The Teskes

Views from our new house

2008-06-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

Here are a few sunset pics Dave snapped out our front door last night. The other is a rainbow out our back patio door. The views are great out our front door- during the day we see farmland and acres of fields (which I'm sure will get built on someday) and these sunsets at night. Best of all we're up on a hill so we get lots of wind which means no mosquitoes and we seem to be the only neighborhood that didn't have water in the basement after the recent storms~5 inches in two days.

The Wolf Pack

2008-03-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have known about this, but Allysa and I changed our names a couple of weeks back.

We had always wanted to change our names together when we got married, but it's taken us over a year to actually do it.

In honor of Ethan, we've taken the last name of Wolf. Allysa kept her middle name, but I changed mine to Ethan- so my name is now Nathaniel Ethan Wolf, officially.

I've got a new email address, but I'll probably still check the old one for quite some time.

Bye, and what a welcome back to winter!

2008-03-10T15:22:00.001-07:00

Fine howdy do, huh? We were able to meet Nathan and Allysa in Atlanta for dinner. Had a wonderful talk about their possible plans. Sounds like they have an opportunity to enter an exciting and more relaxing phase of their lives. Hope it all works out for them. Unfortunately we had to duck out on meeting them for lunch the next day. Weather forecast forced us to leave a few hours earlier than we wanted. A bad accident that closed the interstate at the TN/GA border delayed us just enough so we ran into bad weather in Paducah for about an hour. Could have been much worse as a blizzard hit KY,TN,IN and dumped up to a foot of snow that day. Once we entered IL, everything calmed down and an hour in it cleared competely up. Other than being cold again (20), it was a smooth trip from there. Our thanks to Mom and Dad for having us for a week. It was a great vacation!

Hideout

2008-03-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

Here Valerie is hiding from the baseball game so she wouldn't jinx the Twins.

BASEBALL!!!!!!!!

2008-03-10T15:14:00.000-07:00

This was our view from the grass seats. The Twins trailed in the bottom of the ninth with two out and two strikes on the batter. Thinking, hey lets beat the traffic by a whopping one minute, we decided to duck out. As we were leaving the stadium we heard a CRACK, and guess what? The batter hit a homer to win the game! Oh well, Valerie always says if she doesn't watch the game, the Pack wins. Guess it works for baseball too!

BASEBALL!!!!!!!!

2008-03-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

Caught a spring training game, Twins vs Reds in Ft Meyers. If you look very closely, you might find GGM&GGP Teske in the top middle of the grassy hill.

GOLF!!!!!

2008-03-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

The course was in great shape! First round was a 98, my worst in years. After shaking off the rust, I had a 76 on the next day! If you look closely, in the picture you can see a 6 foot gator (over Grandmothers right shoulder on the rock in the water), a heron, a cormorant, jumping carp, a large white egret, a naked woman, and of course, Waldo.

gramma talks to Livy

2008-03-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

how did people enjoy themselves on vacation before cell phones?

pointy beaked something or other

2008-03-10T15:03:00.001-07:00

actually it's an egret. supposedly rare at the seashore, but we saw a lot of them.

curved snout ibis

2008-03-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, they are both looking for the same things. someone should give the smaller one a satchel so it can compete better.

pelicans diving

2008-03-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

A few beach friends

2008-03-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

Sun

2008-03-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

I spent most of my beach time standing in bird poop. It's supposed to be good for your feet!

Beach

2008-03-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

Valerie spent most of the time at the beach looking for treasure and avoiding bird poop.

First taste of warmth

2008-03-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

Actually, it wasn't that warm. Only 50, but compared to -10, it seemed a lot warmer. This is an actual saturn rocket at the welcome center in Alabama.

Off to Sunny FLA!

2008-03-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

these guys should have come along! It wasn't hard to leave all that behind for a while.

Happy Groundhog Day

2008-02-02T09:47:00.000-08:00

Every year the groundhog finishes delivering his packages, and crawls under the deck, only to emerge on February 2nd and stick his tongue on the festivus pole. If it freezes on, he dies and spring never comes. If he can pull it away, he goes back to sleep 'cause there's nothing else to do in winter.

