We had so much fun this weekend! Thanks to all who cooked, cleaned, burned Tureky, clogged the drain, climbed on the roof, and to everyone else who made the experience what it was. I thought I would share some of the photos
I have posted them all on Kodak and emailed them to the rogers-clan email but you can also click on the link above. Here are some of the best!

Mom's Epitaph

I woke up early in the morning yesterday, and I was thinking about Dad's epitaph: "He taught us how to love." That really did seem to me to honor the best of what Dad did for us; I couldn't think of anything that would say it better.

The longer I thought about what Mom did that was the same and what she did that was different, I kept thinking that she didn't do that much different. It was the same love that she showed us, and the same model.

But it didn't seem right to say Mom's contribution was "ditto," either explicitly or by implication.

I kept laying there thinking and thinking and thinking. Then it came, really clearly. Dad taught us how to love, Mom loved us. Just the way he taught us to love.

It feels really right to me, but I'm certainly willing to consider other options.

Thanks to Vanessa, I've put up a poll for all of us to contribute opinions.

....

Like Doug, I was/am very grateful for the celebration. I'm looking forward to Christmas.

Mark

Thanks to All!

I just wanted to say "Thanks" to everybody for the celebration. My crew really enjoyed it. Maybe we missed the opportunity to voice our gratitude, but I am grateful nevertheless...
I'm grateful for the men who are my brothers.
I'm grateful for the women that have married into and become part of our family.
I'm grateful for all of the children born into our clan (even though they had no choice).
I'm grateful that we all want to be family.
I'm grateful we celebrated at the house on Savannah, even though it wasn't the same.
I'm grateful it was a "Rogers" experience (stove fire, clogged drain, and lost tables--oh my!).
I'm grateful for the parents that loved us.
Thanks be to God for "new mercies" morning by morning.
Doug

Forwarded from Susie M, (Kay's sister)

NINE WORDS WOMEN USE

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are
right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour.
Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more
minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something,
and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing
usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement
often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an
idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing
with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women
can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard
before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say
you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless
she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking
you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' . That will bring on a
'whatever').

(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying F--- YOU!

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning
this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but
is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's
wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

* Send this to the men you know, to warn them about arguments they can
avoid if they remember the terminology.

* Send this to all the women you know to give them a good laugh, 'cause
they know it's true!!!

Thanksgiving Day

What time are we planning on eating??

Jacob

Kyle has renamed Jake to either Jacob or Jaque because he is a cat and needs a sophisticated name. Just so everyone knows, Jake has been transformed from a feral rodent, ghost like creature to a very lovable feline. I love him! He is still jumpy but he loves to hang out with us all day long, is very affectionate and currently he is trying to help with the typing of this message. In fact he has pressed so many keys on my keyboard, he has changed something about the way some of my arrow keys work and not for the better so if any of you computer nerds... I mean geeks... I mean geniuses can help with that, I would be eternally grateful. All of this to say that Jaque is a changed cat, and although there is a possiblity that no one will witness it since he doesn't like crowds nor the small white guard dogs that have taken over the house, I thought you all should know.

Tonic Sol Fa

This is a link to the website for Tonic Sol Fa, the group I mentioned in my earlier post. On the green Christmas album listen to Grace.

http://www.tonicsolfa.com/

Thanksgiving Baking

In my book, the holiday has begun. I have been up since 7 am this morning, baking. Those of you who share the early morning gene passed down from our father can appreciate that I felt as if I had slept in this morning. However, I have blissfully measured, mixed, baked, cooled and wrapped pumpkin bread, bananna bread, chocolate chip cookies and the final batch of oatmeal walnut raisin cookies is in the oven. To keep my ears happy I have sung along with my newest Christmas album, Christmas by Tonic Sol Fa. This acapella group is five guys who seem to be having a blast singing together. Actually, the last batch of coookies is cooling on the racks. Now to wait for the kitchen fairies to come clean the kitchen. (I do believe in fairies, I do believe in fairies..)Crystal, I am forever in your debt, parchment paper on the cookie sheets makes life easy. I feel like I'm cheating.

Today has been a typical Rogers production. Despite planning for today for most of a week I have had to make a return run to the grocery store and a trip to Walmart. The grocery store run was for cinnamon that I thought I had decided not to buy last night. Upon my return, I discovered I had thought better and bought the cinnamon. I now have enough cinnamon for the next two years. Anyone need cinnamon? The Walmart trip was made necessary when my mixer went haywire. Have you ever seen what happens when a mixer tosses a blade? I can tell you my mixer tossed the blade over my shoulder and tossed pumpkin bread batter onto every surface of my kitchen including the ceiling. How many baking projects require you to get the ladder out to clean off the ceiling?

With all the chaos, you might think I would be discouraged. Think again, I have had a great time and laughed, sung, and danced all morning. Hey, I'm methodist now, we're allowed. I can't wait to see you all and share the bounty.

