S-O-D

I love these pictures of my men ... I slept in Saturday morning because I wasn't feeling well, and when I woke up and looked outside I see this scene - Ron and Eli in "do-rags" laying the sod. The "do-rags" are actually t-shirts that Ron has cut for them, but it cracked me up. I had to find my camera and share.

Gas Funnies ...

I love political cartoons. LOVE them. Here are a few a friend sent to me that made me give a giggle. Bear in mind friends ... I need to laugh because it helps dry up my tears after filling up the SUV. Oy vey ...

Enjoy!

Important Information

My dear friend, Donna Kay, sent me a forwarded email that contained a letter (see it below) warning about the dangers of hand sanitizer. Donna checked the story out on www.snopes.com, and apparently the story is true. I know too many of my friends (and perhaps other readers) have small children. I'd hate for this to happen to one of them.

Ok. I don't know where to begin because the last 2 days of my life have been such a blur. Yesterday my youngest daughter Halle, who is 4, was rushed to the emergency room by her father for being severely lethargic and incoherent. He was called to her school by the school secretary for being "very VERY sick." He told me that when he arrived that Halle was barely sitting in the chair. She couldn't hold her own head up and when he looked into her eyes, she couldn't focus them.

He immediately called me after he scooped her up and rushed her to the ER. When we got there they ran blood test after blood test and did x-rays, and every test imaginable. Her white blood cell count was normal, nothing was out of the ordinary. The ER doctor told us that he had done everything that he could do so he was sending her to Saint Francis for further testing.

Right when we were leaving in the ambulance, her teacher had come to the ER because after questioning Halle's classmates, we found out that she had licked hand sanitizer off her hand. Hand sanitizer of all things! But it makes sense. These days they have all kinds of different scents and when you have a curious child, they are going to put all kinds of things in their mouths.

When we arrived at Saint Francis, we told the ER doctor there to check her blood alcohol level, which, yes we did get weird looks from it but they did it. The results were her blood alcohol level was 85% and this was 6 hours after we first took her. There's no telling what it would have been if we would have tested it at the first ER.

Since then, her school and a few surrounding schools have taken this out of the classrooms of all the lower grade classes but what's to stop middle and high schoolers, too? After doing research off the Internet, we have found that it only takes 3 squirts of the stuff to be fatal in a toddler. For her blood alcohol level to be so high was to compare someone her size to drinking something 120 proof. So please PLEASE don't disregard this because I don't ever want anyone to go through what my family and I have gone through.

That's it. I deleted the names and everything because in the end it doesn't matter who it happened to ... only that they were smart enough to put the word out. Again, this story was checked out to be true, but for those of you who HAVE to do your own research - more power to you.

J

Mother's Day ... early

I am overwhelmed today. The day before Mother's Day and I've already been inundated with gifts. It was totally unexpected and completely unnecessary, but my husband has surprised me ... absolutely surprised me.

First, I was impressed that he even knew the name of the perfume I wear ... secondly, I was impressed that he bought me the perfume, powder, and body lotion. I love to layer my perfume, and somehow he paid attention. Kudos to the Lindquist.

The second overwhelming gift would normally be taboo on Mother's Day ... but this time I've made an exception. As you can see from the photo, it's a Dyson. I know Will is looking at it and saying to himself, "It's a freakin' vacuum." Some may think that, but I know there are those out there who KNOW what a Dyson is. I've yearned for one of these things for years ... that is, if one can actually yearn for a vacuum ... and now I have one. When we took it out of the box we did so very gingerly because if it didn't live up to the $500 price tag, we were going to pack it right back up.

Well ... lemme assure all of you. IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY. I can move from tile to wood to shag carpet ... back to tile ... all with ease and the same great effect. C L E A N. It is lightweight and very manuverable. I LOVE IT! Having a larger house has been nice, but cleaning nearly 4000 square feet of tile, carpet, and wood ... has NOT been nice. Now ... I look forward to cleaning the tile.

