Not Fun Times

Posted on CNNMoney.com, September 29, 2008:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks skidded Monday, with the Dow slumping nearly 778 points, in the biggest single-day point loss ever, after the House rejected the government's $700 billion bank bailout plan.

The day's loss knocked out approximately $1.2 trillion in market value, the first post-$1 trillion day ever, according to a drop in the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000, the broadest measure of the stock market.

(for the rest of the article, go to this link: http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/29/markets/markets_newyork/?postversion=2008092917)

Work has been interesting for Tim lately, to say the least. He was dreading getting up and going there this morning. But we have Faith that this will turn around--history has shown us turn around points before. It'll surely happen again.

It's a stressful time for each of us. Gas has gone up. Grocery costs have gone up. All over, people are stressed about whether they'll have a job tomorrow (directly in LR--Alltel). I keep each and everyone of you in my thoughts and prayers and hope most of all that we all come out ok when all is said and done.

I know--such happy thoughts--but I like to think of this as our "scrap book" and being one that likes to record history, I have to ear mark the dark days, too.

Pup Pictures--Blog Happy!!

So--my pups were sitting in just the cutest little pose (of course, no camera was around at the time). They inspired me to grab the camera and get some cute Fall photos. Of course, the pups had other plans. Here are a couple of the shots I did get...(the above picture is the end product...)

Fall is Here!!

I finally had a weekend to do some things around the house. I killed the mold (woo hoo!!)--and fixed up the flower beds that had been neglected in the extreme heat. I also got some pumpkins and some mums (because it isn't fall without them!!)
Here are some pictures our our house (I got the tall grass to block the utility boxes...I'm pretty satisfied with the end product!!)
If you're wondering where Tim was during all this (killing mold and upkeeping the yard) I'll give you one guess...it starts with an "F" and ends with an "L".

The sun is a little bright, but you can kind of see the mums and pumpkins...this is a view from our mailbox.

This is a view from my caddi-corner neighbor's yard. I took this picture to show the tall grass that was planted to help block the utility boxes from street's view. Not bad...(sun is still bright--it's a GORGEOUS Fall day today!!)

Girls Night Out!!

For Jessica's birthday we (Jess, Lauren, V and myself) decided to go for a full girls night out. We booked a room and drove to Tunica to gamble the night away. Unfortunately, not a single one of us was successful as far as the Casino went...but we had a great time!! (our check books DISAGREE!!)

While in Tunica a good friend of mine from high school, Claire Nelson Pittman, came by to see us. I haven't seen her in about eight years and it was really nice to see her again. She lives in Memphis and works in Tunica. We lost contact our sophomore year of college and tried for years to hunt the other one down. Thanks to Facebook we were successful!! All you Facebook knockers--it is an amazing tool to find old friends!!

Here are some pictures of our evening (as the trend is going--not A LOT of pics--but hey, some are better than none!!)

Claire and I pose for our first (of many) reunions!!

Pose #1--V, Jess, Lauren and me
Pose #2--Lauren, V, Jess and myself (we get so original, don't we?)

99 Balloons

Nostalgic moment....
Ok--so Jessica sent me an email this morning called 99 balloons.

Here it is:

99_balloons (hit control & click on link)

So--I watched it with tears in my eyes then forwarded it along it's way. My good friend Lauren (and conveniently enough--a coworker) replied back to the forward with a quite simple response..."Ugh-heartbreaking. WHY????!!!!" I sat and looked at her email and had no response for her. Later it came to me. Videos like this are out there in the world to remind us all--life is humbling. A reminder for us to take life for what it is worth each and every day. Nothing more, nothing less. She finished the conversation with this comment, "true. We often get so consumbed by troubles and life in general--that often times, stress replaces gratitude. I am guilty."

Hmmmm...

Race for the Cure--Team JaNoel

Here is a glimpse of Team JaNoel's 2008 Tshirt...it only took about eight hours to decide on a color (black was the final decision)...and now they're ordered and should be ready by October 6th.

It's On!!!

So...Mike and Tim have made a bet. It's called the "Biggest Loser." Apparently there IS a money wager involved...but, does that surprise anyone?

Here is what it entails...who can lose the most weight by Christmas?

I'll post a "before" picture soon...and hopefully a FABULOUS "after" picture come December.

Now--it's off to Veronica's to load up on Weight Watchers recipes and snack ideas...

(Tyson will be SO excited because it probably means more walks for him!!)

Gross!

So...the garage keeps flooding. Over and over and over again. Linda and Tim have called everyone they can think of to try and get this issue resolved...but apparently, with NO success! So, each time a heavy rain comes to visit Little Rock (thanks Gustav and Ike)...our garage has a good foot of water. We have not used the garage for its true purpose since pre-Gustav as everything that (used to) line the walls--is now in the center of the room. And...here's the latest visitor to the garage...that's right. Mold. So gross!! (and probably why I have recurring headaches!!) So--add to our list of things to do...get rid of mold!! (Thank goodness this is DOWNSTAIRS and not in any living areas!!)
Now--we just got to keep our fingers crossed that this is easy to get rid of and NOT toxic...

I stole a pic from Maddie's Blog!!

Ok--since I was so horrible at getting any pictures of Maddie girl and her mama--I stole a pic from Maddie's page. I LOVE this picture...

Some of my very favorite people in the world...

Froggin' It...

I had my very first TCU tailgating experience the first weekend in September. Of course, I wasn't very good at getting pictures of the whole weekend (we also got to see Cherie and Maddie--and I didn't get a SINGLE picture, unfortunately!)...oops. Well, we had lots of fun seeing friends from TCU and seeing Cherie and Maddie. She's grown soooo much since Tim or I last saw her. She's babbling and scooting and before we know it she'll be running around like crazy!! She is so cute and so much fun to be around. Oh we just love that little girl!

Kyle, Kurt and Tim

Amanda and Kyle Martin

ESPN is serious...