Have a Happy New Year, but be safe!

Happy New Year Everyone! Some of you may know that I work at a probation office that specializes in supervising offenders with DWI convictions, so I feel it is my duty to warn everyone of the potential consequences of your actions this weekend. This is the process if you get arrested for DWI in St. Charles County Missouri, other jurisdictions may be more or less stringent, but this is a typical scenario:
A typical offender gets pulled over for speeding or improper lane usage, which is just a fancy way of saying that your car touched one of the lines on the road at some point (yes that it all it takes for an officer to stop you). You will then be given a series of field sobriety tests which also vary and then be asked to submit to a BAC test to measure your blood alcohol content, if you refuse you will automatically lose your license for a year and probably be charged with DWI anyway. If you blow over a .08 you will be arrested, booked, fingerprinted, etc. You must then obtain an attorney to represent you when you go to court (typical rate $1,000-$2,000) Once you plead guilty (which you will) you will be placed on probation with an agency like mine and ordered to pay a minimum $420 probation fee. You will also be ordered to take a state mandated Substance Abuse program the price of which ranges from $345- $1000 depending on the level of treatment required. You also will have to pay a recoupment fee to the law enforcement agency that arrested you (typically $100). You would also have to attend a Victim Impact Panel put on by MADD and sit through countless tragic drunk driving stories. Additionally, you will lose your license (typically for 90 days unless refused BAC), you will also have to obtain SR-22 insurance and pay higher insurance premiums for many years. Also keep in mind that if you are involved in an accident and/or injure someone else's person or property additional restitution will be ordered.
So the recap:
At least $3000 in fines, fees, premiums, etc.
The stigma associated with being on probation and having an arrest record. Probation, loss of license, and/ or insurance requirements may also affect current or future employment opportunities.
A second offense has even more conditions and cost more money!
So please, please, please don't drink and drive-- it is NOT worth it! I don't care if the cab ride home costs $1000 it is still cheaper then getting a DWI and I have plenty of clients as is it, I really don't not need anymore!
Again, have a safe and happy new year!

Merry Christmas to All!

I hope everyone a very Merry Christmas! Ours got off to a rough start, but all ended up working out well. For starters, Brian's dad Kenny, had a mild heart attack on Weds. and had to get three stints put in on Thursday. They released him from the hospital Fri. afternoon, but then he had more chest pains and had to be rushed right back Fri. night. They gave him some more meds and let him go again Sunday morning (X-mas eve). He is doing fine now and participated in Christmas festivities despite the whole ordeal. The bright side to all this is that he gets a few weeks off work and considering he works at Sears, this the best time of year not have to report to the mall everyday.
On top of all this, our heater went out Friday night and of course it was X-mas weekend, so the chances of finding a reasonably priced repairman two days before x-mas was slim to none. Luckily, we have a fire place and a baseboard heater and it hasn't been ridiculously cold so we made it through with fairly little discomfort. Also, the kids got Brian a heated mattress pad for x-mas this year, so I had told them if they helped me around the house on Sat. I would let them open one present after dinner. Since I knew what Brian's present was, I told them they could give us ours early too, so Brian and I had a nice warm bed to sleep in thanks to the kiddos! The repairman is here now so hopefully we will have heat again within the hour, yippee!
Our dog Dixie was also sick over the weekend, she started acting funny on Friday when she didn't want to come in and then she wasn't eating or being social. But again, its x-mas weekend and vets are hard to come by so we just kept an eye on her and by Monday she was starting to get back to normal. I still don't know what was wrong with her but she seems better now so I guess it passed.
We went to my moms on X-mas eve and to Kenny's family on X-mas day. It was nice to see everyone together and we got caught up on all the family gossip. Alena loves all her new babies she got for x-mas. She feeds them and rocks them and actually plays pretend, it is so cute! The boys got lots of new games which we plan on playing while they are on winter break this week. Since Brenda is in California, we still have x-mas to do with her after the new year. We also have our x-mas/new years get together with all our friends and then another x-mas function later on in January with Brenda's extended side of the family. So we still have 3 Christmases to go, I swear it never ends! As soon as we are done with all the Christmases, it will be Brian's 30 b-day on Feb. 8!Thanks to everyone for making this a great Christmas and we hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!