OOPS, sorry that's the wrong tale. You can look up the real won at punxatawny phil's website.

Go Frogs!

2008-01-30T12:28:00.001-08:00

Me and my new best buddy.

Livy's first birthday

2008-01-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from Livy's first birthday party. The theme was winter "one"derland. She didn't like the frosting, but loved the cake. She had a great time and she was really well behaved all day. Mom and I made the cake, not too shabby, huh? It was a wonderful year.

NUTS

2008-01-21T18:41:00.001-08:00

Shot of Vince before the NFC championship game.

here birdie birdie

2008-01-21T18:31:00.000-08:00

this is a cute story. a hawk came and perched in the lilacs by the bird feeders. valerie thought it was really cool that it came to have a little bird seed and decided to take it's photo. while in the process, the hawk swooped down, grabbed a sparrow and CHOMP, she got these photos. didn't know hawks liked bird seed at all. i guess indirectly, they do.

Late xmas gift from the Pack!

2008-01-13T15:15:00.000-08:00

New House!

2007-10-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

If everything goes as planned with the signing tomorrow, we will be moving into our new house on November 8th. It's in Johnson Creek (about 6 miles from where we live now). It was just built a few months ago so we're very excited to have a house built in this century. For more info go to www.looshomes.com and click on "New Homes for Sale". Then click on Chapel Hill in Johnson Creek. We're buying the house at 205 Gosdeck Lane.

solidarnosk

2007-10-13T02:14:00.000-07:00

Our great union at Green Bay P&G had a contract vote that was accepted, even though many thought negotiations were a complete failure. Evidently this member voted no.

Happy October!

2007-10-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

Simpsonsize Your Fries

2007-09-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

dah dun dah dah dun dun da da da

2007-09-09T06:43:00.001-07:00

Go Pack Go!

2007-09-07T14:21:00.001-07:00

freshman!!!!

2007-08-28T15:36:00.001-07:00

Just spent the weekend moving Sky into his MTU dorm. He still seems excited about the whole thing! Got pics of his room, the dining hall, winter on the way, and his roomy. By the way, this college is REALLY expensive, so any donations are appreciated. Send them to: Keep Sky in school, C/O me at home.

Livy almost 7 months

2007-07-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

She loves to crawl, go to the cabin, eat sweet potatoes and watch Teletubbies! She now has 5 teeth and we're working on one more!

garden spot

2007-07-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

the garden has really come along. got a few rummage sale finds, and Valerie really did a lot of work on flowers. add some up north rocks and a little landscaping, and wah lah!

Nathan and Allysa in Hawaii

2007-07-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

Don't know if all of you who view this blog got the email with the photos, so here's a couple.

Next stop Houghton, MI

2007-06-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

Congrats Sky on graduation with high honors!!

Hooooooray Summer!

2007-05-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

the outdoor life!

2007-04-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

Tossed together a little wooden deck thing, along with a major day of moving green stuff and repotting. hopefully everything will come up the way we've planned. anybody for a visit?

SPRING!

2007-04-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

Or at least what passes for it in wisc. The pots are loaded and ready to sprout!

Happy belated anniversary!!!

2007-04-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

55 years! am I really that old?

More PEEPS!

2007-04-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, OK, but just this one time I'll be cute. But I expect these baskets to be filled!

EASTER PEEPS!!

2007-04-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

So you think you're going to get cute out of this mug, eh?

24 weeks!

2007-03-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

This is a picture my cousin took of me when I was 24 weeks, I am now 28 and a little bit bigger.

Oldage mutant ninja turtles?

2007-03-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

Rumor has it that's Grandpa in that suit!

Campus

2007-03-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

And lastly, the view of campus from across the lake on top of Mt Ripley (the ski hill).

DUhhhhhh

2007-03-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

Sky in his first class (sort of). It was a class on what to expect in class. Sky is the one in the brown packers stocking cap. His dorm roomie is sitting to his right.

SNOWWWWWWW!

2007-03-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

This is the ski hill across the lake. The university owns it, so all the students learn to ski!

