Best Friend!!!

2005-2006 was a hard time for us. For those that do not know, Jen was diagnosed with breast cancer in May of 2005 while in the midst of getting ready to move to Pennsylvania for a new job that I had accepted. Needless to say that all plans were put on hold while Jen went through chemotherapy and I went to PA to start my new job. I felt horrible for leaving my wife and children when they needed me most. I have had many tell me that I did what I had to do in order to support my family, and I appreciate their kindness......but deep down it still gets to me. I would fly home on weekends, and did so for a year, only to have to leave after what seemed like to short a time with my family. It was absolutely horrible!!

Now I have an opportunity, at least in my mind, to sort of make up for not being there for Jenni. We have talked about this 3-day 60 mile walk for a few years now, but it seemed like she was always struggling with some side-effect or another procedure due to her cancer that kept us from taking it seriously.....unitl this year. Jen is doing so much better than even last year. She still struggles with side-effects, aches and pains, but I will tell you I married one heck of a strong woman!!! We started talking about this 3-Day event at Christmas and she was very optimistic about being able to do it. We continued our talks and decided that we would go for it!! We both had reservations about the amount of money that you are required to raise ($2,300 each), but figured that we would do our best and if we made it...great...and if not, at least the money would go to the charity that is trying to eliminate what Jen suffered through.

So here we are....we went to the meeting on Saturday and each of us signed up to participate in this fantastic event. I finally have a chance to be with Jen as she goes through this tough walk....to help her in anyway that I can or that I wanted to while I sat in my PA hotel room after work.....to offer her encouragement while I walk next to her rather than over the phone from Pennsylvania to Arkansas.....to be there for her to cry on my shoulder rather than crying into her pillow at night when I was not there.

We will be training for this event starting now.....60 miles is a long way!!!

If you can help me out with my donation requirement, I would greatly appreciate it!!

Wii & Hula Hoops are Great!!!

Ok......my mom got the kids a Wii for Christmas. With the Wii we also got a Wii Fit board and associated game. This gift has turned out to be a blast for the entire family!!! You can do certain activities and the Wii Fit game will tell you your "Wii Age", weight, BMI, and other things that one in not so good of shape doesn't want to know. Among the various games are a set of Balancing games, one of which is a Hula Hoop game. Yesterday, Jen decided to get her Wii Fit workout in and performed various workout activities such as Ski Jumping, Slalom Skiing, Jogging.....and Hula Hooping. I must say that it was very interesting to watch the Hula Hoop exercise from my perspective which is behind her sitting on the couch....I have not seen her move like that in a very long time.....brought a smile to my face :-)

Hopefully we can all get in better shape and do so while having fun with this Wii system!!

I Love My Puppy

I have a puppy who is almost a year old now and her name is Sookie. We got her from an animal rescue because I figured that there were lots of dogs out there that needed a home, so we picked Sookie. I cannot tell you how much joy she has brought to our family.......and also frustration. When anyone comes home, Sookie always meets them at the door with a full body-wag and lolling tongue....I have yet to see Jen or the kids come home and not smile when Sookie greets them at the door.

I will talk about the frustration part later on because it is not as important.

Here is a picture of me and my favorite puppy!!!
(notice she is smiling)

I'm Back!!!!!

Hey All:

I have been inspired by reading some other blogs by friends of mine to restart my blogging efforts!!! A big "thank you" goes out to Jennifer (my spousal unit), Alex Stenman and Jon Stolpe for providing me with a new zeal for keeping up with this blog.

Sometimes Your Jenni, Sometimes Your the BUG!!

So I am sitting in the family room one afternoon a week ago and I hear footsteps stomping around upstairs just before KT and Jen come downstairs yelling about a giant bug that was in the guestroom where Jen does the ironing. While I am trying to listen to both of them talk at once, I pick up words like: Huge / Weird / Tons of Legs / Gigantic / Fast / and so on and so on and so on.

Now I am nice and comfy in the Chair, so I decide to pass the honor of "Ultimate Bug Killer" on to Taylor as a Rite of Passage type thing. So Taylor heads up the stairs with the girls behind him.....I hear more stomping around and then all three of them are back in the family room and I start hearing things like: "I have never seen anything like it!" / "It had so many legs!!!" / "That thing was giant!!".........and then I hear the inevitable...."It got away!!!!!".

So now I am thinking, "that is just wonderful, I get to go in search of the illusive alien bug.....great!!". I get up head upstairs on my quest for the hideous monster........and nobody is following me.......which tells you a little something there doesn't it, "you go dad...we gotcha covered from down here". I started removing clothes from the bed that were ready to be ironed, shook each one out and no alien. I then removed the blanket from the bed and shake it out.......still no blasted bug. By this time Jen has ventured upstairs to see if I have been taken hostage by said bug and removed to the mother-ship for a good a thorough probing. I ask her, "how big was this bug, I can't find it anywhere?". Jen responds that it was "as big as my pinkie finger!!".

So now I am thinking that it should not be to hard to see.....I get down on the floor and see something run towards the wall......I yank the bed away from the wall and stare at this "alien". I killed it and took the following picture with my phone so that you can see for yourself just how "strange" and "big as my pinkie finger" this bug actually was..........the coin in the picture is a dime so that you can get some type of size comparison.

All I have to say is this.......Jen's pinkie finger is wwwaaaaaaayyyyyy bigger than this little bug!!!

Once again ........ Jen is all mine and I love her immensely for things just like this :-)

"Middle Name MeMe Answers"

I have consulted with my blog specialist and she has informed me that a "meme" is when you have to come up with an "acrostic" for your middle name that sort of describes you........

I will give it a go:

N = Nice - I try to be a nice person, considerate of others and kind. Sometimes I am successful and sometimes I am not.....depending on the day, it is a precarious balance :-)

E = Enthusiastic - when I want to be. If it has to do with playing guitar, watching baseball or hockey, or anything else that I have an interest in, I am pretty energetic and enthusiastic. If it is something that I "have" to do, then my enthusiasm can wane.

A = Attentive - I like to think that I am attune to my surroundings.....the needs of my wife and family, my friends, my staff and co-workers, etc. Sometimes I "read" things wrong and that upsets me, but Jen will usually straighten me out when I get something wrong.

L = Lovable - I have been called a big teddy bear by countless folks and what is more lovable than a teddy bear! I try to show that I care for people because I actually do. I apparently have the body shape, voice and hair of a bear....so I have also been told.

Well there you have it......a little about me!!!

Enjoy?

By the way........please be patient with me as my blog specialist (....yes it is Jen again!!!) teaches me proper blog etiquette.....like she just told me that I am supposed to visit others sites who comment on mine and leave comments as well.......I have committed this pearl of wisdom to memory :-)

Tagged!!!!!!

I have been tagged for a "meme" by radioactive girl....hhhmmmm, I will have to follow my "tagger's" advice and consult with my Blog Specialist (that would be Jen). Radioactive girl's blog picture looks cute....I think I like her!!

As you can see, I have not had time to fool with my site or add a new entry other than this one. I have been busy and promise to get to it as soon as I can....maybe this weekend??? We shall see!!

My best to all :-)