Jessica Kelso

What are you thankful for?

Jessica — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:20:20 +0000

I know there is only a week until we all gather around the dinner table and stuff our faces full of yummy turkey, stuffing, and pies. . . but I thought I could go ahead and be thankful for one thing every day until then.

Today (and every day) I’m thankful for my wonderful parents.

I’m thankful for their selflessness. I’m thankful they raised me in church, so I knew from a young age how much God loved me. I’m thankful they fought for their marriage through hard times, and are still together to this day. I’m thankful that they never forced me to be someone I wasn’t. I’m thankful for their forgiveness day after day. I’m thankful that they picked out a nice name for me, knowing how much worse life could have been with a name like “Talula does the hula“. I’m thankful that they live 5 minutes away so I can go see them anytime I want. I’m thankful for their devotion to God, their marriage, and us kids. I’m thankful that I got dad’s sense of humor and mom’s tender heart.

I wasn’t able to pick the family I was born into. . . but if I could have, they are it. I will never be able to fully repay them for the love they have shown me or the gifts they have given me, but I will try my best to pass on all of these things to my own children.

Fireplace

Jessica — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:19:14 +0000

As promised. . .

Before:

After:

The before picture is from the day we bought our house. It’s the best picture I could find of just the fireplace. The only times it has been pictured, are the times we have been sitting in front of it (trying to hide the ugly trim I imagine!). I know it’s not a “wow” difference to most, but it is huge to me. I’m still deciding what to do with those handles. Leave ‘em? Paint ‘em white to match the white mantle? Black to just blend in with the fireplace? Hmmm. Ohh, I’ve also been thinking about painting the whole fireplace white. The only thing stopping me is the thought of it turning out bad and not being able to get the red brick back. And I can see the drama unfolding already. . . Jessica paints fireplace brick white, Jessica hates it, Jessica has no back-up plan for this happening, so Jessica and Kevin have to dish out lots of money to get a whole new fireplace. Jessica is sad and then Kevin tells her she should have just left it alone because it was fine.

I guess I should listen to Kevin.

Sunday funday

Jessica — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:43:48 +0000

Today I went over to my parents house to help my mom go through some of the things she’s been holding onto for us over the years. They are cleaning out the spare bedrooms (I think for the first time since we’ve all moved out), and getting ready to paint and replace the carpet. I found so many sweet things that brought back such good memories. My mom has kept around a couple of baby dolls that I loved “just in case” I have a daughter of my own. They have seen better days, and I’m sure they should be thrown out. . . but there’s something about those dolls that I want to hang onto. Such sweet and innocent times. I also came across a journal that I kept when I was 8 years old. One of the entries read, “I love babies. I have a friend who has a baby. She loves her baby. My aunt has a baby named Jessica. I hope I have a real baby some time if it doesn’t cry.” Ha! From the sound of it, I think I made stuff up. I have no cousins named Jessica. . . and I’m pretty sure at the age of 8, I didn’t have any “friends” that had babies. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all these journal entries, but there’s no way I can toss them out. There were a lot of other things I wanted to keep as well, but decided it’s better for me to live in a clutter free home then to hang on to everything from my past.

Well, here it is. Sunday again. The weekend went by too fast, again. Lucky for me, I was able to get everything done I had planned out. I finally got around to getting rid of the nasty brass gold color that surrounded our fireplace. Originally I wanted to paint it silver, but finding a high heat silver spray paint is harder than it sounds. So I went with a flat black color. It’s outside drying as I type this so as soon as it’s put back together I will post pictures. Friday night after work, we went to Grass Root for dinner. It’s the first organic restaurant in Lakeland and I’ve been anxiously awaiting it’s opening for a while. It was awesome! I’m so excited it’s just a couple minutes from my work and home.

Tonight I decided to try a new recipe I found for chocolate chip pumpkin bread. It was so easy to make and absolutely delicious! I have recently discovered that baking has become my new hobby. Specifically baking certain things related to whatever season it might be. I need to learn how to just bake though and not eat the whole product of my labor. I’m thinking that’s not really possible, and even if it is. . . I don’t think it sounds as fun. I know if I don’t learn that though, it will soon become a hobby that makes me large as ever! Either way it’s fun and everything I’ve been making has turned out amazing.

Something fun! (taken from Michelle)

Jessica — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:53:01 +0000

Go to www.images.google.com. Type in your answer to these questions and post a picture from the first page of results under the question.

