2011 Christmas Card

Another digital ecard by Smilebox

As many of you may have already seen on Facebook, we finally got our new furniture for the basement! Obviously we got the measurements right, as the delivery down the stairs took all of 10 minutes. And it looks and feels beautiful! I can't believe how great it looks with the rug! Bryn and Paige took full advantage of its comforts last night taking the basement space back.

Other even bigger news is Bryn's score to go to the Rose Bowl. One of her good friends, a UW student (obviously), purchased 4 tickets hoping she could get a group to go and made it happen. Her father used his frequent-stayer points to reserve them a hotel. We parents all talked about how to get them out there in a safe, affordable manner and yesterday we all purchased their Amtrak tickets from Chicago to LA. When I have time to surf, I've been researching how the kids can get around LA and what to do.

Jeff and I attended Paige's Junior Conference yesterday with her and her guidance counselor. This is part of a new plan by the high school to help kids get where they want to go after graduation by analyzing if they're on track with their grades, activities, college tours and applications. After hearing that Paige was interested in studying business, the counselor urged her to sign up for a UW-Whitewater visit and explore the different fields within business.

Abby was supposed to come home last weekend with all 6 of her roommates as they continue their "Hometown Tour." Their senior year is upon them so they're making the most of their last year together by scheduling visits to each roommate's hometown sometime during the schoolyear. With it being December (holidays, finals, etc.), only 1 roommate was available to come on Abby's designated "Milwaukee" weekend, so they decided to postpone. Paige was none too happy. Rescheduled date is still to be determined.

Jeff got to see the Pack go 13-0 last Sunday against the Raiders. His college buddies always go to one Packer game each year and this was it. Luckily the weather was pretty bearable for a game in Green Bay: 40° and overcast, but the game was pushed back to 3:15 so you couldn't rely on the sun making any impact. How 'bout til that crazy night game on Christmas Day!

It's official. I will be done at Readers Digest on December 22. My temp agency is already on it and has offered me to sign me up for a few classes they offer—at their expense—to help me into some Front End Developer jobs that are becoming more popular. Kind of scary to get into all that crazy programming, but that's where my job seems to be going.

As luck would have it, just when I began my part-time hours, I picked up a freelance job! A past client called me to produce their annual calendar again for 2012. I really couldn't have planned it any better. I've met her for coffee twice and enjoy the project management/directing part of being a designer that does lack in my temporary gigs.

We hosted the Sears family over Thanksgiving and had a lot of fun with them bargain shopping, dancing with the Wii and just hanging out. Kristin actually hosted Thanksgiving dinner with Meg's family, Craig's family and Mom and Dad. We however continued our tradition of heading up towards Appleton where Maggie treats us all to a family-style Thanksgiving out at Van Abel's. Paige and I got the house guest-ready on our days off beforehand. Abby was able to get some work hours in over that holiday weekend.

We got Bryn back to Carroll Sunday after church at Elmbrook and Abby left with her rider later in the afternoon.

I went out for Mexican with the girls' babysitters, Wendy and Robin this past Friday night. Always a lot to catch up on when we meet. Robin definitely outdid us all with 2 weddings and a baby! I'm glad we still get together as I so love their company. Their kids are just a bit older than mine so I listen very carefully and try to learn from their good examples.

And the next evening Jeff and I cheered on the Badgers with my former college roommate, Polly, and her husband that now reside in Brookfield.

Ahhhh..... I have off work this week and Paige has off school all week. My future at Readers Digest was resolved last Tuesday: I'll be working 3 days/week through December 22nd. I'm very happy with that schedule through the holidays.

Got together with my old high school buddy, Guy, last weekend. We had him over for dinner, then went downtown to the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre to see Lombardi. Wow! Was that good! Guy is a high school English teacher and is very interested in film as well and even he said the play was incredible. Glad to hear he's taking good care of himself after his heart surgery a couple years ago.

The Art Guild I belong to is painting wineglasses again and this month we all painted with a holiday theme in mind. I was quite pleased with mine and kind of hated to give them up (I did not paint all these pictured). Another member was able to get the glasses on the shelves of a local liquor store (Otto's). Proceeds from the sales go to our Guild's scholarship fund.

Celebrated my birthday Saturday with a very relaxing day at home, then dinner at PFChang's with Paige and Jeff. Had never been there before, but will surely go again! It was delicious! And affordable. Really glad Jeff had made a reservation, because the typical wait time for others coming in was 1 hour, 10 minutes!