Super easy delicious salmon!

I just wanted to share a "recipe" that we recently tried. It's not even really a recipe per say. We were watching a fishing show and it was followed by a "cooking" show. If that's what you call "Cooking with Smokee Joe." Anyway, Joe was going to grill some salmon. He took equal parts of maple syrup and lite soy sauce, mixed them together in a bowl, dunked the salmon fillets in the mixture and placed them on the hot grill. Cooked 5 minutes on each side. It seemed SO simple and I had been craving salmon anyway that we decided to try it that night. Now, my husband and son are NOT very big fish fans, but they couldn't get enough! It was so delicious! And we bought the "cheapest" fresh salmon at HEB. We also brushed some of the maple/soy mixture on some fresh asparagus and that was very good as well. I encourage everyone who even likes fish a little to give it a try!

We are in Lubbock

We are currently in Lubbock. We came to pick up my grandmother and her dog for Thanksgiving. We got off to a late start today, first we rolled out of bed 45 min. later than the alarm. Jake also tried to rouse us, for his breakfast but when we showed no signs of moving, he decided to crawl under the covers with us. Then we had a TON of dishes to do, we put them off way too long. (Not us!) And then we had to go for a run, which caused another sneezing attack! ayaiyai! Afterwhich we looked up the nearest library with which to check out a book on CD for the ardeous journey, but the library closest to us was of course CLOSED! Then we had to drive to another library across town. Ugg. I hate it when things like that happen. That library trip was successful. We listened to The Adventures of Huckle Berry Fin. Very entertaining, and PG. Last time we came to pick up my grandmother, the book we picked out, unbeknownst to us, had a ton of cussing-something my grandmother does not look on kindly on. I think we are safe with Huckle Berry Fin except for the use of one particular word starting with an N.

On another note, I have put up a poll to the right hand side about whether we should make the blog private to only the blog authors. Cast your vote! I am so excited, I have really been wanting to find a use for this poll gadget and I finally found one! Can't wait to see everyone!

I'm Here

Hey Guys!
I'm here finally. Already enjoyin readin' posts! Just letting y'all know I'm finally on!

As I write this, I'm preparing to go tutor my high school senior for two hours. We meet five days a week to work on her reading and vocabulary skills. She's preparing to take her SAT, but came in and tested on a pre-k level for reading. She was reassessed this week and she is now on a 7th grade level. I'm so proud of her! I love working with her because she's got a great attitude and works hard. This is one of my "mini" jobs I have for now.

My other three month gig now is to be the pianist for the high school senior musical. We started at the beginning of the month and we'll perform at the end of January-early Feb. They're doing "Bye Bye Birdie". Fun musical. I just didn't think about the fact that I would have to learn 145 pages of music. So I"m carving out at least an hour a day, most days to practice. This music is different that other music I've played before, so it's new a challenging in many ways.

I'm enjoying working with a different age group too. I've never worked with high school kids before. It's a nice change from kindergarten.

Probably the biggest disadvantage is rehearsals are from 5:00-8:00 in the evening. I get to see the kids home and started on homework, then I'm out the door. It's a very different schedule for our family.

David is glad football is over. He had a good season as a player. He's in choir this year and was chosen to be in the district honor choir. Unfortunately, they rehearsed and performed the same week as homecoming. But I got to see him dressed up alot that weekend. The boy cleans up real good!

Elizabeth gets creative assignments for bonus points in some of her classes. The latest was in science. They have been studying cells. Anyone who made an edible cell, with the parts labeled would get extra points. On her own, she created a loveley and colorful cell cake. Dee Dee would have been proud.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving!

My responses

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper

2. Real tree or Artificial? Recent convert to artificial, pre-lit with white lights

3. When do you put up the tree? The week of Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down? New Year's Day

5. Do you like eggnog? No.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A real watch when I was nine.

7. Hardest person to buy for? People I feel obligated to buy for at work usually

8. Easiest person to buy for? Blaine and Dalton

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? e-mail, no mess

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A diet book

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Scrooge and It's a Wonderful Life

13. When do you start shopping? Week of Thanksgiving

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Tamales, Queso

16. Lights on the tree? Pre-lit is the only way and white lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home for Christmas Eve and Day, but I enjoy going to see family over the holiday school break.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes, I can even sing the intro to Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a golden dove

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Custody orders

23. Favorite ornament on the tree? All of them

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Time to reconnect with the boys

Okay, I'm new to the blog-o-sphere. How do we invite Blaine to join? His email is king.of.trumpets@gmail.com . Can somebody invite him?

Getting Into The Holiday Spirit

I received this in an email and just thought it would be fun. Feel free to copy and post your answers. ~Chrissi~

Welcome to the Holiday edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you......Tis the Season to be NICE!
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I really prefer paper, but bags are easiest.