COLLIDGE!!!

2007-03-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

yes, it's purposely misspelled, for edjumacational porposes. Just completed a campus visit to what is nearly Alaska, in Houghton MI. For those of you who aren't familiar with the UP, it's on the long finger at the very top of Michigan, about 200 miles north of Green Bay. We got a lot of info, saw the town., and I was impressed with the school and especially the mechanical engineering department. They strongly stress being able to get a USEFUL education, with a lot of hands on labs to test theoretical stuff. They are also working hard to get engineers to enter the job market with a reasonable level of communications skill. 95% of their grads get good jobs with major companies. I bet the other 5% just aren't trying! anyway, here's a bunch of pics from the trip. by the way, they also get a little snow. the snow-o-meter in the travelodge indicated they were only up to 225 inches, but it was a really off year. This is the building that houses Sky's chosen major.

Still Too Cute!

2007-03-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

She's sooooooooooooooooooooooooo big now.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

2007-02-13T17:54:00.000-08:00

YES, it IS ALL ABOUT ME!!!

hello again Gramma

2007-02-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

Little Ethan

2007-01-29T13:19:00.001-08:00

So we found out this morning that it is a boy! I know most of you who read this got a call or an email but in case you didn't here are the pictures and his name will be Ethan Wolf. He was pretty active playing and we saw him playing with his legs-it was too cute!

LIVIAN !!

2007-01-07T22:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the planet.

Married!

2006-12-21T14:15:00.000-08:00

So, Allysa and I finally tied the knot! We had a very cute little impromptu ceremony here at our apartment on Tuesday night. It was just us, our roommates Tara and Otis, and Allysa's friend Alisun who was in town for the night and happens to be ordained. Otis was our photographer, Tara was the ring bearer/flower girl/cake baker, and Alisun was our officiate. We threw together some decorations last minute and ended up having a really nice little ceremony. We had bought some rings the day before, which we will take pictures of and share at some point. For now, though, here are some pictures of the ceremony for you to enjoy...

All sorts of good news!

2006-12-16T16:41:00.000-08:00

I finally got my masters thesis paper appproved after a few weeks of hell with a very crabby reader from the university who hated my paper.

Then yesterday we found out that I'm already dialated 1 and a half cm (that will make sense to mom and Allyssa) and completely thinned out so Livy's going to be coming sooner than we thought. We went out today and bought a pack n play and a camcorder. We ended up with a Sony Handycam-nothing too fancy but just right for taping lots of poopy diapers and gurgles.

I'm posting some pics of the pack n play and some pics from a baby shower I had at school. See what fun stuff Nathan and Allyssa have to look forward to? My advice is to take a couple with you who has a baby when you go to register. They can make it seem less overwhelming and tell you the stuff you really need as opposed to the gimmicky crap. We took our friends with us and it was a lot less stressful!

2006-12-12T17:12:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas every one!!

The Family Car

2006-12-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

Allysa and I have been wanting a new car (specifically one with an automatic transmission) for some time. Mostly this was so that we can both drive (Allysa has manualtrannyphobia). And then of course a tiny little sports car isn't the most practical thing with a baby on the way. And, finally, my brakes went out and it was going to cost $2000 to fix- seemed like a good time to finally make that transition.

So we did- we traded in my old car for a 2007 Honda Fit. It's a really cute little car, a new model that's part Civic, part SUV, and part... some sort of four-door car. It's a lot like the Toyota Matrix, if you've ever seen one of those.

It feels extremely roomy on the inside, though the car is deceptively small. The seats in back fold flat, which is cool if we ever need a lot of cargo space. And it's very safe- airbags everywhere, special car seat hookups and all that good stuff.

My personal favorite feature, though, is the aux. input on the stereo, so we can plug our iPod directly in. Every car stereo should have one!

Okay, here are some pictures. I wish I had some way to create a sense of scale, but hopefully you will see it in person one day.

More Biefelds...

2006-12-03T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here is the newest addition to the Biefeld family. My cousin Jodi had a little girl, Sadie Jo, last week at 7lbs, 20 inches. She's very cute!

Hooray for higher education!

