November 17, 2006

Hello, all!

Let It Snow!

We hope you're all doing well, and surviving the cold and SNOW up there!!! And no, this is not our backyard! haha! Speaking of, we were supposed to have 1-2" on Wednesday night, but it never got cold enough. Just rained all day and all night, and almost all day Thursday. It was very windy - gusts from 25-40 mph. So it felt very cold and damp. Yuck!

The disgusting thing about the St. Louis area is that officials and residents FREAK OUT about a forecast with the word "snow" in it. The superintendent of the St. Louis school system was on the news, saying how he or someone else would stay up to the wee hours of the morning to see if they should cancel school or not. We were only supposed to ge 1-2"!!!! What is wrong with people!? Even the city plows were all ready to do, and were out on the streets salting just incase, and practicing their routes. This is all too bizarre for me, being from a place where they don't cancel school for a blizzard. I just can't get used to it!

I'm glad to see that by the middle of next week it'll be back in the mid- to upper 50's here! It's how winter should be! :)


The Car Saga Ends
You can't believe it? Well it's true! After 4 months, the car saga has finally ended!!! We picked up our brand spankin' new Toyota Camry last week Wednesday. (Can I please brag a little bit? I'm so excited!) It's absolutely gorgeous... Barcelona Red Metallic, with a sunroof and alloys (different than the picture). I absolutely love it. The ride is great, it's so quiet and comfortable and it drives great in the rain! I was getting a little nervous towards the end with the Sentra. It felt like I was sliding, plus the engine kept losing part of the power. Pretty scary sometimes. Luckily, we sold that thing to a dealer and they had no clue anything was wrong with it, didn't ask... whatever! We didn't tell. It's up to them to fix it now!

One of these days I'll get out the camera and post some pictures of us (and maybe some of me and the car! haha!).


The Ol' Grind...
Work is going well, as always. Noah is going to be working 3rd shift tonight for some project they're doing here in St. Louis. He went into work early this morning around 5:30am, and left at 2:30 so he could go home and sleep. We're going to a surprise birthday party tonight for a friend, and then he'll go back to work around midnight until they are done. I don't know how he does it.

My work is going well too. My 6 month review is coming up already. It's been great! I still love my job and my manager, Jennifer. She and I have a lot of fun, and get a lot of things done. Our district is doing pretty well this year with her managing, and hopefully with the marketing planning stuff I've been working on, even better in '07.

Speaking of, my presentation of all the marketing information that I've been working on for the last 2 months, went extremely well, and was very well received by the agents. They were clapping by the end, which made me very excited! I feel, I'm here to help all of them with what I know, and since I have a marketing and advertising background, I feel blessed and privileged to help all of them meet their goals and bring in more business. It's the least I can do! All of them said they had never been presented with all of this information before - they were basically on their own - and were glad someone put this together for them. Glad I could help! We have some great agents, and I feel honored to work with such a good bunch.

Today was a treat. I went into the office for about an hour, then go to go help out an auction team at a nice hotel by the airport. American Family puts on an auction for agents in the area every year with some nice prizes. The agents bid on prizes with points they earn for writing life insurance policies. The more policies they write, the more points they have to bid with. All the DMA's (District Manager Assistants) got to come and help where needed and have a free lunch.


The Holidays Are Here!
My goodness... we're already at the holidays again?! Where did the rest of the year go? I really don't understand how all of us could feel like we missed half the year!

For Turkey Day we'll be heading into Springfield, IL to Noah's family. The Boones (close family friends - you could call them family) are coming in, and it will be nice to see them again. This year, we will get to meet their other son, Matthew and his wife, Jennette, whom I've never met before. We have only met their one son, Jonathan. We'll probably spend some time at Noah's Aunt Rosie with his mom's side, maybe see his grandparents (dad's parents) too.

And... we will be flying up to Wisconsin for Christmas. The dates again are December 22-26. Mark your calendars... we want to see EVERYONE!!!!! :) We miss all of you!


In Other News...
What else? Well, I am leading worship this week at church, which means I got to choose all the music we sing, and basically direct our team! Practice did not start out so great, but by the end, I think we all had it down pat. I wasn't aware that one of the songs I chose, hardly anyone knew! Ooops! But it turned out great and I think we're ready for Sunday. It's really awesome to be a part of a group that's not about themselves or the music they play - it's about praising God and using the talents God has given us with singing and playing instruments to lead the people in our church in worship! It's always a lot of fun, and we're all on the same page when it comes to doing it for the right reason :)

We're having dinner with a family from our church tomorrow night, which should be fun. We've been trying to get together with them for a month or so. They have a 12 year old daughter and a 2 or 3 year old son (can't remember how old!). He is full of energy and so cute!