2. Real tree or Artificial? REAL REAL REAL!!! I have to have that Christmas tree smell!

3. When do you put up the tree? Some time in December, whenever we can afford to get one.

4. When do you take the tree down? Whenever we get around to it after the new year. LOL

5. Do you like eggnog? No.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My cats Jack and Angel when I was about 10. Then when I was 17 it was my hope chest that my hubby made me.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Hmmm...probably my mom. I always want to get her something great but never can afford it!

8. Easiest person to buy for? Caleb

9. Do you have a nativity scene? YES!! I finally have the most wonderful nativity! I LOVE IT!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail is always better than email.

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Don't know.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I don't know...I still love the Grinch Who Stole Christmas...the cartoon one...I can't stand the Jim Carrey one.

13. When do you start shopping? When I can afford to.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, but only ones from my boss.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Homemade decorated sugar cookies.

16. Lights on the tree? Have to have lights. But I usually get stuck with putting them on.

17. Favorite Christmas song? O' Holy Night and Carol of Bells

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? I prefer to stay at least in my home town. But don't mind traveling to see family now and then either.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? ANGEL

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Normally Christmas morning, but this year may be different since Asher has to work Christmas day.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? 1st how people tend to overlook Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas. The radio started playing Christmas music on Nov. 1st here! 2nd would be the pushy and cranky shoppers....Remember the reason for the season!

23. Favorite ornament on the tree? Caleb's baby's first Christmas or really anything he made.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To just be happy and healthy and surrounded by family and good friends.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Mommy, Jean, Anna

27. Who is least likely to respond to this? Asher

BAM!!!

I'm here...and it took no great convincing, just a quick e-mail what said this existed.

I'm almost done with the institution known as school. Just 2 research papers and 3 finals...graduation invitations, moving out of my apt, and hiring my student worker replacement...tis a bit daunting written out like this. That's why i keep it all vague and unstructured as a general rule. Plans after graduation are equally vague, to minimize the stress, but sadly do not include the Peace Corps. Latest thoughts are: hang out in Poland and bum off my friend who is offering an empty room in his apartment...put that degree to good use.

Been kinda ill lately. I blame all the filthy people what think they live with me. Went home for some TLC long enough to get Douglas and sivarT sick but we all seem to be on the mend now...maybe, I haven't actually talked to them...i just assume.

Tis a short random post thing just to say "BAM!! im here! (Thus the title)" but alas must go to a silly shift leader meeting where we will talk about the proper way to clean holds and how to make people feel "more comfortable" as they dangle 50 feet in the air. thats what I do on a daily basis: clean holds and dangle people.

Can't wait to see the lot of you...bai!

Where is everyone staying??
Mark and I will be in Sun. evening and are staying at the house with Kyle and Vanessa through Thursday - leaving for N. Padre Friday.
Keith and family are staying at a hotel.
Tim and family are staying with Russell.
Doug - house?

Yeah!

Well at least all the brothers are on now!! Glad DWR finally made his way to the site :). I find it quite funny that the most published of the brothers is the last to get on.

I am planning to do the turkey and bread dressing and I want to make homemade yeast rolls - the recipe from Don Strange!
Mark and I will be there either Sun. night or Monday and head to N. Padre Friday.
Looking forward to seeing everyone.
Kay

Okay, so I'm finally here!

Well after searching my "junk file" folder, I found an invitation to the blog. I've been communicating via the email list, so I thought I was a member of the group all along (no comments about senior moments or absent-minded profs).

Vanessa, Trav's email is trog91@gmail.com. He promises he will sign on when you send him an invitation. I'll work on Austin, but if Jessica can't get him to do it, there's not much hope for me.

Here at BU we are all celebrating that the Bears beat the Aggies on the football field, that the Lady Bears basketball team beat the #2 ranked Stanford Lady Cardinal, and that the men's basketball team won today as part of ESPN's 24-hours of basketball! That much winning in one week is more than Waco knows how to handle.

Just in case you haven't heard about the Lady Bear's #1 ranked recruiting class for next year--you should check out Brittany Griner on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuDfRzY2Vqw). She'll be playing at BU next year and the coaches are already drooling!

See you all in SA next week. We're bringing a potato casserole, but can do any other alternative.

Mind numbing

A little background work is in order to tell this short story:
So my mom is a psychologist. Last January she changed offices. She had been at her previous office, which will be refereed to as Dr. B's office for something around 16 years. Her new office is amazing, it is closer, they collect all of her bills and she pays like half of the price. It is a shame however that she did not move sooner because, after the move she realized that her old office with Dr. B did not collect the money effectively, in fact, the accountant that she had look at her previous accounts said that it was the most disorganized crazy mess that she had ever witnessed. There are bills that were not collected from the first year that she was there, 16 years ago. All in all she estimates she lost btwn $100-$200 thousand dollars working there from uncollected bills.
Today my mom calls and says I am her new bill collector. I can only collect from 2007 or newer since insurance companies will not redeem anything after a year. I showered, put on jeans, and tennis shoes to learn how to be a bill collector at this really prestigious accounting office.