2006-11-17T18:39:00.000-08:00

Baby's first picture!

2006-11-13T07:15:00.000-08:00

We went this morning to get the ultrasound. And what an experience it was. It is healthy 2 arms to legs and a healthy heartbeat. We got to see him/her move and that was amazing. I didn't really think they moved that young. I just got 20 times more excited about it all. So here are the pics of our new addition.

Purrrrrrrrfect day

2006-11-08T15:43:00.000-08:00

For napping

Green House Done (ish)

2006-11-08T15:39:00.000-08:00

It was 68 out today, I decided to have a little fun and finish the greenhouse. Just needs some paint, spring weather and seeds.

"Poor Chubsy"

2006-10-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

Our poor Chubsy went to the Vet yesterday! I was the first to notice trouble in her nether regions! Vince and Sky said I was nuts and she was fine. She wasn't fine and is now on a 2 wk. cycle of anti-biotics. She seems to be doing great and now understands why her Mom wisked her away so quickly Monday morning to the Vet, all's forgiven! We're one big happy family again minus one life!

Happy Halloween

2006-10-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

outside fun

2006-10-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

As I wrote yesterday, this is my outside project. I cut down the dangerous part of the dead tree so it wouldn't fall on the house and the greenhouse i've started building. We plan on putting birdhouses on top of the stumps next spring. The green house will be situated more or less where the box of windows is sitting in the photo. I plan on making it entirely out of old storm windows!

shiney new floors

2006-10-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

This is what I've been up to for the last couple months of free time. Still have the dining room, office and stairs to finish. We have really nice, warm oriental rugs to add color and keep the feet cozy!

School daze

2006-10-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

This is Sky's senior yearbook photo. It's the one he picked out 'cause of the "LOOK".
It's actually just the head and shoulders in the final published edition.

Happy Birthday Dad!

2006-10-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry I didn't call... I'm a bad kid!

Hope you had a good one,
Love
Nathan!

School Days

2006-10-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

My first day of school was today, and it was pretty cool. For a first day, anyway. As always, it was mostly introductory stuff and school policy information, all of the boring junk they get out of the way at the beginning.

My classmates all seem nice- we got to know each other a good bit (which is unusual for me in a classroom...) I've never had a class before where having a conversation with a classmate was an assignment! We had to talk to the person next to us for about 10 minutes, and then each of us had to introduce the person we talked to. (That part was a suprise, so hopefully you had a decent conversation). Then we all talked a little bit about why we wanted to get into massage, and why we chose this school in particular.

Today it was about 10 students, all with really interestingly varied backgrounds. Apparently, only 4 of them are actually in my class. (It was 2 at first! The other two came a little late) There is another campus in Marietta (not too far away), and they had both campuses together for the introductory class. Apparently, we also all get together every Friday for the hands-on stuff (so there's more of a variety of people to work with). Kind of sucks for the Marietta people, if you ask me (having to drive to the other campus once a week), but oh well. So, anyway, it's a very small class!

The head of the school there is really awesome- Dr. Bruce, we call him. I really love his attitude towards massage, and the process that he's created. I'm more excited about this than I think I ever have been about school. It's going to be a completely new experience for me, and I'm excited about taking down a lot of walls I think I have put up over my lifetime. I really believe in massage, and its power to heal- I think if I could do that for a living, well, I would feel pretty good about that.

Changing Direction

2006-09-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

So, guess what? I'm going back to school!

This is something that's been in the back of my mind for years now, and I've mentioned it to some of you- so this may not be a huge surprise. I've been really wanting to try something different for a long time. Programming is great, and I feel like I'm really good at it, so it's been hard to get away. But, honestly, I don't get a lot of satisfaction out of it, and it stresses me out a lot. I think it's time to take that leap.

