She's Back

My mom flew to North Carolina last week to visit her family and attend a 50th anniversary party for her sister and brother-in-law.

Mom is shown here with gingerbread baby in the cockpit of the flight (DFW to CLT)

My mom and some of her family.
Sister - Fran, Brother-Gerald, Sister-Brenda

More family at the 50th anniversary party
Left to Right:
Ronnie Kendrick, Gerald Hall, Rhonda , Phyllis Kendrick, Tina Conley, Dorothy Janssen, Fran Loflin

Click here if you would like to see more photos.

One Smart Cookie

The Administration & Faculty

of

Sam Houston State University
extend Congratulations
to
Jacklyn Kay Kuklenz

Fall 2009

in achievement of

Academic Excellence

4.0 GPA

Congratulations for making the Dean's List Jacklyn!!

Happy Valentines Day

Doug brought me some flowers (roses & daisies) and Valentine snack cakes.
He also made me my favorite thing in the whole wide world - sausage gravy over home-made biscuits...YUMMY in my tummy!

When we were in Costa Maya, Mexico for our cruise, he bought me a tanzanite & diamond bracelet. This gift will be my Valentines Day present, my birthday present, my anniversary present and my christmas present for THIS year and quite a few years to come.

He spoils me so much!!!

This is the card Doug made me for Valentine's Day

This is the card I made Doug for Valentine's Day... using my Cricut.

Inside was a gift certificate for a one year subscription for Pandora Internet Radio.

Pandora is an automated music recommendation and Internet radio service created by the Music Genome Project. A user can enter a song or artist that they enjoy,
and the service responds by playing selections that are musically similar.
Users provide feedback on approval or disapproval (thumbs up or thumbs down)
of individual songs. Pandora then takes this into account for future play selections.

This is a free service, but has a few commercials to tolerate.

With the yearly subscription, you get to skip the commercials, have unlimited skips of the music, a higher stream rate, etc...

Doug enjoying his Pandora Internet Radio - late one evening.

He is setting up different channels.
Example: PM Poolside - to listen while we are in the hot tub.

Record Snowfall in Texas

The Colony, TX received 8" of snow over the past 24 hours.
There were some areas around here that did receive 10-12 inches of the heavy white stuff.
This set several all-time snowfall records.

This is the view from the back door ~ Poor palm trees.

This is the view from the front door

Gingerbread Baby - Snow in Texas

02/11/2010

Dear Makayla,
Thanks for sending me on vacation!
I arrived in The Colony, Texas yesterday.
I was welcomed by your Aunt Dee, Uncle Doug, Nana & Papa.
Did you know they have a pool?

But I think you are playing a cruel joke on me.
Today it is snowing in Texas with 5 to 6 inches of snow expected.

Here are my first photos in Texas.
Guess I won't be spending to much time in the pool...just yet.

Love,
Gingerbread Baby

Gingerbread Baby sitting by the pool.

Gingerbread Baby close-up photo in the chaise chair by the pool.

Gingerbread Baby sitting in the Texas snow.
"Can I get some hot chocolate please?"

Banking Issue

Thursday, Feb 4th, I logged on to Bank of America to do my online banking. I identified a debit amount that was not authorized. It was only $39.97 but still...

I contacted the bank and they said they could not do anything about the transaction, until it posted to my account.

I was trying to make sure it would NOT post to my account and prevent other occurances of this happening.

They suggested I contact the vendor "CheckOutKey.com" and see what they could tell me. Their website was bogus, so I knew I was in trouble.

I contacted the phone number for "CheckOutKey.com" that was listed on my banking transaction. The response I got was "We are an international membership services organization". I asked "What does that mean?" She said "We do the billing services for a lot of companies" I said "Like who?" She said "Mostly adult web sites". I said "I know that it is not me now"

OH BROTHER!!

Friday, the transaction had still not cleared the bank

Saturday, Doug and I went in to the bank to get more details.
The bank representative was able to determine that it was my debit card that was compromised...not Doug's. The bank voided my debit card and reissued me a new one.

Monday, the transaction finally cleared the bank with an additional fee of $1.20.
Apparantly this was an international processing fee, because the business is in the United Kingdom.

Tuesday, I called the fraud department at Bank of America and they started the fraud investigation process. Our bank has temporarily credited our account with both transaction amounts. I was told the investigation could take up to 6 months.

Stay tuned for further accounts of this banking saga.

Gingerbread Baby

Today, I received a package from my niece, Makayla. She sent me a letter and Gingerbread Baby. I guess I'm supposed to show Gingerbread Baby a good time.

Stay tuned for the "Many Adventures of Gingerbread Baby"

Oh the places we will go....the things we will see...the people we will meet!!!

Random Acts of Kindness

Monday, I was told repeatedly I was an angel. I don't consider myself an angel. I just like to do good for others whenever I am able.