Jeff got to use some of his company's season tickets and took Paige, Bryn and her friend Margo to the Packers game yesterday. The girls were so excited to go to their first Packers game! Too bad Abby couldn't partake—too far away. Even said it wasn't so cold there in the stands. The UW Band was there and paraded through the stands, and American Idol winner Kris Allen sang the national anthem. Paige commented on how many people were wearing blaze orange. After the game, Jeff took them to Kroll's for a burger. Traffic was heavy through Oshkosh, then let up after that.

We Skyped with Abby last night. They've got a couple dogs in the house for a few days and boy are they cute!

The annual Hunt in Waubeno was last weekend, so Jeff journeyed north with his college buddies for a weekend of male bonding. Living in a household full of women, Jeff definitely deserves his hunting weekend. Jeff retold the stories of his classmates and their families to Paige and I when he returned Sunday evening. A couple of the guys now bring their sons up to partake.

While Jeff was in Waubeno, Abby came in from La Crosse. Paige had been missing her sisters. Abby and Paige went out and picked up Bryn Saturday and they all went to see Footloose. I missed out because I was re-ordering the proper couch for our basement at the furniture store. I heard Footloose was really good though! We all reconnected at Kristin's for pizza afterward. Convenient because Kristin lives part-way between Carroll and our house.

The couch fiasco... Jeff had sent an email immediately after delivery that went unanswered. Probably because our salesperson works part-time. Mid-week I called and was able to talk to her. I brought up the discrepancy between what the fact sheet lists as the couch dimensions and what we are actually measuring. She went and measured the same piece on her salesfloor. She called us back later that same night saying that that discrepancy is the manufacturer's error and we'd be able to return and reorder our custom pieces without any penalty ($)! Thank goodness. So the reordered pieces should arrive early January. Long wait.

Received notice Wednesday that my contract here at Reader's Digest has been extended through December 22nd. What? I guess I wasn't anticipating that at all. So this weekend I'm taking time to evaluate what availability I can offer them, if any. In the past couple weeks, I've received various freelance offers and even another temporary gig, but what will pan out and what won't?

And here's Bryn and Paige showing off their newly pierced earlobes!

Poor Jeff had to work long hours the week of his birthday, so we didn't really get to celebrate. Paige and I really wanted to take him to The Cheesecake Factory for dessert! Guess we'll go another day.

I took off work last Friday and Monday just to have a break during my 3-month assignment of working full-time. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Friday Paige had off school as well. My parents came down and I drove them through Greendale, where Readers Digest is located and showed them around. We used our 30% off coupons at Kohls buying Jeff birthday presents. Then we lunched at Ferch's and all enjoyed a malt shoppe treat! Paige got a lot of giggles trying to help Grandma figure out her new smart phone.

Friday night we met up with the Taorminas for a fish fry at the Schwabenhof. Haven't been there in a long time and it was delicious! We did have to wait a while because they were so busy, but it really was a great place to bring Kristin's little ones. Lucy kept us laughing at her sipping her "beer"!

Paige had a Halloween party Saturday night and her $2.50 mask from Bartzs was perfect to complete her cat costume. Jeff and I went to see The Ides of March. Very good movie.

We were so anticipating the arrival of our new sectional for the basement Sunday! It was supposed to come between 2-4pm, but it ended up being 6:00pm—in the pouring rain. The deliverymen tried and tried, but couldn't get the couch piece down our basement stairs. The tension was thick in our house that night. The couch remains wrapped in plastic in our living room until we resolve with our salesperson what our options are. It's really pretty though!

Both Paige and Bryn decided to get their ears pierced in the last week! Weird coincidence!

Lots of Halloween candy leftover that I don't like. Bummer. Not as many trick-or-treaters this year even though the weather was pretty decent. Jeff and Paige bought and carved their pumpkins Sunday.

Today's is Jeff's 49th birthday! Think we'll have to celebrate this weekend though — so tough during the work week.

We're very excited for an email update we expect tomorrow about a new couch we ordered for the basement. When we first ordered the couch, we were told not to look for delivery until after Thanksgiving, but last Wednesday we got word that it may be coming as soon as this weekend! Ah! We will have gained back our basement finally after the flood took it out last April.

We went downtown with Bob & Deb Klimko for Gallery Night Friday night. We each had time restraints, but we made the most of what we had. Perfect weather for it. I got to see some fellow Guild member's art on display, but unfortunately the artists themselves weren't there to chat with.