Who'da thunk I'd be excited about a vacuum? I'd expect my sister D.D. to be as excited as I am! I must give her a call!

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends and family!

J

Wild Kingdom

This is becoming quite interesting ... yesterday, two horses. Today, a beautiful peacock. What, pray tell, will show up on our property tomorrow?

Interesting Homecoming

Well, this is a first ... when one considers all of the strange things one sees ... this takes the cake ... er, make that "takes the horse."

File this in the "how weird is this?" file. This is the view I had as I drove in my driveway today. They belong to the plantation owners and live across the road from us. I think they're smarter than the owners ... :)

Enjoy ...

Willie Harris

I know this is a small photo, but it was the only one I could find with Willie Harris in a Braves uni. So ... why the hell am I posting about Willie Harris? Who is he? What has he done that has propelled me to post about him?

Well, for starters ... he's from Cairo, Georgia. That's Grady County ... and there, they are cooouuuuuuuunnntreeeeeeeee! I've never met Willie Harris, but I am definitely looking forward to that day ... I'll determine then if he is actually country ...

Oh, and yes ... I will meet this guy. Ya see, his fiancee is a former student of mine ... and his soon-to-be-mother-in-law is a CURRENT student of mine! Willie was just called up from Triple A Richmond two days ago ... and when I got the word I almost screamed! This is the coolest thing in my world right now (graduation week is upon us so this is a GREAT distraction).

The game was great tonight (http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070502&content_id=1943033&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl). I am excited about tomorrow, too, which will also be great. Anita, Willie's mother-in-law-to-be, is coming by my office with a signed baseball ... signed from Willie!

Do y'all have ANY idea how much I'm hoping to meet him in person? Get tickets to a game? Get invited to the wedding? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh geeez ... this is too much ... gotta lie down ...

My oh my ... now all I have to do is meet someone related to Smoltz ...

:-)

The ever amazing Eli ...

Just a few things before I hit the hay ...

One, I wanted to share Eli's newest phrase (from where he picked this up, I do not know). He uses it appropriately and his timing is impeccable. It goes like this ...

Me: "Eli, your room is a mess! Pick up your baseball gloves, your movies, your boots ... everything! ... pick them up!"

Eli: "For crying out loud ..."

:)

Secondly, tonight he and I were flipping back and forth between the Braves v. Mets (we won 7 - 3), and the Yankees v. Red Sox (Sox won although A-Rod hit two jacks) games. Eli is very familiar with the two men who call the games for the Braves ... he recognizes their faces immediately ... and he may say at some point "Mommy, that's Chip Caray." No big deal, right? Well ... as I switched from TBS to ESPN tonight for a quick peek at the Yankees at bat, Eli says, "That's John Kruk, mommy." He actually knew that John Kruk was one of the announcers calling the game!

Those of you who do not watch Baseball Tonight ... which is probably all of you reading this, except Will ... do not recognize the name. The amazing element of this story is that John Kruk's face was not showing ... his name was not there on the screen ... and the other announcers never said his name ... Eli recognized his voice. Some may disagree, but I don't find John Kruk's voice as a recognizable voice. He LOOKS very different from others (he's the one who recently did the Jenny Craig diet and stated, "My wife finds me less disgusting now." - use your imagination).

That kid of mine is so cool ...

Okay, I'm going to bed now ... oh wait, one last thing ... this will go into the "awwww, that's so cute" file ...

Eli and I have this favorite phrase ... goes like this ...

Me: "Eli, who loves you more than me?"

Eli: "No one!"

BBQ Weekend

Well, I am officially exhausted. Today I had most of the peer tutors I supervise over to our home for an annual end of year bar-b-que. A few could not attend, but most did (plus a couple of colleagues and my boss!). We had a great time ... grilled smoked pork chops, chicken, hamburgers, hotdogs ... baked potatoes, garlic bread, baked beans ... blackberry cobbler, key lime pie ... Coors Lite and Budweiser! After all the eating most of the tutors decided to transform our picnic table into a Las Vegas poker table!