The first time was when I was visiting a new visitor of Trinity Presbyterian Church. Yvonne has been ICU with a gastrointestinal infection at our local hospital for over a week. She sat next to me on her first visit to TPC. I saw her name in the church bulletin and decided to visit her. I knew she did not have much family in the area. We visited for about an hour and a half. I told her if she needed anything to let me know. I put my phone number in her get well card. She said she may need a ride home from the hospital. I told her to just let me know when and I would be there. She was so relieved! She said she couldn't believe it...her prayers were answered and the fortune cookie she was given the day before was also right. She showed me the fortune cookie "Wait no more, all the troubles you have will pass away very quickly, your angel will rescue you"
She said, "You are my angel...God sent you to me"

The second time I was called an angel. I dropped off some of my old magazines at the local doctor's office. (I do that about twice a year.) The woman sitting in the reception chairs said "You are such an angel to drop off these magazines, everything here is just medical journals - God bless you!"

The third time I was called an angel. I used my frequent flier miles to book my mom a trip. When my mom called who she was going to be visiting; she too called me an angel and then told me she loved me!

I always try to do at least one random act of kindness per week.
These RAKs are mostly spontaneous and totally unexpected. But some are planned.

I keep a journal of them... so when I'm gone, you can all read about the many people who have touched my heart and soul.

I encourage you all to participate in an anonymous act of kindness by "paying it forward".

Everyone needs a helping hand once in a while!

Super Bowl Sunday Snacks

Doug is putting his marinated chicken wings on the baking tray.

Close-up of the marinated chicken wings.
We had 4 types of chicken wings.
1) Honey Barbecue
2) Baja Chipolte
3) Teriyaki
4)Hot Sauce

The wings hot out of the oven.

Enjoying the wings was the best part!

Then there is the clean-up!!!!

Friday night Doug and I saw AVATAR in 3D written & directed by James Cameron.

I had put off seeing it, since it seemed a little "too" futuristic for my likes. But I finally relented.

The film broke several box office records and has become the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing another James Cameron film "Titantic" which held the record for 12 years. I will look forward to the sequel when it comes out!

Plot Summary:
In the future, Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, is brought to another planet, Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na'vi, a humanoid race with their own language and culture. Those from Earth find themselves at odds with each other and the local culture.

When his brother is killed in a robbery, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge's intentions of driving off the native humanoid "Na'vi" in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na'vi people with the use of an "avatar" identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.

Cruise Vacation - Jan 2010

Doug and I started our vacation by visiting Karl at his apartment and then proceeding on to Jill & Josh's apartment. They made chicken parmegiana for dinner. YUMMY!!
Below they are shown making us breakfast before we departed for the Port of Galveston.

Sunday, January 24
We are aboard the RCCL Voyager of the Seas,
departing the Port of Galveston Monday, January 25th & Tuesday, January 26th
Our first two days of vacation were at sea.
The second sea day, we went up to the pool deck and proceeded to spend some time in the sun.
I kept having to move my chair, as I was not in the sun.
It turned out the sun was not moving, the ship was.
The captain made an announcement, they had spotted a large life raft and according to maritime law they had to go investigate.
The ship turned completely around and headed back to retrieve the life raft.
Once we got to the life raft a Rescue Boat was sent from our ship.
There were no people in the life raft. But the life raft was retrieved and the Coast Guard was notified and the manufacturer of the life raft was notified to find out who the life raft might belong to.
Once the life raft was retrieved, I headed to our cabin (a balcony view) and proceeded to take photos of the rescue boat being lifted back onto the ship.
I don't know why I didn't think to go there and record the retrieval of the life raft..oh well.
It would have been a great story if there were survivors.
We could have said we rescued someone on vacation :-)
The RCCL rescue boat being lifted back on to the cruise ship.
This photo is taken from our balcony.

Roatan, Honduras - Wednesday Jan 27th
Doug did the shipwreck snorkel tour. This excursion was more than I bargained for.
You needed to jump off the boat in 26 feet of water to start the snorkel tour.
I do not swim!!!
I sat on the boat and listened to all of Doug's stories later.
They snorkeled over a shipwrecked boat and along the coral reef.
Doug said it was beautiful and in some spots the coral would drop from 26' to 140'

Costa Maya, Mexico - Thursday Jan,28th
We toured the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins - The Place of the Red Corn"
These ruins have been dated back to 200 B.C.
These ruins were first found and excavated in 1972 by the University of Tulane.
It was hidden by the cover of trees and shrubbery.
There are probably alot more out there still waiting to be discovered.

Cozumel, Mexico - Friday, Jan 29th
Doug and I did the Mexican Cuisine Tasting and Workshop.
This was a blast!!
Unlimited open bar!!!
We prepared an appetizer (huaraches),
a main entree (fish filet "grouper" veracruz style)
and a dessert (rice pudding tower)

Chef Luis made this a very entertaining and memorable experience!

Saturday, January 30th was a sea day
We traveled about 700 miles Cozumel,Mexico back to the Port of Galveston.
The weather was grey and cold. Winds were reported at 50-60 mph over the deck.
All of the decks were closed, so that nobody would blow overboard.

There was an ice skating rink on the ship and Doug attempted this feat.
Not everyone can say they "ice-skated in the Gulf of Mexico"
Later in the day we caught a movie in the movie theater "Star Trek"

It was a very relaxing way to spend our last day of vacation.

There are a lot more stories to tell, which we didn't get pictures of...

1) ask Doug about his "MONKEY BITE"
2) our expensive trip to the Tequila Museum
3) Costa Maya security check points

4) the ship & type of passengers on board

Click here to see all the vacation photos!

Vacation Update