SANTA! NO WAY!

About a week or two ago I was out X-mas shopping and needed to go to the mall anyway, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take Alena to see Santa since it was the middle of a weekday. We get to Santa's little house in the middle of the mall at 1:10 and of course Santa is at lunch from 1-2. So we did our shopping, grabbed some lunch, and got in line again at 1:45 and there were already about 8-10 people ahead of us. The whole time we were in line Alena was talking about Santa and all the lights, etc. When we were finally next to see Santa (approx. 2:20), Alena watched the kids in front of us go sit on Santa's lap, but when I told her it was her turn to go see Santa she grabbed my leg and said "No Way" (which was a popular phrase with her that particular week). I did my best to convince her, we waved at Santa and I sat on Santa's lap. I tried to get her to sit on the box next to Santa, but it was to no avail. Luckily, I didn't get her all dressed up for the occasion, although she did have a cute little long sleeved tee shirt with a sparkly Santa hat on it that read "Grandma and Santa have my list covered." So I will have no cute pictures of Alena and Santa this year, oh well. I know I could have put her on him anyway and got a picture of her screaming on him, which is also kinda cute, but I didn't want to force her to do it and scare her from Santa forever. I also didn't want to pay $20 for a picture of her crying. I guess we will try again next year!

The True Spirit of the Season

Okay I know I'm a nerd, but one of my favorite shows is Frontline on PBS. About a month ago, the show discussed the concept of microlending in developing countries and it made so much sense that I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. For those who are not familiar with these types of programs, organizations like Kiva, allow people like you and me to lend money to small business owners throughout the world to help people out of poverty. Most banks will not loan money to individuals that do not have collateral or a down payment, microlending does not have such requirements, so it gives opportunities to people who have very little. They have a 100% repayment rate with the average loan being repaid in about 1 year (and even if you don't get repaid, its a tax write off). Paypal waives its fees, so loans can be transferred and repaid through paypal, it's great! You can go to the web site and read about the different people and their business and pick one or more to support, average loan requests are between $500-1000, but some are a small as $100 and you can lend as little as $25. It is truly astonishing how far a few American dollars can go in some of these countries. Once you lend the money you get updates on the status of the business owner and follow their success stories. I chose to lend $50 to a woman named Santa de Jesus Antunez Motiño (Santa & Jesus in the same name, it seemed like a sign of the season--haha!). Santa lives in Honduras and wants a loan to expand the grocery store she has been running for the past 5 years. Many of these recipients not only better their own lives, but also the lives of their children and any employees and their families that may be hired. Entire communities and economies can be changed by one successful small businesss. Kiva believes "this is one of the best ways to empower our neighbors, and give them opportunities to become economically independent, improve their standard of living, and alleviate poverty for themselves and their communities." I will keep everyone updated about Santa's progress, but I would also like to encourage everyone to try to give a little back. We all seem to get wrapped up in the commercialization of Christmas, but programs like this really do represent the true spirit of the season. I know many business adopt families during this time of year, which is also a wonderful program, but in the spring and summer encourage your company to adopt an entrepreneur and raise funds to sponsor one of Kiva's business owners. I can't wait to see Santa's business grow and it makes me feel really good knowing I had a hand in helping someone out of poverty. Good Luck, Santa!

I've missed you world!

As most of you know our area was hit with a major ice/snow storm on Thursday. Since we live kinda far from town I knew we wouldn't be going any where for a couple days and accepted that. What I wasn't prepared for was the loss of the Internet. I don't know how, but the storm must have knocked out my DSL lines or something, because I have been without the Internet for over four days! It finally started again today (Mon.), so please forgive me if I haven't blogged, myspaced, or returned emails for awhile. Other than that we weathered the storm just fine. The boys have been off school since Thurs., and have enjoyed playing in the snow every day since. We didn't get to go out for their b-day, but we celebrated here and they got lots of fun stuff, some great clothes, and a mini vacation over their b-day weekend, so it worked out fine. Hopefully, it will be back to school and work tomorrow and things will be back normal. Is winter over yet? Oh yeah, it hasn't even officially started!