I didn't play (mainly because I don't know how to play poker!), but I surely enjoyed watching my tutors at play. I am going to miss a few of them so much (4 are graduating in 2 weeks) ... these next 2 weeks are going to be painful.

Ugh.

The BBQ weekend is not over yet ... tomorrow Ron and I are going to ANOTHER bar-b-que. Good friends of ours (and business partners) are celebrating the impending college graduation of the female counterpart of this busy couple. I will try and post some photos from that event this weekend, too.

Red Rock Amphitheater

Of course I had to post some photos of my trip ... I took 142 pics, so some of 'em have GOT to be shared! Enjoy the Red Rock Amphitheater ...

I'm baaaaaaack!!

And boy oh boy, am I glad to be home! Not only did my family miss me (oooh, coming-back-home hugs are the best!), but my students and co-workers did, too. I should leave more often! A dear friend of mine, Dr. Bonnie Woodbery (English prof), wrote a "story" about my absence ... here's an excerpt:

Dateline: April 18, 2007: TU Suffers from Nojen Syndrome

TU Officials late today confirmed that much of the TU student body, staff,and faculty are suffering from the little known Nojen syndrome. The outbreak began on Monday when several students after going to Student SupportServices reported feeling "glum" and "blue." In fact, several students were taken to the ER at Archbold after actually turning blue from over exposure to what we have now confirmed is the worst outbreak of Nojen in the entire southeastern region.

This little known syndrome is caused by the absence of "Jennifer" in the environment. Once gone from the environment, a general malaise, depression,and feeling of low-self esteem besets all the people in the vicinity, in this case the population of TU. When interviewed after suffering so badly from the blues that she had to go to the ER for happy pills, a faculty member, asking to be identified only as "B" reported that this was absolutely the worst case of Nojen that she has experienced in her four years at TU. She also said that several students had simply walked out of classes, eyes glazed over, repeating, "Where is Jennifer?" "Where is Jennifer?" as a sort of mantra. A psychologist on the scene remarked on the low levels of joke e-mail found after testing various subject's computers."With such low levels, few can make it through the day," Dr.D. is reported to have stated.Only those immune from Nojen have remained working on the TU campus.

One such stalwart older gentleman felt that many were simply using Nojen as an excuse to slack off their usual work load. "It's a pity," he said, "that TU has so many who seem to thrive on the odd joke. It's certainly no way to run a business."

Another employee who was planning on leaving simply said that now there was no way she would ever leave TU, not after suffering her worst bout of Nojen ever. She stated that "a day without 'Jennifer' is a day without a laugh, and what afterall is a day then?" Lady, we could not agree more!!

With friends like this ... and the best damn hugs found below the Mason-Dixon line ... I feel purty darn good. Like I said ... I should go out of town more often!!!

I'm leaving on a jet plane ...

... but I know when I'll be back again :)

I leave Saturday morning for Denver, Colorado. I'm headed to the national conference for the NTA (National Tutoring Association). Sounds like a whole lotta fun, eh? Well, if you're an academic specialist/coordinator it actually is. Hard to believe ... this I know.

Anyway, my friend Angela is going with me ... we've arranged for a rental car, printed out an itinerary of sorts ... and we are more than hyped about going. I've had a rough two weeks at work (which is why, Mr. Johnson, I've not posted). We are 3 weeks from graduation and that means ABSOLUTE HELL ... at least for me. One of my four jobs on campus includes monitoring 49 high school kids who are dual-enrolled (taking college classes while still in high school). Ohhhhhh the drama! I know now why I chose NOT to teach K-12. So needless to say, the "kids" have kept me on my toes. Prom is tomorrow night ... and one of my dual-enrolled students (Mindy) brought by her prom dress so I could see it. It is absolutely stunning ... but so is the pricetag = $600. As Eli says, "For crying out loud ..." ... eeeeeee-gad! I remember buying my prom dress off the rack at Sears for $40. Times are-a-changin' ...