Something really neat happened yesterday. One of my old high school classmates contacted me via email. Funny because I never really talked to her all that much back then. But we seem to get along great now! She contacted me because I contacted the high school alumni office to see if we were going to have a reunion (don't know what prompted me to do that - maybe I was bored! haha!) and asked who was planning it. So I think I wrote the girl who was planning it, and she finally wrote me back and we emailed all yesterday. It was pretty exciting catching up with her, seeing how everything had turned out 8 years after graduation. I'd like to actually go to our reunion in 2009 to see a lot of people. Noah isn't that thrilled, as he doesn't really have interesting going to his reunion. But that's okay! I knew a lot of people in high school, and I figure, what the hay. I just think seeing people again after 10 years is exciting and interesting!

Anyway, I think that's about it for us down here! Love "ya'll!" and see you soon!

November 2, 2006

Hey Ya'll!

Whew... so much for updating this thing once a week! There is NO way I can keep up with that!

Hmm.. what's happening? Well...

Don't Get Testy...
I passed my P&C Exam on Monday!!!!!!!! P&C stands for Property & Casualty. It's basically an insurance licensing exam for home and auto. Everyone has been asking me lately, "So does this mean you can actually sell me an insurance policy now?" No, technically I cannot sell you an insurance policy! So quit asking me! haha! Just kidding... If I worked in an agent's office I could probably sell it, but since I work in a District Manager's office, I am basically going to be using my license for helping customers with complaints and possibly training agents' staff in the future. I can now take classes to learn more about how an agency works and learn the computer programs they use, which will help me with answering staff questions too.

But man... I studied for 3 1/2 weeks! And I passed with a 78%. Which is darn good, I must say! Heck, all I had to do was just PASS! ...which is a70%. So good riddens to studying every night for almost a month! I'm finally FREEEEEE!!!!!


Getting the Car...
Yep, we're going to be getting the new car soon, which is pretty exciting. It should be coming in either the end of this week, or next week! I'm VERY excited! (Yes, I know... you can't tell. There are too many exclamation points to read past... blah blah blah...)

We're going to sell my car back to a dealer and hope they don't notice that it's falling apart right before their eyes so we can get a good amount for it. Wish us luck with that... whew!


Work, work work!
Work has been going well for both of us. Noah is always finding something to do, and still happy playing with numbers and bombs and missiles. Nothing too new there.

American Family Insurance life is still awesome. I love my job (as always). I've been here almost 4 1/2 months now and am just as excited to come to work every day as I was on my first day. My manager is still wonderful and we share ideas, jokes and family stories. It's so great to have a nice manager after all the others I've had. Quite a relief.

I've been very busy the last 2 months putting together a huge marketing plan to present at our next District Meeting next week Thursday (11/9). Insurance agents are really busy people, and a lot of times, do not have a lot of knowledge about marketing, and usually don't have much time to commit to putting together a marketing plan. So what I did, was put together a crash course in marketing through American Family, and am going to let them know what's all available for them to utilize, as far as media and marketing tools goes, and also that the company matches a lot of money for them to advertise with. I'm helping all of them customize their marketing to meet their goals that they'll set for '07, and keep it within their alotted budget. It's going to be great. I just hope the agents think so! It's been a lot of work. If they don't like it, I'll find someone who does!!!!!


Nelson Update!
Jessica Nelson is doing really well, last we heard. She was getting a lot of her strength back after her surgery to remove the tumor. I believe she started chemo and radiation both this week, which will probably drain her. But the doctors say her prognosis is good - they are very sure that the chemo and radiation will permanently wipe out the rest of the tumor that they could not remove. Jessica is losing some hair, but she loves hats - she said she has taken care of that issue! :) Dave is back at work, and they have hired a full-time nanny to cook, clean and so on, who also watches little Asa. Please keep them in your prayers - especially Jess. She is a fighter and is doing great considering the circumstances.


Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween to everyone! This year we went to our friends Matt & Genieve's house for a fun Halloween get-together. Matt had a bonfire going, and Genieve had the kitchen filled with good stuff to eat.

There were definitely more kids there than adults, which was pretty crazy but you couldn't help but laugh... the little ones were SO cute in their costumes! We had everything from a flower, a tiger, batman and elmo all the way to cookie monster and a monkey! The funniest thing was watching the 2 year-old cookie monster try pop rocks... hilarious!!!!

Anyway... it was soooo good to see Matt and Geneive again. We hadn't seen them since about February. Genieve is pregnant and ready to pop - she only has about 2 1/2 weeks to go! They are very excited and don't have a clue what the baby is - boy or girl. It will be great to see them again after the baby is born - they'll be great parents!