After 30 minutes of training, I was ready for the mindnumbing work of listening to a automated machine for hours of fun! I was hung up on at least 7 times, after it, the automated computer I was communicating with, decided that I wasn't pressing the appropriate buttons. After 3 hours, I nearly went crazy! Remind me never to become a bill collector!

Mom's Spaghetti

I made mom's spaghetti tonight...I cried while opening the tomato paste.

I sure do miss her!

Keith

A Wild Week

I want to add my thank you to Vanessa for coming up with the idea of a Rogers blog. Having just read the blog entries to date, I feel as if I am a least current with most of you.

Two events have dominated the last week. First, Last weekend Dalton turned six. We enjoyed a party at the Putt Putt funhouse! He got to decorate his own cake with candy! It does not seem possible that he could be six. Despite a difficult start to Kindergarten, Dalton now seems to be thriving. A teacher change seems to have transformed Dalton's attitude about school (and at least delayed onset of ulcers for his Dad).

The second major event of the week was the purchase of a new computer for my home. A week of researching and comparison shopping delivered a sweet new machine to my desktop. The funny thing about the new hardware is how much Blaine has been teaching me about the system. I have watched in amazement as we hooked up iTunes and downloaded music to the new computer. I was proud of the new CD playing in the car since I had figured out burning the music to CD all on my own. Watching Blaine has been the best fun of the new system. He can carry on 3 separate private chats, monitor the public chat, listen to music, eat dinner, and do homework simultaneously. Hypertasking is the word that best describes how he uses the machine. I think the machine should be smoking once he signs off.

As for Thanksgiving...I should be in on Wednesday before dinner with the boys. We are going to stay at Russell's house. I thought we would bring pumpkin bread, bannana bread, and chocalate chip cookies.

Has anyone thought of a general schedule for the weekend. Other things that I would like to include:

A trip to see the lights on the riverwalk

Playing a game of putt putt at Coolcrest

Maybe some shopping

Bowling

Any other ideas?

Eulogy for a friend's bitchy mother.

Kathleen is a good friend from Pathways who does what a stage manager would do for us during our training events. Her mother died - after 17 long, arduous, painful days of semi-lucidity - last Monday, nearly exactly one month after Mom's passing.

She asked me to deliver the eulogy, after confirming with Kay that I could be up to it.

I was glad to do it, because it was a really tough situation for a funeral, and that's become kind of my specialty over the years. I do the services for murdered college students, suicides, crazy people, and - as of yesterday - really bitchy mothers.

Kathleen and her daughter told me that her mother had been completely self-centered, harshly critical, emotionally unavailable, and just a total bitch for most of the last fifty years.

And the funeral would be the first time that Kathleen and her brother had been together since she confronted him a couple years ago about molesting her during her adolescence.

It would be the first time the other family members would be in the mother's presence for about 10 years.

This is not what you would call a close family.

To make it even more ... interesting ... Kathleen and Carey asked that I not sugar-coat things. Kathleen had worked on the staff of a church for some years, and Carey's father had been a preacher, once upon a time, so they had heard the pastoral platitudes that turn confirmed sinners into supposed saints. And they really, really didn't want that. So they asked me to not whitewash things. They asked that I say something truthful, and still be positive, somehow.

(I put my notes in the first comment, if you want to know how I wriggled through that particular briar patch.)

It made me very grateful for the mother I had and for the family I've got.

Kathleen told Kay, she fully expected that this ceremony would be the last time that her family would be together. Afterwards, there were no hugs, they didn't get together to eat or tell stories or play games, or anything. There was more affection given between the Pathways folks who were there, and between Kathleen and her co-workers, than between the members of the family.

I was sad for them, and the echo from a month ago was sweeter than I can say. Sad, too, but sweet.

I'm here!

OK, I'm here...but I have to laugh at those of you who have been trying to get us to sign up on this blog, on the blog. Do you realize that it's kinda like talking to yourself? Anyway, I'm here and will encourage the rest of my family to join in. For any of you who need my email address, here it is: krogers009@comcast.net. I now have a Gmail account as well, but I won't be checking it as often.

Anyway, about Thanksgiving, we had volunteered to bring the fruit salad and dressing, and will be glad to bring anything else. We will be showing up sometime on Wednesday, and leaving on Friday. We expect to be staying at a hotel, but we're wondering where everyone else was staying?