Many other things have happened which have kept me from posting ... and I'll get to all of that in due time. For now, enjoy the photos of Rocky Mountain National Park ... and remember that I am gonna be parked on one of these mountains this weekend. Believe me when I say ... "I need this break." Work has loaded me down ... and I need a breather.

Ta ta!!!

J :)

It's about time ...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/17/christians.protest.ap/index.html

I have been confused and annoyed by the many people I know (and don't know) who claim to be Christians, yet support the killing of others. Finally a group of Christians recognized the hypocrisy and did something about it ...

Bubba's Beer Biscuits!

Like most southern women, my mom and I share a love for a certain southern woman's cook books - PAULA DEEN. Today I decided to bake some biscuits that I've been meaning to for so long but never got around to it - BUBBA'S BEER BISCUITS. The recipe is from her The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook (1997, p.101). Here is the recipe:

BUBBA'S BEER BISCUITS

4 cups Bisquick

1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar (I used the 1/2 cup)

One 12 -ounce can of beer (I used the King of Beers - BUDWEISER)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients well, adjusting the sugar according to how sweet a biscuit you prefer. Pour into well-greased muffin tins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with honey butter.

They're excellent! Try 'em!

Kindness extended

Wow, this posting is a long time coming ... too long, in fact. I've had these photos on my camera for a few months, so it's time I delete them. I have to post them first before I hit the delete button. I have several students and friends who read my blog, so I want to make sure they see how much I appreciate their kindness.

Starting from the top photo ... this is a housewarming gift from my friend, Linda. She gave this to me at the end of December and I am just now posting it!!! Sorry for waiting so long, Linda ... my appreciation for your effort in creating such a wonderful basket is immense. Linda is a true friend who cooks as well as she is kind - which is ENORMOUS - so I definitely loved everything she included in the basket.

2nd photo - the bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey ... was given to me by a student named Jonathan (I will not include his last name to protect the innocent - which means I don't think he's 21 yet!). He hails from Ireland and will graduate this May. He played on the TU soccer team for 4 years, and I had the pleasure of teaching him last summer (20th Century America and Middle East History). I haven't cracked open the bottle yet as I have promised him we would take a shot together to celebrate his graduation ;-)

3rd photo - the Ghiradelli chocolate basket ... was given to me by another student, but this student is from Serbia. His name is Nikola (I will not include his last name for privacy) and he brought this to me to thank me for my help with his graduate admissions. He was applying to 3 different graduate schools (UGA, Georgia Tech, and one in New York ... can't remember the name) and had to write the requisite personal statements and answer posed questions. His english writing skills are, in my mind, excellent for having only spent 5 years in our country. He, like Jonathan, played soccer for 4 years but he graduated last year with his degree in Business Administration. He was applying to MBA programs and wanted to make sure he answered all of his questions correctly, and that his personal statements reflected his marketable assets. I gladly assisted Nikola anytime he needed my help, which was probably around 25 hours all together. He is an eloquent writer ... especially when writing about his love for his family, especially his father. It was truly a pleasure for me to help him, but he wanted to indulge my other pleasure (no, not that one, Will) - CHOCOLATE. I mean, what woman doesn't like chocolate? This kid is going places ... he's a great thinker! Oh, and guess what ... he was accepted to the University of Georgia's MBA program AND he was offered a well-paid assistantship!!! He's a wonderful kid and I look forward to seeing him on the cover of Business Weekly one day ...

Last photo ... was another gift from a student. This student, Janne (pronounced "yawn"), is from Norway, but his family has since moved to Sweden. He went home over the Christmas holidays and returned to college with this bowl for me. It was, as all the others, completely unexpected and unnecessary, but it is a lovely handblown bowl. When he gave it to me I said, "Oh Janne ... you didn't need to buy this for me!" He said, "No, it's no problem, Mrs. Lindquist. I told my mom all about you so SHE bought it for you. She went to one of those stores that was going out-of-business so she bought it for real cheap!" Clearly Janne is becoming more and more Americanized ...