Happy Birthday, Alex & Brady!

Today, November 30th, is Alex & Brady's 9th birthday--Happy Birthday, Boys! While the twins are very excited I just feel old, I can't believe they are already 9! I have to work until 6 tonight and Brian & the kids are suppose to meet me at Chuck E. Cheese's for pizza and fun, but with the crazy weather I don't know if that will happen or not. The boys have another b-day party to go to on Sunday at the Rec-Plex, so it will be quite the weekend of celebrations. I'm sure everyone will have a great time, no matter what we end up doing. Next year they will hit double digits, how scary is that?

You've Got to Be Kidding!

5 Day Forecast(according to Dave Murray Fox 2 News St Louis)

High: 68
Low: 56
TUESDAY
Rain
A Few Showers

High: 71
Low: 37
WEDNESDAY
Thunderstorms
Rain and T-storms

High: 37
Low: 20
THURSDAY
Rain
Sharply Colder...periods of rain

High: 29
Low: 15
FRIDAY
Snow
Very Cold...sleet and snow

High: 32
Low: 20
SATURDAY
Sunny
Sunny and cold

Okay I know St Louis weather is known for its rapid changes but this is just a bit ridiculous. We go from highs in the 70s to highs in the 20's with snow two days later, give me a break. I guess I shouldn't be complaining too much, since we have had unusually mild temps for more than a week, but I'm not ready for winter. I hate the cold and snow! I just needed to rant a bit, spring starts again on March 21st!

Shopped 'til we droppped!

Our annual day after Thanksgiving holiday shopping marathon was a success, although I am still feeling the after effects today. I always stay the night at Brenda's (Brian's mom) Thanksgiving night since we get up so early, we also have to have time that night to make our lists, check them twice, and plan our routes. Brenda and I are also both night owls and not use to going to bed at a decent time, so it was 2 am before we even got off to bed and another 30-60 minutes before we both fell asleep. The alarm went off at 4 am and we were off to Kohl's which opened at 5, which was an hour earlier than usual, damn you Kohl's! The doors opened and we were off, the initial rush is very exciting, but it is always soon followed by the chaos that ensues as hundreds of people fight for the few remaining $60 portable DVD players or whatever the hot bargain of the morning is. And no I didn't get one, but I was so close! I did get one later that night at Target, I paid $20 more for it but didn't have to fight anyone, well worth $20. (Don't tell the boys though--SHHH!) 14 hours, 12 stores, and hundreds of dollars later we called it a night and went back to Brenda's to unload. I have well over half of my shopping done and at least have ideas for the rest, not bad for one day's work I guess. Although I think I may have pulled something in my back about half way through the day yesterday and was in severe pain by the end of the night. The pain is better today, but I am still VERY stiff-- maybe I am getting too old for all this? One good thing about this year was the amazing weather, we have been doing this for the past 8 years or so and this was by far the best day weather wise. The best bargains of the day were at Dillard's of all places, they had all their Cardinals/World Series attire for 50% off! They had t-shirts for under $10 and sweatshirts, polos, and pullovers for $15-$30-- what a deal! Happy Shopping Everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and of course, Happy Shopping. We will be up at the crack of dawn on Friday and probably won't get finished until well into the night. It is always one of my longest days of the year, but I guess that's the price you gotta pay for all those good bargains.