So, I'm going to go to massage school, with the hopes of becoming a massage therapist. Massages are something that have always helped me out a lot, stress-wise. It's also been an area that I've been interested in learning more about, there a lot of spiritual aspects to it that fascinate me. I'm really looking forward to working with and helping people, and doing something that has a noticeable benefit, at least to a small section of the world. Most of all, I couldn't think of anything further from sitting behind a computer all day :)

I chose a school and signed up for classes today, so this is pretty much a done deal. I'm going to keep working on an hourly basis while taking classes, and then hopefully transition away from programming after I graduate. I think we have the financials worked out- it might be strenuous until graduation, but I'm hoping it will all pay off.

I'll be going to The Rising Spirit Institute. I looked at a few other schools in Atlanta. Most of them are technical/medical schools, which focus on massage as more of a clinical thing. Rising Spirit is a smaller school, with a really different attitude. They're about trying to further massage as an industry, and also trying to support the more holistic and natural side of the process.

I'll be starting October 3rd (yeah, I know!), and classes last for 9 months. So it's really not bad, time wise.

I'll keep everyone posted with how it goes- wish me luck! This will certainly be something very new and different for me.

Baby Livian!

2006-08-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

It's official, baby Livian is a girl. Mom was right. Now the spending can really begin.

If you look closely you can see her tiny finger bones. It was amazing to watch her suck her thumb, lose it, find it, lose it, etc.

She's healthy and happy and seeing her was a great way to start our third anniversary. Thanks for the card Grandma and Grandpa!

Not so smart wisdom tooth

2006-08-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Just for the record, NO PUNCHES WERE THROWN. Valerie had an impacted wisdom tooth recently extracted and it was no picnic. The bruise showed up several days later.

Naughty kitties...

2006-08-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here are my naughty kitties up to no good... Mom was here this week and found them sound asleep in the crib. They are going to be in for a very big surprise when the baby comes! Here are some pics of the nursery so far too. We're putting in a new laminate wood floor on Monday. Thanks to mom for finding the rug and the kitty pillow at rummage sales and thanks to Vincey for buying the baby a stork beanie baby at a rummage sale. We find out in two weeks if we're having a boy or a girl...but we're going to try to keep it a secret. Ha!

Apple Jelly

2006-08-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say how awesome that apple jelly is, grandma! We've been eating it just about every day. Mostly on waffles (which I've started making constantly), sometimes on toast. It's really good stuff- we've pretty much gone through both jars (I eat the jalapeno jelly, but I use less of it since it's got a bit of a kick- so we basically keep the same pace).

Anyway, it's really good stuff. Everybody should try it on waffles if they haven't.

Hedgpeth was amazing.

2006-08-03T00:23:00.000-07:00

The only bad part of the day was having to get up at 7 to drive down. We get there early and sat at a table under a tent for almost an hour before the first band cam on. They were The Go! Team and they sucked so we walked to another stage where theBIV were playing. They were nuch better. After their set we went back to the main stage to see DeVothKa. They were an interesting blend of polka and russian folk music, it sounded pretty nice. Next up was Minus the Bear. They're a kind of Indie band out of Seattle. They just played some real good music. After that was They Might be Giants. They sounded almost better live than on cd, and they had some fun on stage. By now it was dark and time for Peeping tom to take the stage. I didnt get any good pictures after the sun went down, but Pepping Tom's set was very very good. The last act of the night was The Flaming Lips. I'v heard they put on a good show but I was blown away. The crowd interaction and the balloons and glow sticks, it was amazing. I'v included some videos, 2 of Peeping Tom and one of the opening of The Flaming Lips act. Enjoy, I sure did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqw31WcBvy0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxXmJIC_P5M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtCNCYwuq4k

I'm going to Hedgpeth!

2006-07-21T01:58:00.000-07:00

Friday July 28th from noon to midnight. My friend Kelsey's mom is taking me and him to Hedgpeth fest in twin lakes Wisconsin. It's a two day festival but we're only going for the first day. We're mainly going for Peeping Tom, Mike Patton's latest project. But we also get to see The Flaming Lips, They Might be Giants, and Minus the bear among others that no one has ever heard of. It's a shame we dont get to see Primus, who is playing the second day but it's a whole lot more expensive to go 2 days and Primus is the only good band playing the entire day. Other than that it should be tons of fun. Check out the festival's website at http://www.hedgpethfest.com/ . I really can't wait.