I'm not much of a blog contributor, I'm more of a blog voyeur, so if you don't hear from me much it isn't because I'm not listening. I'll try to contribute enough to let you know that I'm here. Thanks for putting this together Vanessa!

i thought UTEP was just trying to scare us when they told us to say goodbye to our beds when we began this program, but they were not joking at all! the last three weeks have been absolutely INSANE! between clinical, class, studying, tutoring and breathing, i can't think of anything else i have been doing since i have seen you all.

after two rotations through clinical, i still feel like i have no idea what i am doing most of the time. give me a written test, and ill ace-it with no problem, but jeez, coordinating all the things nurses do with their hands is killing me. Usually they have sixteen things in their hands and are unscrewing lids to some highly caustic chemical with the pinky of one hand and cutting off bandages on some gnarly wound with the other- and all this time carrying on two entirely different conversations - one with me and one with the patient. i am trying to work on my ambidexterity, but mostly i just feel like a fool. another thing i am trying to adjust to is the amount of crap they expect us to carry around in our pockets. i have the entirety of the store room on my person at all times - it makes bending over, without making a huge mess, an almost impossible task!

in our spare time we sit around and practice starting IVs on each other. this picture is from our very first practice session. these particular needles were "borrowed" from some lab at school. later we found out that the reason they were not locked away with the other needles is because they were not sterile and had expired years ago - - OOPS!! lucky for us, no one got an infection - we've been more selective with our borrowing since then!

unfortunately, that was my first and last successful IV start. since then, i have totally jacked-up a couple patient's veins - the technical term is "blowing a vein" - not wanting to hurt any more patients unnecessarily, i decided to practice on myself - that didn't work out too well either - i blew my own vein...who does that?? needless to say, i need a lot of practice -- ill be accepting volunteers over thanksgiving, so prepare yourselves!!

love you all - very very much!!

Just so we are all clear on Thanksgiving plans:
Our decorations are going to be like this right?Who is going to bring the fresh flowers for the center piece :)

No, but seriously here is the list I have assembled for things people have stated (on the blog) that they are bringing.

Thanksgiving List
Mark, Kay- Turkey and cornbread dressing
Russel- mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and peach cobbler
Chrissi- apple pie, green bean casserole

We can bring an appetizer, and either a sweet potato dish or fruit salad. I don't know if anyone else has claimed other dishes off of the blog.

What else is missing?
rolls
there have to be other dishes we are forgetting....
Who is making this mandatory cake?
Can't wait!

Followers

Don't forget, ya'll can become followers of our blog too so that it looks like we are popular :)

My daughter can attest to the fact that I truly hate bad service at stores and resteraunts. I do every thing I can to avoid going back to those places where I've been ingnored or treated badly. Which brings me to the point of this post. One of my responsabilities since Mom died is to keep up with her bills and try to close accounts as necessary. On Oct. 25, I paid Mom's Discover card bill in full. On Oct. 30, I recieved a letter from a debt collection agency informing me that they had been hired by Discover to collect Mom's outstanding debt. When I called the company Patrick, the gentleman I spoke with, informed me that when an account holder dies Discover immediately turns over the account for collection. He told me that they had received my payment and there was no outstanding debt. Now here's the kicker, the bill wasn't due until Nov. 12. It was not that the payment was late or a great amount of money. It was simply that Mom had died, so they turned over the account for collection. I work for one of the largest corporations on the planet and even I cannot imagine what kind of heartless bureaucrat could devise such a policy! With all the stress of dealing with some one passing, the last thing anyone needs is a collection agency knocking on the door. I don't fault the agency or Patrick, their representative, for doing their job. Even he admitted that someone should have caught the fact that the bill had been paid and no letter should have been sent. I DO fault Discover Card for a truly horrendous policy. If I had their card I would close the account immediately. As it stands, I will never do business with them.

Thanks for letting me rant. Mom used to have to listen to this kind of stuff from me all the time.

Alright everyone the eldest cousin has jumped on the blogging bandwagon. I will see what I can do about getting my macho, "face-to-face" hubby on here as well. So, before I update everyone on the Fink Family I've read through the previous postings and have some comments...

Thanksgiving: I of course will provide the fabulous (and mandatory) apple pie and green bean casserole, because unlike my father, plain green beans are an every day occurance and I like the crunchy onions dang-it. We are obviously in town and can be over at any time. Asher will be working but may be able to swing in for a bite if work allows. In the event that my aunt and uncle from Houston on my mother's side do not come in for the holiday we will probably be bringing Nanny along with us.

Halloween: Vanessa asked for costume pictures...I will attempt to add some to the end of this post. Asher did not dress up, no big surprise there. I had a greek goddess gown that, now that I see the pictures, made me look much more pregnant than I actually am! Caleb wore black BDU's, a tactical vest and a swat hat and carried around his new M4 airsoft rifle he got for his birthday. If the picture actually posts the strange woman in the devil horns is the mother of one of our best friends.