Who Will Carve the Bird???
Oh, don't be a Turkey!!! *Gobble, gobble!*
We are going to spend Thanksgiving with Noah's family this year in Springfield, IL. It will be fun, and there will be literally tons of food... as always! We'll probably have our usual ginormous meal at his Aunt Rosie's house. The counters are filled with pans and pots, both ovens are going, and the stove, and there are usually
8-10 pies in the basement on a table, waiting to be eaten. It's pretty crazy!

Well, that's about it from the St. Louis Browns. Wow, what a horrible name for a sports team! Haha! Anyway... adios, amigos!

Oh yeah.... and if ya didn't hear... we are the WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!! WOO HOO!!!

CARDINALS RULE!!!!!

October 17, 2006

Hey Ya'll!


Car Update...
Ok... we finally did it. We FINALLY made our mind up about the car situation once and for all. We are still getting the Camry, but we got a good price on the SUPER COOL one!!!

On this past Saturday, we got our price - and ordered a shiny red Camry LE with alloys and a sunroof! Krista is sooo excited. (Can you tell? She's writing this...)

No, it's not the pretty blue one we posted in our last entry. The picture doesn't do it justice and it doesn't show the cool alloy wheels! Anyway, enough bragging :) (YAY!!!!)


Bathroom Update...
Yes, it's coming... a 3rd full bath in our downstairs. Many of you know that this has been going on for a while. It's been going slowly but who's counting the months?! Ha... Well, we finally have all the drywall up! Plumbing and electrical is all done and the drywall went up this past weekend. It looks completely different than we imagined, but it's good! It looks more like a bathroom now, and we're excited to see things moving forward. I'm not going to say "it should be done by..." because we'll just get jinxed again! How about... SOON! :)


GOOOO CARDS!!!!!!
The Cardinals are doing awesome this year, and hopefully going ALL THE WAY! I know this is a foreign concept to many of you - a local sports team going to the championships, but I sympathize. (I can't empathize because I don't know what that's like anymore! HAHAHA!)

The Cardinals beat the Padres 3-1 through the NLDS series (Noah and I had an opportunity to go to Game 4 at Busch and see them kick butt!) and are now in a hot competition with none other than the NY Mets, playing to go to the World Series! The series is tied at 2-2 right now, with Game 5 being played tonight. First pitch goes out at 7:19pm and it's Glavine (NY) against Weaver (STL). Should be a good one - you should watch!!! Goooo Cards!!! There's nothin' like good baseball...



Ahh... The Holidays!
It's that time of year again... how time flies! Speaking of flying, you should have seen things fly yesterday! It was typical October weather - cold, rainy the entire day without stopping and very windy. A great day to curl up in front of the fireplace and tv and take a snooze!

Anyway! Aside from the crazy weather, we're looking straight into the eyes of another crazy holiday season! All the Autumn/Halloween decorations are now out and Thanksgiving is right around the perverbial corner. We will be having a "private" Thanksgiving this year (since no one is around down here!), so a small chicken, some beans, mashed sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce - and of course, homemade pumpkin pie ala Krista - will have to do. :) Mmm! (Yes, I'm starting to like to cook!)

But for Christmas, we will be back in the New Berlin/Waukesha area from December 22-26. We'll be flying up, thank goodness, and avoid any bad weather and save some time. Just pray we don't hit Santa on the way up! Ha-ha!


Study, Study, STUDY!
We are both studying hard lately. Noah has his class he's taking towards his Masters Degree, and Krista is studying for her Property & Casualty Insurance License exam, which is October 30th. So if you call at night during the week and no one answers, it's not because we're gone - we're just studying!


" Thea... thea...that's all, Folks!!!" :) See you soon!

October 10, 2006

Apologies to all of you who checked our blog for updates in the mean time! We've been very busy with a lot of different things in the past month and were not able to to update our site!

A lot has been happening...

The Car Situation...
I guess the biggest thing is that we have FINALLY made a decision about what to do with my car... the little Sentra. It's 4 years old, and has had a number of problems - including the newest - the headgasket needs to be replaced (supposedly). The more places we've called about fixing it, the higher the price has gotten. And no one can tell us what is actually wrong with it and how much the actual cost will be until they take part of the engine apart to get to the head gasket. For all we know, there could be several things contributing to the car losing coolant like crazy.

After going back and forth on this issue - fixing or buying a new car - we've decided to get a new car and get what we can for my car by either trading it or selling it back to a dealer. We would feel horrible selling this car privately because it's had so many problems already. So we've determined we'll just let the dealer take care of it!