Stellllllaaaaaaaa

2006-07-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

I got Allysa a scooter for her birthday- we just bought it today. It is SO fun! I've actually been riding it a lot more than she has- it's a manual transmission, and she's a little wary of the whole "shifting" thing.

We haven't taken it out of the parking lot yet, and I guess we probably won't until we go and get a motorcycle learner's permit- which we're hoping to do next week (I need to get a Georgia license and plates anyway, so it will work out nicely). I can't wait to take it out on the open road.

I've gotten it up to third gear in the parking lot, and it felt like I was going SO fast- then I look down and I'm going like 10-15 mph tops. I'm so excited to see what going 35 is going to feel like. I think it'll be great for tooling around our little neighborhood.

It's a 2003 Genuine Stella, which I guess is just a Vespa re-branded for manufacture and sale in the US. It's a really cute vintagey looking thing, I just love it.

They're bluebirds!

2006-07-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

I found out my birds are doing well...and they are not sparrows, they are eastern bluebirds. This is what they'll look like when they're all grown up!

Chick update

2006-07-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I took the nestlings to a place in Oconomowoc called the Wildlife in Need Center. I hate to admit it, but I miss those little guys! Now all I have are my boring old cats. I'll keep you posted on their progress at the wildlife center.

Nesting early...

2006-07-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

Dave's mom was powerwashing her deck and these little guys came tumbling out of a nest. I couldn't bear to leave them there (which is what I probably should have done) so now I'm the new mama to five baby sparrow chicks. They eat every hour, so it's good practice. I've contacted a wildlife rehab center to take them asap.

PIXIES

2006-07-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

Look what appeared in our garden for the first time ever. A pixie!

Recycled Hat

2006-07-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

So this is a hat I created from a sweater I got today at a thrift store. It took like an hour tops. It is really simple. Basically take a sweater and cut 2 rectangles 9.5 w x 8.5 h at the base of the sweater (so that the base is the bottom of the hat and you dont have to finish it off. Then cut 6 strips from the sleeve about 1.5 inch wide and as long as you want. Sew 3 of the strips together then braid them then tie in a knot in it. Do the same for the other 3 strips. Then sew the hat wrong side together with braids placed between the 2 rectangles near the ends of the hat (on opp. sides of course). Then it is done! Very simple and it makes a very fun hat. To make a baby hat make the rectangle smaller and for a mans make it bigger.

Enjoy. and if any of you want a hat but dont want to make it and have an old sweater, I will gladly make one for you. I got a few other sweaters I plan to play with, so if you like any of them let me know. Chances are it will be girl or kid ones, but I can make a male one if someone requests it, though the sweaters I have lean on the girly side.

Golfing

2006-06-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

Just returned from a fun time in Laona with Granpa and Grandma Teske. Got in some golf, which was a little frustrating for me 'cause Sky is getting pretty good at it and even beat me on a few holes. Guess I'll have to start trying again! Took these photos with a tiny keychain camera (1x1x1/4 inch big), so the quality is pretty low (and you can't move in shadows).

Our new additions

2006-06-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

So here are some pillows and a new stuffed dog I have been making and wanted to share with you all.

Window cabinet

2006-06-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, here's a photo of the finished product of my latest wacky brain bubble. It took awhile to get it squared enough so it would open and close, but I'm pretty happy with it now. It's going to be the new home of a bunch of mohair boyds bears and a few other antiques, so it should look cool filled. My next window project is a mini green house made out of storm windows. i'll toss some photos on once work begins. The focus now around the house is OUT WITH THE CARPET!!!!!!!!!!!! We're going to start on an ambitious project to rip all the carpet off the hardwood and expose the beauty beneath.

electric auto

2006-06-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody. We took a trip to see Hill and on the way back, stopped to try out a GEM electric car! It may look like just an expensive golf cart, but it rides and handles (plus goes a little faster) much better. But, it's not quite what we're looking for. Trying to set up a test drive of a Zap xebra, but there's no dealer near here, so I'm not sure how they'll work that.

Happy Dad's day!