;-)

Wood plates

Okay, last posting for the day ... it's a beautiful day and Ron promised to take me up a hill by the pasture. I will bring my camera in case the view is breathtaking ...\

Anyway, this past Thursday Ron and I were both home from work so we spent the day running errands. He had to go to the dentist first and was there for several hours. I spent that time shopping in Cairo (where the dentist is) ... going to cute little shops I've never been to before (local girls - you've GOT to go to Miss Mert's - very cute stuff). After the dentist and after lunch, Ron and I found ourselves at Kevin's Sporting Goods. Ron wears Orvis shirts and was hoping they had some new ones in ... and I don't NEED a reason to go to Kevin's! I love it there! So ... back to the subject at hand ...the wooden plates and bread holder you see in the photos are representative of our little trip there that day. I've oogled (that's a verb, right?) over these plates for a while now, and Ron bought them for me.

Don't they look great on my table?

F-I-S-H-I-N-G

Woo hoo! This was our next adventure ...

When the kids and I returned home, Ron called to let me know he was at Wally World buying fishing poles! Across the road and way way far back in the woods on the plantation is a fishing pond, so Ron thought we could sneak through and get some fish! When he got back he loaded up the Mule (see picture) and his four-wheeler, and we headed to the pond. I have never been through the plantation (you know, since I'm not a hunter) ... but man oh man ... I enjoyed it so much! Hopefully one day we will own some real acreage ... 200 or more ... because I love riding through it. Perhaps it stems from my love of American history, but I ride through and imagine who had been there hundreds of years ago. Ron loves to look for arrowheads, so this is something we share.

Anyway, you can see from the photos I've posted how beautiful this area is (man, I love south Georgia land), and also see Eli and his first fish!!! He caught 10 of them yesterday! He was soooooo excited ... each time I baited his pole and he put it in the water, he brought it back up with a little brim on it! Needless to say, we had a fish fry out on our back porch last night. That, too, was fabulous. Ron set up one of those outdoor cooking thingies (that's an industry term) ... you know, that one would fry a turkey in ... but we used a black cast iron skillet.

Wow ... what a great end to a not-so-great spring break.

Jen :)

One of those great days ...

... was yesterday. Do you know what I mean by "a great day?" My definition is where everything seems to be going right ... everyone is happy ... and stress is at an all-time low? Well, we had one of those yesterday. It was a GORGEOUS day outside ... 73 degrees, sun shining like it had somethin' to say, slight breeze that blew when it needed to ... ahhh, was great. Around 11 me and the kids went to Cherokee Park for a TU Alumni BBQ. Very low turnout sadly, but ever since Micky left the Advancement office things haven't been the same. Anywho ... Kristin met us there and we played catch with the kids ... Eli showed off his pitching prowess and Hannah wowed us with her strong arm (the chick should be playing softball, but she will not do it ... she's all girl). We also blew bubbles and threw the frisbee a few times ... the bubbles were definitely a hit. I still love to blow bubbles! After the throwing, catching, and blowing (heh, heh) we had a decent meal of bbq chicken.

We left there after an hour and a half and went to the TU softball game. I have many students who have been begging me all year to go and watch them play ... so I did ... FINALLY. They are sooooo good! They won the doubleheader yesterday which put their record to 12-5. Way to go!

We made it back home around 3 pm ... just in time for our next adventure ... (see my next post).

Busy, busy, busy!