Ok, Fink family updates... The one thing that consumes nearly every conversation and thought is of course the pregnancy. Well, we will hit 22 weeks this coming Friday. For those of you that don't know the average pregnancy is 40 weeks long so we are over the hump and on the downhill slide! I have been fairly sick with this one. Not as severly as I was with Caleb but for a much longer amount of time. The good news is I think I'm going on about 2 weeks without throwing up which is a wonderful thing! We had our 20 week ultrasound on Nov. 3rd. I wrote about it on my myspace blog so I'm just going to copy and paste here if you don't mind!

----On Monday we had another doctors appt and 20 week ultrasound to check growth, etc. First they weighed me and I gained 2 lbs. That makes 5 total but in reality I'm still at -6 since I lost 11 lbs in the first trimester. I have to say this ultrasound wasn't as thrilling as Caleb's. I feel like I didn't get to see as much and we never got a glimpse of the face or profile. The doc did his measurements and the baby is measuring a week ahead which is totally normal since we all knew Asher and myself do not make small babies! Well, even though we had said we didn't want to find out the sex the temptation was too strong and we asked to know. Well wouldn't you know that the little goober wouldn't show! He or She is definitely a Fink in that they wanted to be difficult and show us who is boss (for now). LOL. The doctor thought he saw something that could have been a penis but since the kiddo squirmed so much we didn't get a clear view. And having a clear view of one before (Caleb was spread eagle) I am not convinced in the least that that is what we saw. I'm not giving up that there is the remote possibility that there is a girl in there still! However, we did kick up the boy name discussion again since we have about 4 girl names already. I do want to be prepared and not struggling at the end with a poor nameless baby boy. During the appt there was only one tiny cause for concern. My placenta is lying a little low. It's not over my cervix which is great news. And it is very likely that with the continued stretching of my uterus that the placenta will move upward with it. The good news is that since they have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't become a complete previa I get another ultrasound in 8 weeks to check which means another chance to see our little wiggle worm. And that is exciting!-----

I'm afraid there isn't much else going on in our little world right now. Asher is working as much as possible. Caleb is dealing with the trials and tribulations of adolesence. And I'm going nuts trying to name this kid! We have 4 girl names that we are considering... Vivienne, Savannah, Lyla, and Presley. Boys we are having more trouble with. Our extensive list includes Beau and Tanner...WE NEED HELP! If anyone has boy name suggestions please let us know!

YouTube history

Watching Obama's acceptance speech - and especially the closeup of Jesse Jackson's tears - I thought it would be cool to have a recording. Don't have the liveTV TIVO on the Verizon FIOS that we used to have on Dish, but I suddenly remembered we are in the 21st century. The internet will record everything, forever. Then I thought, I bet someone has posted good youtube moments of the history we've seen growing up. Sure enough, I found lots, especially this compilation that covers all the Boomer history!

1944 D-Day
1945 Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki
1879-1955 Albert Einstein
1963 Martin Luther King - "I have a dream"
1963 Assassination John F. Kennedy
1969 Neil Armstrong - Moonlanding
1969 Woodstock - Jimmy Hendrix
1974 Nixon resigns after Watergate scandal
1959-1975 Vietnam War
1986 Nuclear disaster Chernobyl
1986 Maradona - "Hand of God"
1989 China - "Tank Man"
1989 Fall Berlin Wall
1990 Release Nelson Mandela from prison
1991 Operation Desert Storm
1993 Oslo Accords
1998 Lewinsky scandal
2001 9/11 Terrorist attacks
2003 Fall regime Saddam Hussein
2004 Mars Exploration Rover
2004 Madrid terrorist train bombings
2006 Zidane - "Headbutt"

There's a lesson here I think

So after the Wine and Food festival was over, Vanessa and I were walking to the car when I realized that I really had to go. I should have gone before we left and I even commented that to myself but really, only women think of such things before the need arises. So I had a decision to make. We were roughly equidistant between the clean, comfortable and civilized bathrooms back at the festival and the thick brushy field/treeline next to the river. I have come to realize that when it comes to such situations, my inner manliness, that is often suppressed, finds it's way out. So with a grunt of affirmation, I headed for Man's true toilet, the bush. I found a nice spot with ample cover from the other festival goers and did my business. I was wearing my cowboy boots that, for any of you that have worn a pair know, give you the superhuman ability to stomp through anything with a sense of invulnerability. I think this only comes to those of us with a y in our chromosomal makeup. So as I stomped back through the brush I saw a log in front of me and being filled with pride for having displayed my masculinity I thought, "must stomp log too." As I did three things happened seemingly all at once. The first thing, which triggered the next two was that I heard a noise that is only produced by two things in this world, a maraca and a rattlesnake. The chances of there being a mariachi lying in the grass next to the log I just stomped were pretty slim so I assumed it to be the later. The next thing that happened at seemingly the same time was that my superhuman boots allowed me to jump a superhuman distance away from snake, which looked to me to be about 18 feet long. Most rattlesnakes don't grow over 6 feet anymore but at the time I would have sworn it had tripled in size. The third thing that happened seemingly simultaneously was that, as the snake rattled, and I leaped into the air, every bit of the pride I had just felt, every ounce of my elevated masculinity disintegrated in a fraction of a second as I let out a scream that would have rivaled any twelve year old girl's. Thus, what started off as my manly moment of the week, ended in me screaming like a ninny, running from the wilderness to the safety and comfort of my Toyota Corrola. Good thing I have no shame left anyways.