1. Your age at your next birthday:

2. Favorite place I would like to travel to:

3. My favorite place:

4. Your favorite food:

5. Your favorite pet:

6. Favorite color combination:

7. Favorite piece of clothing:

8. My favorite movie:

9. Town in which you live:

10. First job I had:

11. Dream job:

12. A bad habit you have:

13. Worst fear:

14. Something you want to do before you die:

Well hello, pretty

Jessica — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:57:36 +0000

I’m avoiding work. This is what I do. I work all day, non stop, until I’ve almost completed whatever the task at hand is. The next day I start at it again, but with much less enthusiasm and it always seems to take the whole day to finish what could have been done in a good hours worth of work. I’m not sure why I do this. Maybe it’s because I get bored, or maybe it’s just pure laziness. Either way, it’s what I’m doing right now. . . and probably what I’ll be doing rest of the day.

This weekend we spent most of our time working in the yard. Let me rephrase that, Kevin spent most of his time working in the yard! I helped. I swept the sidewalk, played with Milo, pulled a couple of weeds ( that were the size of small trees ), and climbed up into the hot attic to get anything and everything Christmas related down. So for the time being, we only have a 1 car garage until I can go through it all and see what else I might want this year. The new plants we got for the front yard are really pretty. Although, I’m pretty sure anything would look better than the azaleas that were barely hanging on to the last bit of life they had left. It was sad. We still have a lot more to do in the yard. . . but I imagine it’ll always be that way.

So now I’m deciding when is an okay time to start putting up Christmas decorations. I’ve always thought the rule is to wait until after Thanksgiving, right? That just seems so far away though and sometimes I can be very unpatient. We’ll see how long I last. I will make a promise right now to at least not put up any Christmas lights. . . outside. I’ll only look overly excited about Christmas to anyone who comes inside!

Almost over

Jessica — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:09:21 +0000

Today hopefully means the end to all of this negativity surrounding the election. I’m pretty sure all the nastiness never ends but once a winner is announced I think most of it will fade away. Driving home from work last night, seeing all of the people standing outside with their Obama, McCain, abortion is wrong, gay marriage is right signs. . . it all just kind of hurts my heart. I’m glad everyone is able to express their opinions freely, but a lot of people can’t manage to express things in a loving, non-judgemental way. I guess we are all human and without these people life might be pretty boring. I guess not having a sign in my yard and only talking to my husband about politics makes ME boring!

Last election I was 19 and didn’t have much of a care in the world regarding presidential candidates. I can still honestly say I’m not as informed as I wish I was and probably should be, but I made a decision based on the facts I DO know. . . and the topics I feel as a Christian AND American should not be left unconsidered. I’m happy I was able to do so.

Other than that, I have been pretty much useless the past couple of days. I felt terrible over the weekend. Sick to my stomach. . . kind of like I had the flu but without a cold or cough. Sunday we skipped out on church so I could catch up a little bit on rest and then we were able to go with my parents to see my brother in Orlando. He seems to be doing really good, and it was nice to be able to see for myself. After wards, we went to Cracker Barrel. They had all of their Christmas decorations out and it made me happy. I’m pretty sure buying Christmas accessories for my house is a huge love and weakness of mine. If I could, I’d probably be one of those people who have a winter wonderland right in their front yard. I’m sure Kevin would never let that happen though.

Now we wait and see how this all plays out!

Long days

Jessica — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:18:44 +0000

The past couple of days have been physically, spiritually, and emotionally draining in so many ways. I had jury selection on Monday at the courthouse and was chosen for a sexual battery case that was held on Wednesday and Thursday. It was a long two days sitting for hours on end. I won’t go into all the details, but it was gut wrenching. My heart broke for two girls. Two girls who are now women and still live with the pain of something terrible that happened to each of them 17 years ago. One was repeatedly raped and the other ran to save herself and has lived with the guilt of leaving her cousin behind. Their testimonies were so real. . . and as tears ran down cheeks, I felt like I lived just a little bit of that night with them. So all I could do was pray. Pray that God would help me and five other ordinary people make the right decision when it came to this man’s life. . . and closure for these girls. In the end, I truly believe we did just that. We found him guilty on 4 counts of sexual battery.

Today I have very little patience. I have a headache and feel like I could be getting sick. My boss gave me a project to do, and I wish I could just throw it in the garbage. I think I deserve a raise for not giving in to my temptations. In the grand scheme of things, I am truly thankful to even have a job.

Whiney Jessica ends here.

Oh, Happy Halloween! It has creeped up on me this year. (Creeped, get it?) Tonight if I feel okay, we’re planning on going to the Drive-In to see a scary movie. Since I just recently found out that Kevin has lived in Lakeland 30 years and never been to the Silver Moon Drive-In. . . I’ve been anxiously awaiting our trip there. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend Halloween night!

It’s so beautiful outside today and all I want to do is enjoy it. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to do just that!

