War Wounds

So as you can see, this Saturday was quite the blur. I woke up with this hideous mark on my side, and a pulled muscle in my left ankle. Needless to say I believe that each of these war wounds would be proof that I had a great time. We started out at the Wiseman tree dance, not really sure what it is for, some organization, but there was free beer and food so I was definately taking advantage of it. Then once the beer ran out around 11:30ish we headed up to the one and only Grill, and boy was it packed. My night consisted of dancing until my feet hurt, watching an extremely old woman pass out in the biggest bathroom stall, planning my relocation to Arizona, singing 1945 music, achieving half of my mission for the night (wink wink), being shoved into the bar when a fight started, making it impossible for anyone to ever know where I was, almost killing my dog, petting Krystal, and basically having to be told everything I did the morning after. And then of course....whatever caused that hideous mark on my side.

Random Pic of the Week

So recently I have been going through my thousands upon thousands of pictures trying to put some organization into them. I came across several random and odd ones. So I decided to do this little thing I call- "Random Pic of the Week." I am going to try and post a pic at least once a week, it will be random and crazy, and will make you think....hmmmm. I will post them on here, and then my Yahoo Photo page will still have all the archives of pictures from past weeks. Just go to my photo page and click on the Pic of the week album. Enjoy, this should be fun. http://photos.yahoo.com/boilerbabe44

This picture was taken after a soccer game. I remember doing a lot of interviewing into this banana. However, I have no clue what the back up dancers are doing. And if you look over Chach's shoulder...do you see a bear? hmmmm?

Tampon Birthday Prank

Krystal's dad turned 50 last week and I helped her and her mom with their birthday prank. We snuck out at night and went and "decorated" his trailer (he has a construction business). We hung tampons-dyed with Creme Soda, at all the entry ways- and all around the trailer. We stuck maxi pads on the fridge, on the doors and as many toolboxes as we could find. It was pretty funny, and the best part was the people who were driving by at night and slowing down to see what the heck we were up to! He was sure surprised!

Kokomo Krew

Ryan decided to make an appearance back in Kokomo this past weekend, so I ventured out into the land of karaoke and Cha-Cha sliding. It was great to be back with old friends. Plus, I had not been out in weeks so I hadn't gotten my monthly dosage of second hand smoke. When I woke up even my cell phone stunk of it! All in all it was a good weekend, some casual drinking and dancing. And thanks to the boys for their stellar rendition of "Friends in Low Places," which got several people up and on the dance floor Friday evening.

Babies, babies, babies!

My little Poppers is nearing her due nate. Anne Thatcher, a close friend of the family, is the first of "the kids" to have a baby! Several of the ladies from the group of about 4 familes have been planning a spectacular baby shower for her. The date is nearing and one of my duties was to create the invitations. I am really excited about how they ended up turning out, so I thought I would post a pic for all of you. It took me forever to finally decide on a design, and they are taking forever to make, but I LOVE them!

I used light yellow and pink cardstock and cut them into 3 inch by 8 inch strips to make a card that opened vertically. I used a hole punch and an eyelet for the closure. I used tacky letters which are double sided, and I applied rose micro-beads to the letters to make them a little more snazzy. They are just itty bitty beads like the size of glitter but much cooler. Then I used some regular stickers but attached foam backing to them to make them more 3D. The inside info is written on plain transparent vellum. Tell me what you think!

A half a decade later....

First I must apologize for neglecting to post this earlier. Blake and I mutually decided to go our separate ways about a week ago. It was the night before Jansen's passing so, obviously I had a lot of other things on my mind since then.

Blake joined the Air Force in December, and since then our relationship started to weaken. I wasn't wanting to pursue another long-distance relationship. I found it hard to be optimistic about everything, and imagine him being all over the country for the next several years. It is sad to see such a long relationship end this way, but probably is for the best.

So far, I have been happy with this decision. Many of you know Blake and I have been off and on again for the past five years. With the other break-ups I always had mixed emotions, but for once I think we made the right decision this time. I feel confident that we can begin to build a strong friendship before he leaves.

I am definitely enjoying the independence, I have no one to worry about but myself, and the "sky is the limit" so to speak.

A Life Remembered

It has been several days since Jansen's viewing and funeral. It was hard for me on so many levels. I tried to be strong for my brother as best I could, but learned that I could not shelve my emotions so easily. It was most difficult to see Jansen's lifeless body in the casket. Jansen was always so full of life and outgoing, and he was always moving around. But luckily they dressed him as he usually would be dressed, baseball cap and collared shirt. He would have been pretty angry he didn't have his "bling bling" in his ears though!