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving and realized I may have panicked some of you. Relax, Jessica, of course I'm doing a peach cobbler. Tradition is tradition.

Our week

Our week
Wed- Kyle drove to San Marcos to take his test. We still don't know the score, but Kyle is pretty sure that he kicked butt and took numbers.

Thurs- Was a typical study day, wake up, Kyle studies, Vanessa writes and wastes time trying to become educated in the blogger sphere. Way too much to learn! In over my head.

Proof of Kyle studying (three years ago)

Friday- After studying, Kyle, the Fink-Rogers and I hang out with some mutual friends, Cory and Amber. The game is Cranium. We have three teams, Chrissi and me, Asher and Kyle and Amber, Cory and Calab. Chrissi and I are victorious but show mercy to our opponents. There was a particularly funny instance however that I would like to share with you. There is a new catergory in Cranium that is similar to sharades except that it involves making one player into a puppet and having the other team members guess from the actions of the puppet. Asher was the puppetier and Kyle the puppet. The word Kyle needed to guess was fly fishing.

Kyle: (Asher moving Kyles hands to seem like fishing) I'm winding something... opening a jack in the box.. mixing in a mixing bowl.. (Asher making a pole movement with Kyle's hands)... fishing!(Asher indicates that this is correct and changes motion, flapping Kyle's arms up and down) my arms are waving... I'm flying?(sounding like an innocent little boy) I'm flying!...(Asher once again moves back to the fishing motion)..fishing, flying...FLY FISHING!

It was classic! So hilarious, we couldn't stop laughing, especially Calab.

Sat: Vanessa leaves Kyle at home to study and goes to Bourne to a market with her mom. I have award winning chili, strawberry lemonade and the devil itself, funnel cake!

Sun: Church with mom and aunt followed by Olive Garden and then Kyle and I drive to Cibalo Ranch and volunteer at the Wine and Food Festival as wine pourers. It is an event that costs $45 to attend, but we pay $5 for a wine glass and free tasting of wine and delicious food!! Yeah for an almost free dinner! Now Kyle is back to studying, he has a test Monday and Thursday! Should be another fun week!

Actually taken in Italy, but hey, it went with the post!

Sun. Nov. 9

Yeah, Russell, Blaine, and Jessica are on!! Come on guys if Jessica can take time out of her crazy schedule the rest of you can too! Where's the real computer geek - Travis?? We want to see your Halloween pictures.
Sorry I never saw DeeDee's will - my Dad only saw the old one when Harold died. No one from the Keith Rogers family is on the blog - what's up with that?
So looking forward to seeing everyone at Thanksgiving!! Kay

I'm On!

Well, I'm on! Cousin #4! I'll be posting a better blog after homecoming this weekend.

Thanks to Vanessa I'm here. All the others of you who said you were going to send me all the info about this blog...thhhhpppt. My only saving grace was the blogger queen herself. Thank you Vanessa. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving dinner without mashed potatoes, plain green beans(not a cassarole), and cranberry sauce. I'll supply those.

Yes, it's 5 am. I've been up awhile and am as coherent as I get. Get used to my early postings, this is the time I usually spend on the computer getting ready for work.

Talked to Jimmie Ruth last night. Fortunately, the biopsy proved NOT to be cancerous. Unfortunately, her problems seem to have been caused by her radiation treatments and appear to be permanent. She seems to be in pretty good spirits though.

I need all the brothers to let me know if they have read through the AVIVA packets and if we can all agree on a lump sum payment. Also, I need to know who all saw Mom's will before she passed. If you read the will at some point, we will need to know for probate since we can't locate the original.

my very first blog ever...

I wish it could be more exciting, but I spent the first 10 minutes of my self-allotted 15 minute study break trying to figure this thing out!!

Hope everyone else gets in on this too. I'll try peer pressure on those brothers of mine, but I can't make any guarantees that it will work!!

Gotta get back to the books!!

Halloween

I want to know what everyone dressed as for Halloween. Please post your pictures. To post a picture:
-in the Create a post
-there is a tool bar, next to the spell check there is a blue button, click that and follow instructions. Here is our Halloween photo:

update - Nov. 4

Well I have now talked to all of my brothers. Everyone is very interested in the blog - just didn't have a gmail account. All are getting them and promise to respond to the invite as soon as they get it. Thanksgiving plans are: Mark & Kay plan to go to SA on Monday, November 25. We will leave Friday, Nov. 28th for N. Padre. Everyone else will be coming at various times on Wed. 26th. Mark & Kay will be in charge of Turkey and dressing - looks like the vote is for bread dressing - sorry Crystal, and homemade rolls. Doug will do Holiday Potatoes (also known as "funeral potatoes"), Keith and Crystal will be in charge of fruit salad.
What would Russell, Chrissi & Asher, Tim, and Kyle and Vanessa like to contribute to Rogers dinner????
I did my civic duty - I voted!!!

