Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to work I go!

(This picture really has nothing to do with this post. I just got flowers from our anniversary, and thought this post needed some photos!)

With today's economy in the toilet, I know a lot of people worried about their job situation. Us included. Murphy told dad that he should just get fired from his job, then he can be an astronaut. Kirby thinks dad should get a job at Wal-Mart, then we could see him when we go shopping. I've come up with my own list of job ideas, if worse comes to worse. Here they are:

1. Become a photographer for Play Girl Magazine! (Although the pictures would all be out of focus from laughing too hard, I’d get what’s known as “camera shake”!)
2. Become a belly dancing wedding photographer! I could shimmy while taking pictures of the cake, the first dance and so on…( again, I’d probably get camera shake!)
3. Collect all the dandelions out of our yard, then make dandelion jelly and sell it!
4. Write an 800 page book about my cat. I’ll title it “Memoirs of my Cat”.
5. Make something out of all the soda cans in our garage. We’ve got two large bags full, and we just can’t quit make it to the recycling center. (Actually Jared’s already started making things, we’re calling it “recycled art”, now we just need a venue to sell this stuff!)
6. Find a way to make money by playing Spider Solitaire! I’ve played it so much lately, that I’m now a pro!
7. Buy some spiky shoes and aerate lawns with them.
8. Brush up on my palm reading skills. I do have a couple of books on palmistry!
9. I could also tell card fortunes!
10. Spend hours at the DI going through junk, and then re-sale it on E-bay.

There you have it! Tammy's way of relieving stress! Gotta love creative writing!

And here's another picture of the flowers, with my cat! I could always sale cat posters!

I won!!!!

I actually won a game of pool tonight! This is the first time I've ever won, I actually got the 8-ball to go into the pocket that I designated! It was exciting. That was the first game Jared & I played. The 2nd game, Jared won. By the third game, I got bored. I managed to get the que-ball in the hole, (more than once!) and Jared won that one by a landslide. Just thought I'd report that I actually won!

We also went to the Zen center. It was interesting. Although at first, everyone was just sitting there, being quiet (supposedly meditating). After 10 minutes of this, I was starting to get concerned that this was going to be the whole hour and half meeting! After 15 minutes, some dude that looked like the leader showed up. I was glad, but then he just sat down and meditated too. After 20 minutes I was thinking how I could quietly get up and leave.....luckily there was this gong at 30 minutes, and then the discussion began. It was interesting. It was more of a discussion about Zen than the actual practise. I think for now I'll stay a Mormon-Taoist!

Jr. bites the dust

Jr.

October 2007-April 2009

Kirby's pet rat Jr. has passed away. (No, the cat did not get him, as far as we can tell, it was from natural causes).

Jr was a great pet rat. He never bit anyone, and was the main attraction of Murphy's room. Many a child was amazed and enjoyed playing with the rats.

A memorial service will be held tomorrow evening in the back yard. Jr is survived by his brother Tiger, and will be mourned by his owners, Murphy & Kirby.

So long Jr., may the cheese in heaven be a tastey treat for ya!

Master of the House

It's been a while since I've posted stuff, Febraury was a busy month with all the doctor appointments we had. Nine total! Everything from pink eye to a head examination! Glad it's over, and here's hoping March will be better....

Here's some highlights of the last month

The boys made me a birthday cake!

Kirby decided to start a rock and dead leaf collection at recess one day. He displayed them on the table until I told him to find a permanent place for them outside.

Murphy played with his Legos so much he went crosseyed!

I finally managed to get a good picture of Murphy smiling cute, instead of sticking his tounge out at me! Success! I really need a little girl!

Valentines Day Ideas

I was trying to be helpful and come up with some creative Valentine ideas for Murphy, but for some reason he rejected all of them. I thought they were great. Here they are:
1. We could pass out Band-Aids! The card would say, “Here’s for your broken heart”.
2. Beans! Not jelly beans; I was thinking some kind of pinto or garbanzo beans. The card would say “I don’t give a hill of beans about you!”
3. Dryer lint! Don’t really have a card idea for this one, but hey, it’s free!

Murphy said he’d just like to pass out some heart candy with cards and call it good. So that’s the plan.

Top Ten Things Learned by The Rickett Family-2008

1. Chickens need a coop or at least a fenced in yard to survive the neighbors dogs.
2. Transformers are so dang awesome (according to Kirby)!
3. It only took Tammy three tries to come up with a spending plan in Quicken, and she almost has all the charts figured out. (Who knew that you had to list your paycheck as income instead of expense?)
4. Jared built a shed from scratch, without a recipe!
5. Murphy started piano lessons and played soccer again
6. Kirby played something that resemble tee-ball (Little League, what do ya expect!)
7. We learned how rainy Pennsylvania can be in August, but we still managed to have a fabulous time at the Rickett family farm house!
8. Tammy took a trip to Texas, (how’s that for alliteration!) to photograph Andrea & Rob’s wedding, and learned how great Texas is.
9. Jared learned how to bring batteries back from the dead (and only blew up a few in the process!), and the proper use of transistors.
10. We learned again how grateful we are for our wonderful family and friends!

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Jared, Tammy, Murphy
& Kirby Rickett

(This was our Christmas Card that we sent out!)

December Blurrrrrr

I made it through the Christmas season! This month has been a blur of work at MasterLab, photography, MasterLab, snow, cat issues, and MasterLab! I think I saw my family sometime during this last month.....Anyways, another Christmas down! Maybe tomorrow I'll have enough energy to take down the Christmas tree!

On Christmas eve, we went to my inlaws house, and had a crazy fun time. They had a video camera hooked up to the tv, so you could see yourself while it recorded. Kirby had a great time with this. Here's the video:

Yep, that kids got some moves! I thought it was so cute!