Paige was supposed to head to Carroll to visit Bryn last weekend, but Bryn's cross country coach had other ideas. He scheduled a full-day practice in Ripon Saturday (where their next meet will be held), which pretty much cancelled out Paige's visit. With time back on her side, Paige was able to go to a haunted house up in Hubertus Friday night and then to a haunted corn maze in West Allis Saturday night. Perfect weekend for all these outdoor activities.

We hosted a chili dump Sunday during the Packers/Vikings game and it was a lot of fun. Many guests were a little leary about the whole idea, but all agreed that the chili turned out delicious. Loved talking to friends that we hadn't seen for months. Jeff, Paige and I will be eating leftover chili and cornbread muffins for quite a while as everyone was too generous with bringing side dishes.

Backing up a bit, Bryn did recover from her ankle injury to run in Oshkosh on Oct 15th. Jeff, Terry and I came to watch her run against the wind that day. Then we were invited to a teammate's home in Neenah for lunch after the meet. Drove to Menasha to get in a quick visit with Jeff's Dad. And finally went to see how Maggie and Tom were doing since Maggie's foot surgery. Finally we drove back to Waukesha to get Bryn as Carroll had a couple days off for a Fall Break. Bryn had the house to herself and did her laundry and kept up with her running.

So I'm going to try smaller, bite-size posts. That way, I'm hoping to ease my way back in to blogging.

So I'm currently working full-time at Readers Digest (formerly Reiman Publications) in Greendale. It's a beautiful building and I love the neighborhood. Everyday, weather permitting, I walk the endless sidewalks of the village during my 30-minute lunch. I treasure that time to get away from my desk and computer. My job consists of designing and programming emails that get blasted to Taste of Home subscribers. I have free reign on the creative and I get to do digital work – bonus! My assignment here is through November 18, then I intend to take that next week off. Who knows after that.

Paige just wrapped up Homecoming week, having a blast playing in the Powerpuff game and joining 14 other girls to the dance. Pics are on Facebook, of course. She just got a card in the mail from Shelley, the owner of Hallmark, welcoming her to the store. Paige has a good job.

Jeff hasn't had to go to Virginia for a while which is nice. He helped coach the junior girls for Powderpuff. Jeff's almost finished with the wood trim in the basement after replacing the flooring this summer thanks to our flood. We just purchased a couch/sectional for the basement which will be delivered in November. Really looking forward to having another spot for TV watching. Teen Mom is not my favorite.

Bryn took charge and got herself back to running this summer so she could join the Carroll Cross Country team this fall. She's doing great. Abby and I went to watch her run Labor Day weekend at St. Norberts. Bryn recently "rolled" her ankle which put her on injured reserve for a week, but she hopes to compete this weekend.


Drove out to La Crosse the last weekend in September to visit Abby and check out Octoberfest. The parade seemed the most civil thing about it. We brought Theo along and he stayed with Paige and Abby at her house overnight. He loved it. Abby and Amy took us on a really cool bluff hike and we found a new dining spot.

Another long break between posts as I have not found any semblance of routine in my life yet.

Clean up has been ongoing since the flood mid-April. We're constantly hosting various workers. In the basement, we've had a new wall drywalled and painted, existing cabinetry rehung, a new countertop installed, and ceiling tiles replaced. Jeff just order new materials to put in the floor himself so we can save a little $. Upstairs, we've had new carpeting laid throughout the living and piano room, new vinyl laminate flooring in the mudroom and all our baseboard back in place. Jeff met with the insurance adjuster and the restoration foreman last week to evaluate the condition of the kitchen hardwood floor and the meter says it's still damp, so we reevaluate in August. We're also discussing new cabinetry for the mudroom and leaving the utility sink out of there.

We were able to escape the construction a few time. Kristin and Carlo hosted Easter this year and we couldn't have been happier to eat a home-cooked meal. During spring break, Paige and I joined Kristin, Bella and Lucy for a 3-day road trip down to Indy to visit the Sears clan and finally see Meg's new salon. (Many more pics on my Facebook page.) We also got to celebrate Cooper's 5th birthday and see Bryce play baseball. The kids all had so much fun playing together. And we traveled up to the Cabin for a portion of Memorial Day weekend which was beautiful and restful.

