Weekly Email

Hi Mom,

I was busy last week. But mostly I just forgot :-(. Thanks for news on Tom Shrader's wife. I hadn't heard that. I'm still listening to his 'tapes' (CDs now really - but when I started listening they were cassette tapes :-).  They are a bit delayed so he hasn't mentioned anything in the current set of lessons I have in the car. She got to see a lot of things before she died - weddings and grandbabies. I know he thinks it's a celebration that she's with the Lord. But still hard. 

Theresa's next door neighbor, Paul Bowman, died last week as well.  He was an interesting individual - the obituary describes a lot of the things he did.  I was amazed at all the different jobs. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansascity/obituary.aspx?n=PAUL-BOWMAN&pid=154290889

We've had a couple of snows since I last wrote. The first one was 12" and the second one was 7". Both on Tuesday night into wednesday morning. They are predicting some more for this week too. It was really wet, heavy snow bringing down a lot of branches. We lost an aspen tree out front. And some minor limbs in the back. There were still alot of leaves on the trees that the snow yanked down. Now I need the snow to melt so I can rake leaves. 

Chloe had her first mandatory 'behind the wheel' lesson today. She has to take 6 hours total. 2 today, 2 on tues, and 2 on thurs - then she's done. come January she'll be set to get her license. The intructor said she did great and he had no doubt she could pass the test today. This is just a formality. We've been driving together a lot so she is ready. He said some kids come with no driving experience at all. 

Megan had a birthday party sleep over last night.  We don't usually do Sat/Sun sleep overs but it was a special occasion.  We went to her honor roll breakfast on Friday morning.  That was a fun way to honor her hard work and studies!

We talked with Steve and Julie last week to help them figure out flights for Christmas.  We'll probably be arriving and departing around the same time.  So, I'm not sure how we will sort out pickup and drop off for them.  It might have to be a shuttle.  But we'll figure it out.

Halloween last Monday was a pretty big deal as always.  I had to go out to BSF so I missed it.  But Chloe, Megan and friends did go out and cleaned up.  Theresa manned the home front and probably handed out over 400+ pieces of candy.  As I was going out, cars were parked up and down the main street bringing kids in from other neighborhoods.

We watched a cute movie last night - "The Perfect Game"- about a Mexican team that won the little league world series in 1957.

I cleaned out the 3rd bay of the garage.  I don't know if I told you but we are participating in a study through the University of Colorado on electric hybrid cars.  We get to drive a plug-in Toyota Prius for free for 9 weeks.  We just have to write about our experience in an online journal weekly.

I think it's been over 5 weeks on the new job now and it's going great.  I'm finally starting to feel a little more comfortable and making a contribution.  I still have a lot to learn.  But so far so good and I'm enjoying it.  I also got all the rulings from the state of Colorado for my Intrado unemployment claim and vacation pay... the big corporate america company wins - no unemployment pay, they sided with them and no vacation pay, once again siding with the company.  Intrado won but in the end I think they lost their humanity.  I should start a protest - 'Occupy Intrado' :-)  the "1%" sticking it to the worker.  Oh well - moving on.

Well that's all I know for know.  Good to catch up finally.  I still have to cram on my BSF for tomorrow night.

luv u,

Jeff

On Nov 2, 2011, at 6:49 PM, StuSherard@aol.com wrote:

Hi Jeff,

You have been busy----no update last weekend--------------------------------------??

I have been busy too.

You probably will get this notice by e-mail, but I just wanted to make sure you knew this sad news----Tom Shrader's wife died(cancer).  She lived 2 years beyond the 5 year time frame they gave her.  So sad!!!

I am wondering if you will get more snow this weekend(?)

Dad said the game at West Point(Fordham) Army 45-Fordham 0 was a white out & snow almost up to their knees!!!!

I hiked today---not long hike at all(beautiful weather--up the top of Mt. Lemmon)---went to prayer time at 3p.m. & now off to Gas Light Theater.  I will always remember going for the first time with you all to celebrate Stu's 40th birthday.  Theresa wanted to join up right then.  Do you remember it?