We're going to get a 2007 Camry in dark blue. We're aiming at the car lasting 10 years... I hope it does so we don't have to go through this huge headache again. We've been battling this for months, and in the mean time, hoping my car doesn't decide to poop out. Fortunately it's still running fine. We just need to ad coolant 2-3 times per week!


Another Hospital Trip...
This time it was Noah's turn. And don't worry... no pictures! Noah had a growth on the underside of his right wrist that he went to the doctor for. The primary care physician referred him to a dermatologist, who referred him to an orthopedic surgeon (because the bump was near tendons and veins and the derm. refused to remove it). Whew! After 3 doctor appointments, Noah went in for minor surgery, and the bump was successfully removed and was just a tissue mass - nothing serious. He just got his stitches out last week and is almost completely healed up!

My finger is pretty much back to normal too. There is still scar tissue, and you can feel a little bump but I'm happy as long as it doesn't look goofy and I can feel it and use it! :)


Trip to NY
Well, Noah is off once again! This time he's in Long Island, NY - supposedly in the middle of nowhere! Boeing sent him to do some different type of testing, and he's going to be doing a lot of observing and learning on this trip. Noah will return Friday (10/13) - or may stay until Sunday if he is able to get together with his friend Danny who lives near Manhattan.


Back to School
Yep, it's back to school for both of us. Well, more for Noah and less for me. Noah is continuing his first lovely Master's class online and doing well.

I am studying for my first of two insurance license exams. The first is for a Property & Casualty license (Home & Auto). I will hopefully be taking the second exam in November for my Life & Health license. I will need these licenses to help resolve complaints from customers and to take training classes that deal with agent staff computer programs - and hopefully in the future help me to train agent staff. I take a class on Oct. 25-26 and my exam is Oct. 30. Wish me luck!


The Nelsons - Update!
Many of you ask about how the Nelsons are doing, and here is an update. For those who don't know... this is the amazing story about our good friends from church who had a baby in December - Dave & Jessica Nelson. Jess found out she was pregnant early in 2005 (she was about to turn 40), and shortly thereafter found out that her brain tumor had started to return (after 10 years). The doctors needed to wait until after she had the baby to remove the tumor, which in the mean time, put her at risk for seizures. During her pregnancy (which was also high risk for several reasons), she needed to take meds to control the seizure risk. The meds put her on bedrest for the last 4 1/2 months of her pregnancy, which was very difficult.
But they made it!

The baby was a healthy girl, who they named Asa Isabelle, and who is just an incredible bundle of joy and a miracle. She's a very quick learner and is always smiling and a busy bee.

Post-birth Jess was weaned off her meds and needed to undergo surgery to remove the brain tumor. There was a lot of battling with doctors and a few seizures in between, which put a lot of stress on the family. Fortunately, Jess's father is a former neurosurgeon and possessed a lot of knowledge about what was going on and needed to be done. Jess had a successful surgery a few weeks ago up in Minnesota at the Mayo clinic and is recovering quickly. They were not able to remove 100% of the tumor, unfortunately, so she will have to go through chemo and radiation treatment to make sure the rest goes away.

Please pray for continued strength for them, and especially Jess as she undergoes treatment. They are a blessing to so many people and they are always in our hearts! (The picture was taken within the past week - Jess felt well enough to go out for a little while.)


AmFam
I (Krista) started my new job (hopefully LAST new job for a while!) at the end of June and am loving it. My manager is wonderful, and I really enjoy what I do. I am an Assistant to District Manager (sort of exec. asst.) and do anything from reports and clerical stuff, to marketing for the agents in our district and recruiting for agents and agent staff, going to career fairs for recruiting, plan events (meetings, holiday parties, incentive trips for the district), resolving customer complaints with agents and their staff and helping my manager Jennifer with anything else she needs. Summed up, I'm pretty much her right arm. It's fun! I hope to stay here for a long time. American Family Insurance is a great company to work for - I haven't talked to one crabby person yet (and talked to a LOT of people!) - and my schedule is flexible and 9-5!


Homey Art
Well, we're finally going to paint something. The Master Bedroom is up next! That should be a blast since the character of the room includes a vaulted ceiling and a big plant shelf over the door. Break out the Little Giant!!!

We're going with a merlot color on one wall and a pretty, light yellowish coffee color on the others. We'll start there and see where we end up.

I'd love to do the kitchen in an Italian/Tuscan cracked plaster look. Someday... it would go wonderfully with the grapes and wine theme we have going on. But I think the great room is next...


Well, I that's it for this edition of the St. Louis Update!

Ya'll take care now, y'hear? :)