Staying Busy

Being that I don't really know who read this anymore (or who pretty much gave up on this blog besides us) I will go ahead and give a brief update. Everything is going well at the moment. Jason has several new brews at the store as well as a new Facebook page to keep us all updated. He had been talking about purchasing the old KFC in West Frankfort, but that fell through due to the amount they were asking. Apparently there isn't much liquor in West Frankfort to go around and due to conflicts in race, the Frankfortians are wanting Jason to extend his business in the area. So, it was discussed but now he's just keeping up with the current business.
I have started working at Franklin Williamson Human Services in Marion (The H Group) as a substance abuse graduate assistant. I work with Methamphetamine addicts and I actually don't mind going. They are pretty laid back and they look like you and me. I half expected to see a room full of "meth mouths" but everyone has their chompers for the time being. There are occasional internal health problems but I hope it works out for those individuals. I'm not sure how long I will be there due to the current IL budget situations (ARGH) but hopefully something will work out so that I can stay. For now, I will being employed until at least September 31.
Other than that, we stay busy. Oh, I did get into a fender bender on July 29th. I stupidily rear ended someone and caused their hitch to punch a hole into my beloved Jeep. The radiator was pretty tore up and antifreeze was leaking everywhere. I wasn't able to put the car into park nor could I turn it off. So needless to say my car is in bad shape and there is no word on when I'm going to get back. Right now I'm driving a Dodge Caliber as a rental. I didn't get a ticket, thank goodness but it was irritating for something like that to happen.
Let's see...all I can think about right now is school starting in two weeks (I have one more school year until I graduate), the multiple birthdays coming up, travel (always) and just life in general.
I spontaneously decided yesterday that our living room needed to be moved around a bit and during my mindset, I allowed Jason to purchase us a new flatscreen tv. We don't have it yet, but our current television is just too big for our little living room. I bet he would like it if I had those mindsets more often.
That's all I got right now. If it weren't 'For the Love of Cooking' blog that I like to steal recipes from, we probably would ditch this whole blog thing.

Oh, Canada!

Leaving for Canada tomorrow. Actually we're spending the night in the 'Lou and then we're going to head out the next day to the airport. We have free parking at Pear Tree inn. Jason and I can't leave until 8:30 pm due to my long work day but it's fine. We're looking forward to it except right now I'm a little nervous about the budget issue going on in IL. Hopefully the H group won't be closed when I get back. It's a little nerve racking and I'd like to enjoy my vacation. Thankfully Jason has a system on his computer that allows him to keep an eye on the boys at the Barrell via the security cameras. He can also fix whatever computer gliche that occurs through his laptop. Not sure what our complete plans are yet but we are staying two nights in Whistler, two nights in Victoria and two nights in Vancouver. It should be nice and in the mid to upper 60s. Woo hoo!

Over halfway to 30 which will be halfway to 60!!

It's a good thing I keep this thing going, otherwise what would happen to our thoughts? ha. Anyways, hubby turns 30 June 3rd!!! Yay!! We will be having his 30th gathering on June 5th at Pheasant Hollow in Whittington around 5:30 (officially 6) to 8:00. Let me know if you all plan to attend. I have to plan on feeding people and showing up will make it stressful unless you honestly don't know until then. NO gifts are necessary. He loves quality time.

Swine Schmine

Hearing about this swine flu just causes me to roll my eyes and to move on with life. I actually find nothing wrong with this reaction. First of all, our country is full of selfish cowards that spend their time fearing the worst of everything rather than learning how to deal with things as they come. Yes, there was ONE official swine flu death in the United States. Everybody panic. I'm sorry for that family's loss, however might I add that the death was an infant??? It is always heartbreaking to hear about the loss of a young life, but infants are unable to fight off sicknesses the way we are. It's the same with the elderly. There is no need to start a swine flu death toll simply because of a poor infant's struggle with something that happens to be the swine flu. What about SIDS?? You hear about SIDS awareness but that's all it is. An awareness. You don't see it all over the news about how another infant died of SIDS simply because it's something that happens often. What about a miscarriage? EVERY day. We lost track of those death tolls. I'm not about to saran wrap my house like the media caused us to do back when anthrax was the trend scare. Or how about the world ending the year 2000? I don't know about you, but I think we're all still here and alive. Now it's what...the year 2012 when the world's going to end??? News Flash, no one knows. Stop attempting the math because we're never going to know until it happens. We don't have to have all the answers in life. It's just life. Deal with it. You're going to die whether you like it or not. Why should we live in fear of something we can't do anything about anyway? It's just another awareness that doesn't have to be broadcasted on a daily basis.

That's all I have to say about that (ha). Anyways, Jason and I are going to see Flight of the Conchords tomorrow in the Lou. Yay!!!!! I'm excited. I also get to see Heart and Aerosmith (again) in June. Friggin stoked.

We love all God's creatures, but...seriously?

I (Brooke) receive two magazine subscriptions: one to People and one to Entertainment. I noticed that in my most recent Entertainment that the section with splits, births, court orders, marriages, deaths, etc. there's now a "pet" section. Apparently two pets of famous people have passed away including Bill Clinton's cat. I am aware that there are terribly bored people in this world who give a damn but seriously, I don't. I know I don't have much room to speak since I subscribe to celebrity gossip magazines in the first place but I'm not THAT bored.
I am also tired of hearing that it's almost time for our president Obama to purchase a "first" dog...even though I find it funny that he considered a Labradoodle, since that is what we own...but in the end, I still don't care. When somebody's pet cures cancer, then I might care.

Also, the chow chow puppy that Martha Stewart was going to buy died in a breeder fire. I have thought of nothing else. Sorry I have spread the infection to other blog readers.

In other news,

The Liquor Barrell's grand opening will be APRIL 4. Stop by. There will be live music, tshirts, free throws on our new Jack Daniels Basketball goal and a drawing for a mini Miller Light grill. Good times, my friends, good times.

OPENING SOON

The NEW Liquor Barrell on 707 West Main in Benton, IL on SUNDAY Feb 15th at 11am. It is BIGGER and BETTER. Stop by and see us!

Progress

Just a quick picture update of the progress with my new building. The first picture is from 11/26 and they go on from there stepping up every few days. The last couple of photos are from today. The last one is a pic of the demolition of some of the surrounding properties.

Later,

Jason