Oh my ... it seems I never have a chance to catch everyone up on all the news from the Lindquist household. Well, it's nothing too exciting that will send CNN running, but there are from time to time new developments. One such development is Ron's new company - BUCKHORN PROPERTIES, LLC. He (I guess I should say "we") are now in the business of buying property, building houses, and of course the ultimate goal, SELLING the houses! We just closed on two lots and attaining construction loans to begin building our first two houses. While it's a bit intimidating (you know, the D-E-B-T), it's actually kind of exciting. The houses we are building are so necessary in our area. Housing costs have skyrighted so much that affordable housing is almost non-existent. The two (and hopefully many others to follow) will be priced around $155,000. They aren't considered low-income housing ... they are only affordable-based-upon-an-average-income housing (I think that's an industry term :)). They are in a brand new development off of Hwy 84, and if I remember correctly we actually break ground in about a week. If any of my local friends know of anyone who is interested in having a house built, please refer them to me! I'm also excited about choosing the wall, carpet, and tile colors. The best compliment given so far (with regards to our new home) is when my dear friend, Micky, walked in and said, "Girl, it looks as if a gay man picked your colors!" He, of course, plays on the "other team" ... was a florist for years ... now a very successful caterer ... so I was happy as a pig in slop hearing that!

Other news ... spring break for the college is next week ... and I am counting the minutes! I won't be able to enjoy it all that much since I have to attend an advising conference @ FSU on Monday and Tuesday. I chose to work on Wednesday (peace and quiet with no students - yea!), and I am off on Thursday and Friday. Ron is also off those two days so I'm hoping for some time with the hubby. It may be filled with running errands but it will be nice to have some alone time. The kids won't have their spring break until April, so they'll still be in school while I'm out.

The week after the kid's spring break I head to Denver, Colorado for 5 days. I have another conference to attend, which isn't so bad since it's in Denver! My friend Angela is coming along to keep me company. She's never been to Colorado so I think it will be fun going to the places I went 10 years ago while there. The conference, from all accounts, should prove to be excellent. I've never been to this type of conference so I am definitely looking forward to learning some new things.

Eli and Hannah have finally worked themselves through the virus that was going around. Hannah had it while my mom was visiting ... and thankfully my mom never got it. Whew. The only great thing about Hannah being sick was that she had to stay home for three days, so she spent a lot of time with my mother. In fact, on the Thursday prior to my mom's departure I had to work so mom stayed with Hannah at home. Hannah was in heaven!! She absolutely adores her "Nana" ... and while I hated that I had to work, I am thankful that Hannah was able to spend that time with her grandmother. Those times are, and will be, precious to Hannah. Eli did fairly well while my mom was here. His pattern was thrown off, but he still loved spending time with my mom ... she kept saying, "I'm going to find your tickle spot!" ... which had Eli laughing each and every time she said it. (Will ... ahem ... we don't want to know YOUR tickle spot ...)

While she (my mom) was here I was able to spoil her silly! Ron was very sweet to not say anything about the amount of money I spent on her. If she saw something she wanted ... I bought it ... without question. I think she left with 5 cookbooks, 3 new suits, lots and lots of kitchen gadgets ... and who knows what else! I love every second of it! She gave me so much growing up ... not necessarily material things (because those don't count) ... she gave me her time when I needed it, and her constant unconditional love. She spent so much time spreading herself thin over 5 children that she never spoiled herself. EVER. It was MY turn ... and I was so happy to be in a position to do so. On Valentine's Day I took her to get a new suit, a manicure and a pedicure, and I cut and styled her hair. That night she and I went to Thomas University's bi-annual Dining for Education held at the Meridian Art Gallery downtown. She nor I cared for the fancy food, but it was cool standing in the lobby surrounded by the "uppercrust" (you know, the type that spends more in a day than some people earn all year - I kept convincing myself that their Republicanism would NOT rub off) ... having a glass of Chardonnay with my mom. How cool is that? Normally I would be peaved at paying $100 for a dinner I didn't eat, but it was worth every penny. Me and my mom hung out. VERY cool.

Anyway, it's time to go for now. I have lots of other news but it's time to get out of my office and go home! Until next time ...

Too cute not to share

A good friend from junior high/high school, Miriam, sent these photos to me through an email, and I thought they were cute enough to share. I don't know who took them (and I hope I am not infringing on anyone's work - I don't have plans to print and distribute them), but as you can see it is amazing how well the dogs and children were matched!