Garage Sales

As I was packing up some of my apartment today, I took two coffee tables out to the dumpster. They were coffee tables that I had acquired through garage sales, and I was so happy to have them for my empty apartment, but now they are trash.

I’m looking forward to summer and garage sales. Mark and I have pretty much everything we need for our apartment, but we both enjoy garage sales. I mostly like to see all the different things people have, and I love buying treats from the little kids who are trying to make their own money selling lemonade.

When Mark lived in Kearney, garage sales on Saturday morning was the norm. The night before I would print out the list on Kearneyhub.com and decide which ones were most important to us. I would drag Mark out of bed and we would start the morning with coffee or soda from the quick stop.

As gas prices increase, I don’t think garage sales will really be worth the bargain buy when you have to pay $4 a gallon to get there. However, If I see a garage sale near my lincoln apartment there will be no hesitation to stop.

Corporate Journalist

Yesterday I applied for the corporate Journalist position with News Link in Lincoln. Basically News Link creates newsletters and publications for different businesses across the nation, but they are headquartered in Lincoln.

The base salary is $30,000. Currently in my two jobs I make about $16,000 a year, this is almost twice that. There is also possible word count bonuses. Full Health benefits are also included, and I don’t even really know what that means. Does it mean when I go to the Dentist to get my teeth cleaned I don’t have to pay $80? It got me thinking that I need a serious adult reality check.

I really hope I get a call back on this, because, I honestly didn’t think a journalist could make this kind of money. I mean a journalist as in somebody who writes for a living (not books and bestsellers that is). This also goes to show that I don’t know much about salary for jobs and I should start checking into these things.

I’ve always heard and have been under the impression that journalists were paid by the inch. I’ve never aspired to work for a newspaper, but those of you who do and have worked at newspapers, how does the pay chart go?

I might be naive though, because I’m just excited to be hired and pay is the last thing on my mind.

Video Commentary

I did it. I’m actually impressed.

Spring

The weather has been rainy and the ground is always damp but these are the things that we expect of spring.

My birthday is in April, so I might be partial to spring. Spring brings great things like flowers, warm weather, and baby chicks and ducks at the store.

The trees begin to blossom, turn green and get the best flowers on them. Cope fountain gets turned back on and although it’s the most stressful time of the school year students are everywhere outside.

Spring unfortunately brings sketchy weather. Just two weeks ago my parents got 10 inches of snow in Valentine. Last year at Mark’s graduation it was cold and windy, hopefully the weather will be in my favor for graduation this year.

Million Dollar Catch

As the summer approaches I’m getting excited for many things, but mostly I’m excited to start fishing again with Mark. I love fishing, and sitting in the sun waiting for that tug on your line.

This summer Cabella’s is hosting their “Wanna’ Go Fishing for Millions” Contest. They are tagging fish and putting them in lakes around the country. If you catch a tagged fish you type the code in online and you could win a million dollars or one of many other prizes.

I have already registered for the contest. Mark said it’s waste of time and they might not even put any fish in a Nebraska lake, but I say “What the heck, it’s free.”

Spending the day fishing is a prize on its own, but I could always use an extra million dollars or a $10,000 shopping spree to Cabela’s.

Once a Loper always a Loper

As my move to Lincoln approaches and the Huskers spring game is plastered on the television it got me thinking about who I am.

Until I was 18, I was a badger. A fierce Valentine badger sporting my red and white colors like I was the coolest kid in school. A badger doesn’t seem very cool but according to Wikipedia, badgers are capable of fighting off much larger animals such as wolves and bears. Honey badgers in Africa have been known to fend off multiple lions, hyenas and other dangerous top tier carnivores.

As I decided on my college, I was so excited to be a loper and I quickly shed my red and white for blue and gold. Loper sounds so much cooler than antelope but I’m proud to be an antelope too. The antelope is the fastest animal in the western hemisphere, and according to wikipedia in many places their horn is valued for medicinal or magical powers.

When I move to Lincoln will I be a Husker? When I think of Huskers, the only images that I ponder up are of football. I’ve never been to a Husker game, and I only own a Husker T-Shirt because it gets me out of wearing my work polo during game days. I thought Taylor Martinez was hispanic until the end of the season when I saw a picture of him without a helmet. I would be a horrible Husker.

I think for me, once a Loper always a Loper. I will be in Lincoln walking the campus proud in my blue and gold Loper t-shirts. I won’t be mistaken for a Husker because I’m a Loper, and a proud one at that.

Peter (Final)

I know that parents aren’t supposed to have a favorite child, but at my house my brother Peter certainly takes the cake. He turned 15 in February, and he is my parents’ final child of the lineup.

Peter first came to my house when he was five, after it was discovered that he and his dad were sleeping outside on a bench in October. After a few months at our house Peter was sent back to live his dad. Soon after they were back on the street and Peter was back at our house. 

He was six when he wrote a letter to the judge asking to live at my parents’ house, because he felt scared at his own house. The judge gave Peter’s dad a choice to give up his parental rights or have them taken away. Peter was adopted into our family shortly after.

Peter with a picture of his real sisters, Mileigh and Malia. They are adopted to a family in Lincoln.

Peter is mature beyond his years, mostly from raising his sisters at a young age. I once watched him change my four month old nephew’s diaper with one hand while feeding him a bottle with the other. He paints my niece’s finger nails with pink polka dots and rhinestones, just what every little girl wants.

The saying goes, “Grow where you’re planted” and I think Peter certainly has. My mom certainly fertilizes him by making sure he is involved by putting him in horseback riding lessons, piano lessons, art lessons, 4-H and more. She makes sure he gets to visit his “real” sisters, and he goes to Campus Catch-up, which reconnects separated siblings, every year. In addition, my mom takes Peter to the Rosebud Reservation to watch the pow-wows every year.

My mom has also made sure he’s been to places that he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see if he didn’t live with us. They flew to Florida last summer to visit my sister, who’s stationed at the naval base. Peter had the opportunity to sit in a navy airplane and tour the facilities. He’s been to Disney Land at least twice and has gone skiing most winters. He’s been to the Chicago Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium on more than one occasion.

Even though Peter is only 15 he completely understands the “Pay it Forward” mentality. He is currently working his first job stocking shelves at a grocery store. With his first paycheck ($81) he spent the entire amount on Christmas gifts for all of us including the two foster children that currently live with my parents. In addition, for Valentine’s Day he bought my mom flowers and of course, he got flowers for the girl down the street too.

A distorted picture of my family from four years ago.

My parents have eight children, four are adopted. My oldest brother Nick will be 33 when Peter graduates from high school and I will be 26. My dad told my mom they can’t adopt anymore children after Peter, because soon their grandchildren will be older than their kids. That makes Peter the baby of the family and the favorite.

I know a parent doesn’t choose favorites, but at my house I think my mom loves Pete best, because he picked us by writing a letter to a judge asking to stay at our house.