Time to go!!!  Bye, Mom

Weekly Email

Hi Mom.

Normal routine for the week :-)

I guess the things most fresh in my mind are...  We went to the Boulder High vs. Fairview football game on Friday night. Boulder got clobbered 38-3.  The big excitement of the night was 4 streakers racing across the field in the 3rd quarter.  Evidently they were Fairview students.  They got caught and were ticket for indecent exposure :-(



On Saturday morning Theresa and I went to a debt elimination seminar.  It was pretty interesting - a christian financial advisor, Bob Marette, taught the class.  His basic premise was to help you get out of debt (including your mortgage) in 3-5 years.  Our number was more like 10 years if we really followed his advice.  It definitely made us think and gave us some ideas to move forward with.

Chloe baby sat on Saturday morning and night.  Megan is starting to get over her soreness from the new braces.  Theresa went up to yarn shops in Ft. Collins with a friend on Friday morning.

We had amazing fall weather this weekend.  I got out for a bike ride and a run.  Watched a little football - CU getting crushed by Oregon, great Tebow comeback with the Broncos today.  I only saw the scores for Missouri and Kansas - not good.

Whew - that's all I know for now and it's late.  So, I'm headed to bed.

Luv u,

Jeff

Weekly Email

Hi Mom,

Happy Sunday night!  We got your post card yesterday - beautiful.  Hope you are having fun. Good on ya dad for keeping up :-)

We've had our normal routine week :-) BSF, girls night out, music practice/worship team, school, work, etc.

Chloe took the PSAT yesterday. She said the english part was easy and the math/science part was hard. We are working on Physics together for tutoring. I'm having to learn it all over again :-) She did go to the football game for a bit of fun on Friday night.

Megan has been working hard in school. It seems like she has way too much homework. She's been shopping on 29th St. with Clara for her fun.

3 weeks down on the job and it's going well. I got my first paycheck yesterday - that's nice to have in the bank!  Plus healthcare benefits have all kicked in.   Tomorrow Megan goes in for her braces - yikes - $5,400. My new insurance will cover $1,000 of it. That's better than before ($0). I'll get some pics posted of Megan's new HW.

I'm not sure where y'all are at right now or when you get home. Speak to you soon.

Luv u,

Jeff

Boulder Sunrise

Weekly Email

Hi Mom,

Time to get back in the swing.  Two weeks on the new job and it's going great!  There is a lot to learn and it will take time but I'm getting there.

I guess we had our first official snow yesterday.  It was more up in the mountains.  We had a cold rainy day all day and I think in the afternoon there may have been some big fluffy snow flakes.  But nothing that stuck down low.

Chloe went out to dinner with friends on Friday night and then went to see Moneyball.  Then she had two baby sitting jobs yesterday - one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Megan went to Anderson Farms for the corn maze and haunted house on Friday night, had a sleep over at Claras and then spent all day Saturday just hanging out with her.  She is on cat duty for our neighbors too while they are out of town.  Theresa and I ran a couple of errands in the morning and then cozied in all day out of the cold wet weather.

Today was a bit nicer but still cool.  I got the yard mowed and leaves picked up.  I also borrowed John's compressor to blow out my sprinkler system. Theresa had to work at the church this morning helping out with baptisms.  Afterward she and Chloe went to the Safeway to pick a few things up.

Tough day for all of our football teams yesterday :-(  I watched a little bit of Nebraska's come back against Ohio State last night.  I've been fast forwarding through the Broncos game today.  

We've watched a few movies the last couple of weeks.  We all went as a family last week to see Dolphin Tale (good) and then we've watched Rio (fun), The Town (average) and Thor (terrible) from Netflix.

I had BSF on Monday - week three in the book of Acts.  Theresa went to girl's night out with Desra on Tuesday.  We were all home on Wednesday night.  We both went to parent teacher conferences on Thursday night at Boulder High to meet with Chloe's teachers.

Well that's all I know for now.

luv u,

Jeff

B.H.S.

Lunch run