wil and kris (and gracie and ava)

hey…go to this jansport site, and click the ‘vote here’ bubble and vote for the champion and his burning flame! help them win and send them to the forecastle festival to play!

… it just makes me laugh.

today is julia’s birthday…you can read her story here, at the sizzow’s blog.

(sizzow=sister=dena)

we got a piano!

happy birthday and merry christmas to me, i got a stinking beautiful piano off of craigslist, and it moved into our home tonight!

i have been on this kick where i’ve been wanting a piano for some time…it’s the one thing i regret quitting as a kid, and with a friend who is practicing to do piano tuning as a side job, and another friend who plays beautifully and sometimes teaches, i really felt like i had the resources to introduce it back into my life. and even if i don’t, it’s a piece i wanted to have as a family and to possibly keep for a long time…if it was nice enough, to maybe keep in the future family.

for the latter, i didn’t expect that to happen, because with my budget of a hundred bucks or so and craigslist at my fingertips, i figured we’d just get something simple that needed a few repairs just for the sake of playing.

well, i saw a listing a couple nights ago, and although it didn’t have pictures, i emailed anyways. lo and behold it was a really pretty, in good shape (no dead keys or anything), piano and i was the first responder…and i got her 60 bucks below the price (i blew my budget and spent 240; but we both loved it from the pictures she sent).

upon picking it up, and moving it home, we found out it was not midcentury that she had said in the listing after all, but from 1895. just a cherry on the top! and the wood and carving is soo much prettier in person. even if i don’t play it, it’s great to look at. plus we got a funky little bench with it that i can’t wait to recover.

yay!wil is tinkering on it right now and i just love hearing it in the house! thank you mom, for raising me in a house where we heard you play throughout the day!

I’m proud of the company that I work for. We take pride in rewarding those who care enough to get involved with our community that is our country.

it’s bigger than coffee.

i finally put the rest of my pictures up from the family/birthdays weekend. enjoy the slideshow!

i finally decided who i am voting for…i’d honestly been undecided this whole time till about a week ago. and as much as wil and i would talk about our opinions, i wasn’t entirely sure of who he had decided on either. when bringing it up last night, i was happy to find out we are voting for the same person.

but it got me thinking about married couples who would be voting differently. men and women should most definitely be unique individuals with their own opinions and personalities…but when it comes to marriage, wouldn’t it be kind of a conflict of interest to fall on either side of the aisle?

• if you can’t agree on taxes, how can you deal with your finances together?
• if you can’t agree on abortion, how can you decide on birth control and pregnancy?
• if you can’t agree on education, how can you plan to educate and parent your children?
• if you can’t agree on energy/environment, how can you manage how you run your household & cars?
• if you can’t agree on foreign policy, what happens if your son or daughter is enlisted to fight?
• if you can’t agree on marriage rights, what does your marriage mean to both of you?

i am glad that as unique as wil and i are to each other, we are a team. now, lets get this vote over and find out who’s president!