2006-06-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

Wish I could be there with you, having a couple cold ones and swearing at golf balls, but I have to work to pay your social security!

Hill, Mom to be

2006-06-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

This one was requested by the Mom to be. It's a long story.

Come to GB this summer!!!

2006-06-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

Quick, before they raise the minimum height limit on the bumper cars. And remember, it's still only 25 cents a ticket!

Smile for the camera !!??

2006-06-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a little shot of Baby (Charles or Livian) Taylor.

A new little monster

2006-06-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

So Nathan and I are going to start a website of handmade things. Like stuffed animals, pillows, and other things we want to make. Anyone is welcome to place their handmade stuff on our site once we have the it all hammered out and stuff but I wanted to post my first monster pillow creation.

Hoooooooraaaaaaaaaay SKY!

2006-06-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

another award for Sky, Congrats!

grammmmmma

2006-05-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

and she's the grandmother to be!

two moms

2006-05-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

these two are going to be moms??!!!?!?!?!?!

El and Leo

2006-05-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Teske and Dr. Leo at his 95th birthday party. Vince, Valerie and Sky (who played violin for him) were at his 90th.

Nathan's Monster!

2006-05-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to post the pictures of our niece Mary Alden on her new monster "kitty", as she has named him. Nathan made it for her. She loved it so much as did everyone who saw it. Great job Nathan.

Good news

2006-05-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

Today was Gloria's final check-up on her surgery. All is well. We plan on leaving Friday A.M. We plan on spending the night in Atlanta and having dinner with Nathan & Allysa. Should be in Green Bay sometime on Sunday the 28th.

Fun fact:

2006-05-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

That little security strip in the "big head" money that says how much it's worth and USA when you hold it up to the light, it glows fluorescent under a black light.

What a handsome dude!!

2006-05-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

I will post photos of everyone that doesn't update at least once in a while! Hopefully I can find something really embarassing.

Belly boy

2006-05-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

I know you've seen this, but has the whole WORLD?? Too bad I've got nothing on Allysa.

Scary Sadie pregnant lady

2006-05-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

It can get MUCH worse!!!! Post something NOW!!!
love , your mom

New Computer

2006-05-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

One more recent event of note: while I was stuck in Covington, actually the first day I got there, my computer died. My brand new I-spent-way-too-much-money-on-it fancy-schmancy tablet pc laptop, it just up and died- wouldn't even boot up to the BIOS. After a day of struggling with it, my boss gave up on it and ordered me a new laptop. I had paid for the first one myself, and he's been wanting to buy me a computer for legal reasons anyway, since I'm not "supposed" to be working on non-company computers. So I guess it wasn't a hard sell.

The kicker? I got a Mac! One of those new Intel-based MacBook Pros. It's really really awesome. I'm still getting used to it, but on the whole I couldn't be happier. Here are some pictures of it, in all it's Apple goodness.

Here it is running Windows XP, in a window, in Mac OSX. So I can do all my Windows development inside a tightly-controlled little sandbox, without having to worry about Windows blowing up all over my laptop. That's a really nice thing!

And here it is with my smiling face on it! It's got a built-in video camera, which the OS takes great advantage of (one of the first things it had me do when I started it up was take a picture of myself, which it uses for the login screen, IM, and email).

Our Apartment

2006-05-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

I realize now that I've been neglecting this blog! :) So you're about to get a ton of pictures and information...

First off, here's a fun picture from way back before our move to Atlanta. We have so much junk!! We managed to get rid of a lot of it before and after the move, but still needed to get storage space here in Atlanta to hold all the stuff we couldn't bear to part with (even though we don't really need it in our daily lives)

Here's our apartment, which I'm not sure any of you have seen pictures of. This is right after we moved in, Allysa's mom bought us a new couch and a washer and dryer. So, it's pretty much empty except for those things.

Here's the place after our stuff was moved in - yikes!

And here's a random collection of fairly up-to-date photos. Some are older than others, and some I scribbled on to note the improvements we (and our helpful neighors/family) made.

There are lots, LOTS more pictures- I had to be pretty selective so as not to deluge everyone in picture overload :) Maybe we'll post some more later.