Totally unrelated to the flood, but happening at the same time is our roof! Damaged by high winds last fall, we were always planning to have this done this summer. We found out we have CertainTeed shingles that are part of a class action lawsuit, so we may come by some $ that way. The roofers arrived last Thursday and should finish up tomorrow (Monday). We'll be very happy NOT to see roof granules from our deteriorating shingles littered all over our deck, front sidewalk and washed down the downspouts.

Luckily I have been off work for the majority of this time and have kept super busy reorganizing just about every drawer and closet throughout the house. Many trips to Goodwill, metals recycling and the dump.

Abby and Bryn have come home for the summer from college. Both will begin summer jobs next week. Bryn has been hired by our Park & Rec Dept as a playground supervisor. She'll be putting in 40hrs/week and will be tired! For now, she is completing an online course and likes to get some sun while studying and/or writing. Abby is trying to tackle two different internships as well as keeping her part-time job at Hallmark. The first internship is with Columbia St. Mary's hospital where I temped this past January – March. She will help out in the Marketing Dept where I was. The second intership is with The Cathedral Center, a homeless shelter for women and families in downtown Milwaukee. She will help with fundraisers, their website and any other marketing or public relations issues.

Paige just turned 16 last week so she will be checking in on her application with Hallmark to see if her sister got her in. That would be awesome! We got Paige 16 gifts for her 16th birthday and took her out to a Japanese steakhouse (at her request) for her birthday. Paige is scheduled to take her driver's test next Monday. Paige just finished up her high school softball season and led her JV team with homeruns and triples. Now she can rejoin her summer team, the Sussex SunDevils for their practices and games. (New link at right for Sun Devils schedule).

Jeff's done teaching at MSOE for this schoolyear. It's kept him pretty busy this spring, but now he's ready to jump on some of our own projects around the house.

Bryn just had her wisdom teeth out last Friday. She's recovering well. No reaction to the anesthesia like Abby. Thank goodness! Bryn just had two upper wisdom teeth that the doctor commented were located "in the skydome." He prescribed some antibiotics as a precaution to any infection that could occur in the sinus cavity because the teeth were so high up.

Abby just returned from a weekend in La Crosse to visit friends. You can tell she really misses that place this year. I'm glad she's confident enough to make the trip.

I get to work again (full-time) next week in Waukesha for an ad agency that specializes in healthcare. I got to temp there a couple weeks ago and really liked it. The office is very casual and the work is very similar to what I did at Norman Design. Biggest difference is that it's a larger company, so there's a hierarchy of checks and approvals that I really appreciate. I can learn from that kind of input. Otherwise, it seems that I'm getting more opportunities and will be interviewing at a couple places (through C2) to be put on a few companies' rosters as regular oncall help. So it's working out pretty well. When I'm home, I'm trying to learn a new way to develop websites and using my brother's company as my guinea pig. By subscribing to an online tutorial site (lynda.com), I'm learning as I go.

Our house has been torn apart. Literally. The night of April 12th, I couldn't sleep. About midnight I decided to follow my usual remedy and came downstairs to fall asleep while watching TV. It worked! But I slowly awakened to the annoying sound of the dishwasher running. "But wait, it didn't sound normal... Whatever, I'm comfy... I didn't think I set the dishwasher to run again tonight... Jeff must have... Argh! The running water is making me have to go to the bathroom!" I finally decide to get up about 3:30am and OMG! The carpeting is soggy! And the kitchen wood floor is a giant puddle! I yell up the stairs to Jeff that we're flooding somehow and he flew down the basement to turn the water supply off. He stayed in the basement while I gathered every towel we owned. I repeatedly soaked up the kitchen floor with new towels then threw them out on the frost-covered deck to drip dry. When I couldn't soak up anymore, I joined Jeff in the basement. I had no idea the water was raining from the ceilings in the basement. I began the towel routine on the floors again after placing garbage cans, plastic bins and laundry baskets under spots where it was leaking most. Ceiling tiles literally disintegrated from being soaked with the water. Jeff and I were so cold and tired from hauling our damp mess out of the house.

We placed our claim online at 7:30am. No response. I called the insurance company at noon to follow up because we were worried about our saturated living room carpet that we hadn't touched. The insurance company assured us someone would call the next day (!) and we could do anything we deemed necessary to prevent the water damage from spreading. Jeff and I decided to cut the carpet where it was wet and take it out. Wow! The carpet and padding were so saturated they just poured water as we moved them out to the patio. At 2:30 we did receive a call from ServPro, the insurance company's restoration team, that they would be to our house within the hour. That's more like it!

