J.O.

We were headed back from our weekend trip, just a few miles to go and we'd be home. 

Both my cell phone and Hubby's both sounded with a text.  Hubby was driving so I got to mine first.

Just to let u know   jim died in a motorcycle accident last night

???!!!

I read it again - out loud to Hubby.

???!!!

What???

He was riding home last night and went off the road close to his house and was pinned underneath   he was dead on the scene   i just wanted 2 let you guys know ... i just found out about an hour ago

The text came from a friend of ours in Wisconsin.  The text was about another friend of ours.

Hubby and I were in disbelief.

As soon as I got home I tried to look up online in the Fond du Lac news about anything on the accident.  I couldn't find anything.

This morning I checked again and finally found the article.  Only it didn't identify any names.

At work I did another search and they had finally released a revised article, releasing the identity of the man in the accident.

Yes.  It was in fact Jim.

Now, it's real.

We met Jim when me moved to Fond du Lac.  Hubby had visited the local race track and made some friends and one of them invited him to be on their bar's pool team.  Jim and his dad was on that team.  Eventually Hubby had joined both the Sunday night and Wednesday night teams.  And when Summer came they all played in the softball league too.  I regularly attended as a spectator until eventually I joined my own bar sports team for Darts.

Jim was a stubborn and angry young man.  By that I mean, that their pool team would never win the Sportsmanship Awards at the end of each season.  Jim was very competitive and whenever he would mess up a play he would often either slam his stick to the floor or toss his hat across the room and loudly mutter a few expletives while at it.

That was Jim.

Eventually he met Sarah.  And he calmed down significantly.  She was great for him.

Jim was an avid biker.  I remember before we left Wisconsin he borrowed Hubby's old Suburban.  He and some of his biker buddies were traveling to South Dakota for their "bike week" and they were going to pull all their bikes on an open trailer.  I remember how as beat up as that Suburban was it still managed to have no problems, but the trailer was actually the problem and actually blew out a tire instead.

Eventually we moved back to North Carolina.  We visited a few times when we could.  We were fortunate to travel back to Jim and Sarah's wedding two years ago.  Two years ago next month.  I feel awful for Sarah.  They were both so young and just starting their life together.  It makes you think about the little things, and making sure you "don't go to bed angry" or make sure to always say you love them when you say your usual goodbyes just to go to work each day.

I wish we could have gone back up to Wisconsin again this past year.  We had planned to do so last August, but I was 7-8 months pregnant, not feeling up to it, and I wasn't working at the time so money was tight.

Jim and our other friend, Shooter, had previously talked about coming down this way, possibly to Myrtle Beach's "bike week" and coming to visit us on the way.  I wish they had been able to.

Now I regret that we won't be able to make it up for Jim's funeral.  We enjoyed the time we had with him.  He made our lives all the better during our tour in Wisconsin.

At Curtis' Going Away party, 2008

The Wednesday night Pool team

Well Done Please?

This was the second time I botched this!  I really need to get myself a little deep fryer.  I always get the oil way too hot when pan frying and I burn them!  The outside of course gets all black and crispy without cooking the inside a bit.  [Although Hubby just split it open, fried the inside, and actually ate them.  Eww.]

If you haven't ever tried this before then you really need to check out this recipe, Cap'n Crunch Chicken.

I would ALWAYS get this whenever me and my coworkers would go to happy hour at Fratello's in Oshkosh.  Of course now they have to call it by their own name but at the time I frequented this joint they actually did call them by its true name.  They serve it with the BEST honey mustard sauce too.

If only I could recreate it myself.  

One time.  

Successfully.

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And since I posted this I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to add some pictures I had of fun times at Fratello's!

A House to Make a Home

HGTV!!! I find myself watching it ALL the time now.  Both Hubby and I are fascinated with all the shows, and there is a variety these days.  We love to watch all the homes getting beautified with either a $1,000 makeover or a $40,000 renovation.  That's how bad we want to get our own house again.  So this channel tends to be on all day long on our tv.  So much so that after three hours of inactivity we get the message that the Dish receiver wants to turn itself off.

Our first home purchase was an old farmhouse when we lived in Wisconsin.  It was a bit of a fixer-upper and we had every intention of doing just that.  But other than a little bit of paint and a small section of peel-and-stick flooring we never did anything we had planned on.  Little did I know Hubby was NOT the fixer-upper-type.  Now me on the other hand, I've never done any reno projects but it's kinda in my blood.  My Grandfather built his own home in New Jersey and my Dad is in contracting.  So I have an itching to get down and dirty, tear down some walls, and do some redecorating. 

Here are some photos of the farmhouse.  It was nearly one acre and had a huge commercial garage in the back of the property.  That was the selling point since we needed a home for Hubby's drag car that was not surrounded by neighbors who might complain about the noise.

But now we are back in North Carolina and finally trying to get settled in our new area.  We really want to invest in a home but I need to get back out in the workforce first, for two reasons.  First, because we need the money, of course.  And second, depending on where I land a job will determine what area we look at planting our roots.  We'd like to find a neighborhood in between both workplaces.  (I've always been on the bad end of the deal having to commute the furthest to work.)

Of course, Hubby would like to once again have a large lot of land with a big garage for his drag car.  And I'm not against that, but I would like to be in a neighborhood as well now that we have little Luke.  I want him to be able to play around with lots of other little kids and not be in the middle of no where.

And as far as looking into fixer-uppers again, "Forget about it"!  I won't make that mistake again now that I know Hubby isn't up for the challenge.  Unless, we have money set aside to contract the work out.  (Oh Daaaad...)

So move-in-ready it is.  Do you think when the time comes we could be on House Hunters or My First Place?  (They don't have to know it would really be our second.)