Sunday Catch-up

Well it's 8:30 and so far I have talked to two of my brothers - Russell & Tim. They both assure me that they want to and will start contributing to the blog. Russell didn't know about it because I didn't have his correct email - I do now. Tim will be getting a new computer within the next week and will update his internet. He is behind the times as Blaine has been telling him - he thinks he bought his home computer before Blaine was born.

I for one am thrilled that UT lost - I really don't care who they are playing - I will even cheer for the Aggies over UT - until they quit messing around with my son and give him his due. He has given them more time, money, sweat, and tears than they deserve!! Look out Weird City of Austin if they give him any more trouble - Hurricane Carla Kay will descend and they won't know what hit them!!!
So who went trick-or-treating? Mark and I have a long standing tradition of going out for dinner and a movie on Halloween - since Kyle was old enough to do H. on his own. The best part of the movie (besides De Caprio of course) was seeing the birds eye view from the AWACS -spy satellite- yes they are real and I know how to spot them at night!! You can really see them on the island at my folks house!! It was a rough, bloody movie and I closed my eyes and covered my ears some. I get to choose the next movie.
Can't wait until everyone gets onboard here - I have faith that sooner or later all will - even Asher!!
Hugs to all. Kay

I am not either whipped....

But I do know when I am required to obey.

I'll wrassle anyone who casts aspersions on my masculinity -- and may I remind you all that there was a time when my eldest-sibling ninja skills were the source of abject terror -- despite the wearing of yellow socks, the complete subjugation of my affections to little white fluffy dogs, and a near total surrender of control over my daily activities to my wife.

I am required to obey. But I am not whipped. I am not. Not, I say.

Both my daughter-in-law and my wife say "Jump!"

I am in the process of saying, "How high, my dears?"

------------

Kay and I did our usual avoidance of Halloween activities on Friday p.m. We ate at Logan's Roadhouse -- I had steak and bake, while Kay sat and tried to enjoy her salmon while her tooth ached. (The fourth, yes, that's the right count, the fourth temporary crown had come off.)

I have decided that it's no fun to enjoy your steak when your wife's tooth aches. I think I may have a boundary problem, or maybe it's just that we really are one flesh.

And then we went to see "Body of Lies."

Russell Crowe must have put on forty or fifty pounds for the part; he looked like me, only with more hair. He was something like an ugly American, a tainted mentor. Leonardo diCaprio plays an Arabic-speaking operative working like Bond to court the beautiful woman while avoiding being the star of an internet youtube slasher-flick hosted by terrorists.

Lots of blood, torture, political operative-speak and double-speak. Explosions, chases, escapes, immersion in middle-eastern culture.

It was diverting enough, escapist enough to feel like you're being sortof educated while also caught up in action-thriller arousal.

But.

I'm remembering the last movie we went to see -- "Mamma Mia."
Kay and I were both singing the words to all the songs, grinning and giggling and groaning all through the thing. Much more involving. TOtally unrealistic, absolutely non-educational, but engrossing.

And then there's that movie I saw on cable, a couple nights ago. Didn't catch the name, but it used the same gimmick as MM; a story built around songs from a single group - the Beatles.
The musical numbers weren't staged like Broadway so much as MM. But the musical arrangements and the vocalists were wonderful, marvelous, so very, very nice. And the back-story - which was really the fore-story - was almost the plot of Hair.

So, essentially, the history of our generation. You know, 60's and 70's. The decades we didn't actually live like everyone else did.

But our cultural background. It feels like patriotism, watching the story of the boomers growing into whatever passed for early adulthood.

I get nostalgic for history we didn't experience all that directly.

And the contrast with having been with all you family, recounting all the history and reliving the culture we DID experience directly. Singing harmony, and remembering the stories we lived.

In this movie, the scene they sang "Let It Be" to was two funerals, one of a black kid and one of a brother killed in Vietnam.

Let it be.

mark

TTU BEAT UT!

SO... Last night Van and I went bowling with some of our friends. It was a ton of fun but ridiculously expensive! 7$ a person per game! Anyways, we were having a great time until someone pointed out that the game was on and UT had made a killer comeback in the last quarter. We were all ready expecting UT to loose but having them come back like that made it so much more painful to watch when TTU scored that last touchdown! Just thought you all should know that while I still have unresolved anger issues with "the Tower" I still have a little orange in my blood and, yes, one lone tear trickled down my face. A tear that was very quickly and easily wiped away I might add. :)