Voting Machine Problems

Last night I watched the HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy," which discusses potential problems with many of the electronic voting machines being used throughout the country today. If you haven't seen the film yet, try to catch it sometime this week it is very disturbing how easily an election could be manipulated.
So as I went to vote this morning I was already concerned about the integrity of the election using these machines, but what choice do we have I HAD TO VOTE!! So I fill out my ballot and go to insert it into the scanner that counts and records the ballot. I live in a small area and we only have one scanner for the entire polling venue. Anyway, I go to insert my ballot and notice an election worker standing next to the machine on the phone trying to get a hold of someone at the board of elections, because the scanner was flashing that it had a low battery and they were afraid it was going to lose power all together. IT WAS 9:30 AM!!! I know if I'm going to have a busy day, I make sure to charge my cell phone overnight. Don't you think that would be a top priority especially, if there is only one machine for the entire place! I reluctantly put my ballot in, but this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed ASAP, the integrity of our democracy depends on it!

P.S. If you do have problems at the polls today you can report the issue by calling 1-866-OUR-VOTE

Don't Forget to VOTE!!!!

It's election day and this is not your normal midterm election! Not only is the Missouri Senate race the tightest in the country and could shift control of the Senate to the Democrats--GO CLAIRE! But Missourians are also voting whether or not to allow embryonic stem cell research, whether to raise the state minimum wage to $6.50/hour, and whether to raise tobacco taxes by 470%! If you have never voted in a midterm election this is the one to start with, if you want to vote but don't know where or when you can vote--call 1-866-MY-VOTE-1 to find out. If you are eligible and registered, but chose not to vote then you are not allowed to complain about anything related to politics or our government for at least the next two years. Exercise your civic responsibility as an American and make your voice heard!! See you at the polls!!

More Halloween Pics

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! We all did Wizard of Oz characters this year and they were all so cute! For my mom and Bill's halloween party on Saturday I was Dorothy and Brian was the Scarecrow. Then on Halloween Alena was Dorothy, Brady was the Tin Man, and Alex was the Cowardly Lion. We went trick or treating around Brenda's circle and a few around my mom house. We have tons of candy, so let me know if anyone wants to come over and eat some Halloween candy!

Pumpkin Patch

Here are some cute pics from the pumpkin patch from two weekends ago. It was a cold and dreary day, but the kids had a good time although we didn't stay as long as we would've had it been a 65 degree day. Alena had a great time at the beginning, but by the end even she was cold and done. At least we got a three beautiful pumpkins and some cute pics out of the trip.

WAY TO GO CARDINALS!

Congratulations Cardinals, you are the new World Champions! It has a nice ring to it doesn't it? What a great postseason! I come from a family of loyal Cardinal baseball fans and have waited my whole life to see a World Series victory (I was only 3 in '82, so I don't really remember). I do remember being devastated in '87 and I was at the 2004 series when we got swept by the Red Sox. It has been a long time coming and it was very ironic that it happened this year with all our ups and downs, but who cares about all that now because we are the WORLD CHAMPS BABY!!!! Thanks to the team and to the new stadium for making this an inaugural season to remember. WAY TO GO CARDS!

I'm Soooooo Jealous!

Most of you know that Brian & I are both HUGE baseball fans and are EXTREMELY excited that the Cardinals are in the World Series again. Tonight is the first World Series game at the new Busch Stadium and guess who gets to go--BRIAN! I'm very excited for him, but I must admit I am a little jealous, especially since I have to go to school tonight and take a test on Criminal Law. Not only does he get to go to the game, but his boss is also taking him out to dinner at Mike Shannon's, which is a very nice restaurant downtown right by the park. Last time we went to Mike Shannon's, there were four of us and our bill was well over $300! We both went to game 3 of the 2004 World Series against the Red Sox, but we lost and eventually got swept, so it was neat to go but wasn't that fun to watch. Hopefully, Brian will have a great time and help the Cardinals bring home a winner! GO CARDINALS!!!

No More Crib!

For the past month or so, Alena has been constantly wanting to sleep with us at night. It all started when she was sick and teething and woke up in the middle of the night and I brought her into bed with us, from that point on she was hooked. I've tried all types of different things to get her to stop, but she still would wake up and scream until we gave in out of desperation for sleep. So we decided to just get rid of the crib and put the toddler bed up. The first night she screamed for 35 minutes before she finally went to sleep in her own bed, but then she slept until NOON! Then last night she only cried for 15 minutes, so we are making progress! It is very nice to get a good nights sleep, free of paranoia and little feet in my ribs. Hopefully, it will just get better as the week continues, but I still can't believe my little baby is already in a big girl bed!

