Category: Normal Entry

Greetings & Salutations Faithful Stapleton Blog Readers!

Well I know it has been a while since my last posting so here I go!  We survived Christmas once again.  It was out first year without a Christmas tree since the pre-lit tree we bought ( I say we but it was my butt that was out at 4:30 in the morning on Black Friday, but I’m not bitter!) did not exactly meet our needs so we took it back and used a ceramic Christmas tree in its place.  You can see the Christmas picture slide show here.  I took or tried to take a little bit of time of around the holidays but that did not work very well I had to end up canceling one of the days because of circumstances at work.  Like I said I love my job but on occasion it takes a wallop out of me.

This month has not been too bad the first couple of weeks of the year are a good catch up time; most banks don’t won’t you to bother them during their end of year process.  I have done a conversion this month and a couple of trips to Paducah for training but that’s about it.  Jess’s new job is going great in fact she went to Columbus, OH this week for a train the trainer class on the restraint of special needs clients.  So I got to stay home with the mopey animals for a change.  Jess is taking full time classes this semester again and that is taking a great deal of her time.  Basically if she is not at work or church she is doing something associated with school, but to keep all these 4.0’s she must be doing something right.

As for the house everything that is left to do is detailed work and to tell you the truth I am a little fried on remodeling right now.  This in addition to the fact that everything I have left to do is detail work has really slowed things down a bit.  You just have to be in the right mind set to do that kind of stuff you know?  Last weekend Rick and I spent 10 hours hanging just the ceiling tiles in the family room drop ceiling.  We left the old grid up in the room from before the remodel.  Let’s just say that 221 cuts and tiles later we were done.  It did not take us very long to determine that the grid was about as square as an igloo!  We are going to work every third Saturday to keep things moving but I really hope to have this thing done by the end of summer.

Jess & I started a new Beth Moore Bible study at church last week this one is open to both men & women on the book of Daniel so we took it together.  It’s been pretty good so far God has given Beth Moore such a gift for delivering his word.

Besides all things listed above that’s just about it nothing more exciting than just getting along.

Greetings and Salutations Faithful Stapleton Blog Readers!

I know it has been a while since a good update entry so I thought that I would spend some time and bring everyone up to speed on the Stapleton household.  First of all let me mention that the First Lady of the Stapleton Mansion got her grades last week and she earned another 4.0!  This just goes to prove that her brain is as big as her 80’s hairdo.  This puts Jess about 1/3 of the way done with her masters, so she is moving at a pretty brisk clip through graduate school.  Jess is also doing well at her new job it’s a lot slower pace than her old job so she’s having to adjust.  The good news is from the information that we continue to get from her old place of business this move was definitely the right thing to do.

I am also pleased to announce that last weekend we finally finished unpacking and organizing the house so that I can get back to the construction once Christmas is over.  Due to some unforeseen circumstances at work it looks like I am going to have 8 very intense months ahead in 2007, but I am still hoping to make progress on the house at an acceptable pace.  My plan is to have all the interior stuff completed in time to landscape in the spring.  We really have some of the most unattractive plants surrounding our house at the present time.  Right now we just about have all the doors hung but I will have to take them back down to paint and make the adjustments for them to close properly (but they are out of our way).  There is still a lot of trim and crown molding to put up, along with the ceilings downstairs, and completing the new bathroom in the basement so things are not going to slow down too much around here in the near future.

All in all however things are going very on all front’s in the Stapleton household.  Work is keeping me very busy.  Last month I picked up my first company car (a long held dream come true since the beginning of my commuter days) nothing fancy I just got a 2007 Accord.  I have almost put it through my first 5000 miles and I only have 2 complaints.  First, there is no auxiliary input jack for my MP3 player or XM radio and second the seats are somewhat uncomfortable.   I doubt I will get another Accord but for my first foray into the company car program it will work.  Jess & I have been very busy at church as always.  In fact we are both teaching Sunday school this month Jess has the preschoolers and I have the toddlers.  Petey and Phoebe are getting along relatively ok but man she is a handful.  There is not one of us in the house that is not bearing a scar emotional or physical from the kitten stalking us, that and we are having the worst time keeping her out of the shower whether if we are taking a shower at the time or not! On the geek front I have been beta testing the Google reader which is an RSS feed aggregator product.  This thing is the bomb!  If you read RSS feeds daily you should really check it out.  As for the website I hope that everyone is enjoying it I have some ambitious plans for it if I can every get around to putting them into place so stay tuned.

Lastly, we would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas.  May you remember the true reason for the holiday to celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.  As you succumb to the inevitable rate race of activities during this time may you be covered by the grace and love of God during your travels and time together with your family.

Take care, everyone talk to you soon.