Weekend recap

Jessica — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:00:35 +0000

Laying in bed with the laptop, typing a blog while my husband reads a book. . .we’re a modern family, I tell ya. We had a nice time over at his parents house tonight. We were able to eat the steak we missed out on a couple of months ago when we were on our diet, along with some delicious pecan pie I made. We’ve also been able to spend a little bit of time with Kevin’s brother, Keith, his wife Juda, and new baby Caleb. That has been fun having a little baby around! And look at Kevin. . .I’m thinking he’s a natural. This was a picture from his photo shoot with Caleb!

Saturday night we had some really good sushi at Amura with our friends Cassie, Richard, & Cale in Orlando. Afterwards, we stopped by Whole Foods Market and walked around dreaming about what it’d be like to shop there on a weekly basis. (Maybe not Kevin, but I definitely was!) It just has everything I need. Don’t get me wrong, I love Publix. I love that each week I go I seem to find another new organic product. . . but it still doesn’t compare. It doesn’t compare to whole wheat organic pie crust, Seventh Generation toilet paper and laundry detergent, and 5 different kinds of organic apples to choose from. FIVE! Life would never be boring if I had those things just 5 minutes away.

Tomorrow I have the joy of waking up extra early to make it to the courthouse by 8am for Jury Duty. If you know me at all, you know I’m not one of those people who finds it very exciting to be around complete strangers and get get paid $15 a day instead of my usual wage. I’m sure it’s pretty safe to say that most of us probably don’t enjoy it though. I guess it’s just one of those things and I’m really trying to look at the positive side. I might be able to put a dent in the book I’ve been reading, there’s this awesome BBQ restaurant by the courthouse, AND I won’t be officially “working”. That’s just always a good thing. I’m hoping my update to follow will consist of only positive things to say about my day at Jury Duty.

Responsibilities

Jessica — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:23:15 +0000

What is with today? Before noon I had already made more blunders then I usually do in a whole day. I’m sure it has to do with being the middle of the week, but I just can’t seem to snap out of this funk. I woke up in plenty of time to have a good head start on my always running behind-not enough cup holders for cereal, coffee, and OJ in the car-killed the Volkswagen battery, had to take the Volvo-rush. I showed up to work at 8:13. That’s my story for the past week or so. I was at the grocery store last night and I felt like everything and everyone was moving in slow motion. As frustrated as I was, I think I finally started to see that it’s not everyone else. It’s me. I’m going too fast. I can’t explain why I’ve been so busy lately. . . I just have. Maybe I don’t have THAT much to do. . . all those things just have to be done perfectly. Little, simple, day to day responsibilities. I like to call them responsibilities over tasks because tasks just don’t feel as grown up-ish to me. Anyway, at the store I bought a new cereal. I eat a lot of whole wheat things, but I’ve been feeling like I need more fiber in the AM, so I bought All Bran EXTRA Fiber. 50% of your daily recommended intake. Much healthier then the Honey Nut Cheerios I had been consuming the past week (but not nearly as good!).

In my morning mad rush to actually be on time, I set my cereal ON THE SEAT in the car since my cup holders were busy doing their job holding my coffee and OJ nicely. I got out to grab my ipod from the VW (knowing how much worse my morning could have been without tunes in the car), got back in and started backing out completely oblivious to my Bran Flakes still sitting in my passenger seat. It was a big fiber-tastic mess. Typing this story out also tells me I need to slow down. Eating cereal in a manual driven car probably isn’t the safest thing in the world. For once in my life I was thankful for my never been diagnosed, but am fully convinced I’m lactose intolerant, belly. Soy milk doesn’t smell anything like regular milk when it’s spilled and left to sit until you have something more then a paper towel from the bathroom at work to clean it up with.

So here’s to hoping that I don’t continue my day in this streak. Wish me luck!

New shoes and such

Jessica — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:37:06 +0000

I went to Fit Niche to buy new running shoes last night and of course couldn’t wait to get home and try them out. What a difference! The Asics I’ve been wearing were purchased online for a good price in hopes that they’d fit okay but ended up being incredibly too tight and had very little support. The Mizuno’s I just bought make my feet feel like the road beneath consist of fluffy clouds that consumed too many yummy marshmallows. Maybe now I’ll be able to finish 3 miles without feeling like my toes are broken and my shins are split into tiny little pieces. . . that’ll be nice!

My friend, Anna, just completed the Chicago Marathon in 4.5 hours. I’m not saying I could ever push myself hard enough to be able to achieve anything like that. . . but it is definitely something to strive for. Right now, I’m just trying to become a runner. Running until I feel like I’m going to die. . . and then not stopping. I don’t really have anything to stop me now. Just me and my Mizunos. Oh, and the overly perfect fall weather we’re getting right now. I think with that combination, it can be done!