The viewing was amazing. According to the guest book, over 1000 people signed in. It was smart thinking to move it over to the church, instead of trying to house so many people in a funeral home. They held the services at St. Patrick's Catholic church. It is one of the most beautiful church's I have ever seen. Adams funeral was also held there. The ceilings are so tall, and the sides are lined with intricate and elaborate huge stain glass windows. Please take the time to look at the pictures, on this site. I love this church so much! Click on the picture of the church on the homepage. http://www.stpatrick-kokomo.org/

The line never got short, it consistently stayed at the same point the entire time. It took about 30-40 minutes just to wait through. They even had to conduct the rosary ceremony with people still waiting in line. I don't think Jansen would have ever imagined so many people to come and pay their respects. The funeral the next day was also beautiful. The priest did an excellent job. Again, the church was filled. We got to sit directly behind the family which made me feel so honored and blessed.

The funeral procession to the cemetery was the longest procession I have ever witnessed in my life. My dad even said the same thing, and he has lived a lot longer! At the graveside ceremony they played "I'll be missing you," by Puff Daddy. Jansen was always singing, so it was easy to imagine him singing along to it. My brother and I used to joke and say that "Jansen thinks his life is a music video!" :-) But, as soon as those first notes came out of the speaker you could just hear the people in the crowd immediately tear up. My brother took it exceptionally hard, and if you know the lyrics you can probably imagine why. It was a perfect song to play, because Jansen would have probably requested it. Our pastor did the graveside service. The Kucholick family are all Catholic, but they asked Mark to do the graveside, because Jansen had been attending our church for the past several years. Jansen really enjoyed Mark, and again probably would not have ever imagined Mark would agree to do his graveside. Of course Mark rocked the house with all his inspirational words.

Looking back at the past few days, I feel Jansen's life was honored and remembered to the largest degree possible. Everything was amazing, and the amount of people at all the ceremony's was unbelievable. The support and love coming from so many people flooded the room. I could just feel emotions and feelings, and people there to honor such a beautiful young man. I felt at ease to know he was looking down in amazement at how everything turned out.

Tragic News

Our family got some very tragic news early Saturday morning. My brother's best friend, Jansen, passed away. This is devastating news to my entire family. We all cared about Jansen just like he was part of our family. My brother and him had moved into their own house in November. Even though they had moved out they were still regulars around our house, especially when food was being served. My brother woke up to come over and eat lunch over here with all of us. Andrew went into Jansen's room and found him, appearing to be sleeping, in his bed. They are still investigating the cause of his death, and right now nothing has turned up on any tests.


Many of you have met Jansen, because over the past several years he has become a second brother to me. If you check my photos regularly he shows up in a lot of them. My family sort of "took in" Jansen as a second son. Jansen spent a lot of time at our house, and not many days would go by without seeing him. Jansen also spent many holidays and vacations with us over the years. Christmas's, Florida trips, visiting family out of state, or just a weekend trip to the lake. Honestly, we just planned on Jansen coming no matter where we were headed. But, really what sticks out most in my mind, is just him being around here and hanging out all the time doing nothing in particular.


My heart is breaking because I feel as if I have lost a huge piece of my life. To see my brother walk up to the house alone and not see Jansen trailing shortly behind him hits me really hard. I am having a difficult time even imagining getting older and Jansen not being there. It is hard to explain in words how much I cared about him.

I also have so many questions to ask, and I know that I can't get any answers. I wonder if he knew how much we all loved him. I wonder if he is ok, and if he is in a better place. I wonder what went wrong on that night. I wonder what was the last thing I said to him. I wonder if my brother is going to be able to get through this. I wonder what tomorrow will be like and the day after that.....and most importantly I hope Jansen knows that there are very few people in this world that I loved as much as I loved him.

Post-Graduation

Bye bye Boilers! Yes, finally three majors later I graduated from Purdue with an elementary education degree. I can't wait to get into my own classroom and begin teaching and touching young lives. I think I have finally found something I can excel in and be good at. After graduation, I got a temporary job in the school that I was student teaching in. I was filling in for a teacher's aide that was out for surgery. I was in a third/fourth grade classroom in the mornings and then back in my fourth/fifth split in the afternoons. I was very lucky because I got to stay longer in the classroom where I did my student teaching. I have grown so close to the kids and I was happy to be with them longer. PLUS I was getting paid finally! I recently finished that job on the 24th of January. And currently I am job searching in some surrounding areas. I really don't know where I will end up teaching for now I am just trying to get several options going.

My Introduction-Read First

Welcome to my first ever blog site. It really isn't much right now, but maybe I will jazz it up sometime later. I have lost touch with many friends since moving away from Purdue, and my hopes are that this blog can keep people up to date with what's going on with me. Unfortunately, my first few posts might not be as happy and cheery as you could hope, but you have to start somewhere I suppose. I am going to attempt to try and get everyone caught up with my life and everything that has been going on the past few weeks. Thanks for listening.