So from Wednesday through the following Monday, our home was an obstacle course full of loud dryers and special floor mats with a zillion hoses. Paige, Jeff and I were forced to eat meals out then spend our evenings up in our bedroom to watch TV.

The fans are now gone and so is our carpeting, mud room flooring and basement flooring. Now Jeff and I have to resolve our claim and choose who will repair it all.

My parents came down Sunday and stayed til Thursday to help me deal with my mess. I purchased a workbench for Jeff online through Craiglist deciding since all our belongings were in upheaval, it was time to organize Jeff's tools that had been tucked into the little nook below the basement stairs. I enlisted my Dad to build one wall where we'd set up the work area and he did it in 3 days! Pretty spiffy! Now, the organization begins!

Last Wednesday (13th) was also Abby's 21st birthday. She told us her roommates opened a bottle of wine at midnight to celebrate. Kristin was in town for a tradeshow and took Abby out for dinner that evening. Abby called us later and sounded like she had a really great day.

I'm still unemployed, which for the past 2 weeks has been a godsend. But I have to admit, I'm getting a little nervous. A couple leads here and there, but nothing's come of them. So I've invented a project for myself: to redesign Jeff's company's website. It's been under construction for 3 years! Jeff says I can anticipate getting paid, but maybe a discounted rate. Right now, that sounds good to me!

I'm back. Working full-time and personal blogging don't mix. I've finished my 12 week temporary assignment at Columbia St. Mary's (picture of their beautiful office building) filling in for their graphic designer who was on maternity leave. It truly was a fabulous experience – a perfect match. But now I'm home for a while til the temp agency finds me something new. Luckily I have a freelance project in the works that's kept me busy. Outside of that, I've updated my resume, my LinkedIn profile and created a logo for my freelance business. Trying to keep my skills sharp!

Looking back over the past 3 months I've neglected, here are a few of the Saunders family's big events.

We now know exactly what time it is in our kitchen again thanks to the purchase of a new stove! It's lovely and very clean. No more burners to clean now that I have a flat top.


And Abby's Prizm is $800 better than it was when we just had it fixed over Winter Break (new exhaust system and tires). She drove it home one weekend in February and as she was leaving to go back the power steering fluid completely emptied after just one trip around the block. Jeff filled it up and again! We had to let her take the van back while we took her car into the shop. Major injuries again: new belt, brakes (pads & rotors), brakeline.


Paige tried out and made the high school's JV softball team as their starting pitcher. Their first game was yesterday. I've added a link so you can check out her season schedule. Upon recommendation from the coaches, Paige also joined a select team, the Sussex Sundevils. Those games will begin in June (I don't have a schedule yet). Paige will turn 16 the end of May which means she can get a job and try for her driver's license! Abby's boss at Hallmark seems very interested in hiring Paige and Paige has the application to fill out. As for driving, Paige has completed 4 of her 6 Behind-the-Wheel classes so she's well on her way. In February Paige placed 4th at the Future Business Leaders of America Conference where she had to debate the benefits of businesses going green.



As of January Bryn officially changed her major at Carroll from Physical Therapy to Writing. She seems very happy with her choice, but I asked her to research job opportunities now so she can build supporting classes. Bryn joined the college track team, but is not able to participate at the meets because she still limps from removing the surgical screw in January from her bunion surgery a year ago. But she's a great team supporter: she attends every practice and every meet without fail. This summer Bryn has been hired as a playground leader for 5-year-olds with our local Park and Rec. She been assigned the early shift 6am - noon, but she's fine with it commenting that then she can just get on with her day!

Abby will turn 21 in just a couple days! My sister Kristin will be there to help celebrate. As a coincidence, Kristin has a tradeshow in La Crosse that day! Abby spent spring break in Panama City, Florida, with CRU this year. You can tell she had a blast by her pictures on Facebook. Abby is searching hard for a paid marketing or communications internship this summer in the Milwaukee area. She may have to settle for unpaid and then keep her job at Hallmark.


Jeff has become a traveling fool. Besides his monthly 4-day visits to the Martha Jefferson Hospital construction site in Charlottesville, Virginia, he's been to York, Pennsylvania and Denver, Colorado for new Johnson Controls building projects. Within Wisconsin, Jeff was driving Paige up to Horicon weekly for pitching practice.

We scheduled a family vacation to San Diego in August with our Hilton timeshare. Looking forward to the destination, not so excited about the plane ride.