Make it STOP!!!!

So I'm sitting here at work today, my boss is on vacation and I'm the only one in the office. I was expecting a nice, quiet easy day to get a few things done and goof off the rest of the time. When got here (10 minutes late, but that was Brian's fault), I opened the door and heard this horrible sound. For some reason our EXIT sign above our door is making this loud, obnoxious buzzing/moaning sound. I have beat on it and yelled at it, but nothing seems to help, so much for my quiet and relaxing day! It will occasionally get quieter and I will think it is going to stop, but it never does and then it just keeps getting louder again--I think it is taunting me! Somebody please MAKE IT STOP!!!

Happy Day to Everyone!

So my birthday was this past Sat. (10/7), I want to thank Amy, Cara & Darren for going out and celebrating with us and thanks also to Joe, Joanne & JD for hosting the after party. October is an absolutely crazy month for birthdays and anniversaries, so I decided I would wish everyone a happy birthday/anniversary in this one blog entry and be done with it. So....



Happy Birthday:

Joanne-10/10
Mindy- 10/13
Kenny- 10/14
Amy-10/15
Jenny- 10/17
Randy- 10/20
Bill-10/22

Happy Anniversary:

Missy & Steve-10/10
Joe & Joanne- 10/16

Hope everyone has a great day and if I forgot anyone please let me know!

Fun Sunday

This past Sunday 10/1 was quite a day. Amy's daughter Alivia had a play date at 1:00, so Alena and I went over there to play with Alivia, Jack and Brayden. They were all so cute and played really well together, but they were definitely into everything. We had to leave early to get to a first birthday party by 3 and when we left it looked like a tornado had gone through Amy's house (actually I guess it was 4 little tornados). Alena and I met Brian and the boys at Kim's parents house for Lexy's first b-day. Lexy is Jeff and Kim's daughter and she officially turned 1 on Mon. 10/2. Everyone had a great time and Lexy got lots of cute things. All the kids played outside all afternoon and Alena racked up some serious swing time. Needless to say, they all slept very well that night! Happy Birthday, Lexy!

Call for Change

Most of you know I am very into politics. With the mid-term election coming up I decided this year I was going to volunteer instead of just voting and complaining. So Saturday I hosted a "Call for Change" party for moveon.org. There were over 600 parties nationwide calling progressive voters in tight races. I had five other people attend-- a political science professor at UMSL, an occupational therapy graduate student, a teacher @ Francis Howell, a lady that has been a member of the DNC since the 60's, and a longtime Boeing employee. Our group was calling voters in Pennsylvania for there close Senate race between Bob Casey (D) and the controversial incumbent Rick Santorum (R). Our group made over 300 calls, but nationally all the parties made over 212,000! It was so nice to meet other intelligent people to converse with, progressives are hard to find in very conservative St. Charles county. We had pizza, discussed independent film, national and international affairs, and even South Park (new episodes start tonight 10/4). It was nice to know I'm not alone in this area, although it would be nice to meet more people my age that have similar interests, so if anyone knows someone let me know. We all plan on getting together again the weekend before the election, at least I feel like I did something this time even if it wasn't much. Also don't forget to vote on Nov. 7th, Missouri has a lot of important issues on the ballot including stem cell research, increase in tobacco taxes, and of course our own close Senate race, if you have never voted in a mid-term election this is definitely the one to start with--make your voice heard!

Spanish Senility

The boys began taking Spanish again this school year. They stay an hour after school on Wednesdays every week for the entire school year. Their school offers this program through 8th grade and then they can take it in high school, so they will probably take Spanish once per week until they graduate. They aren't real thrilled about it right now, since it is just a review of everything they already know, but I keep telling them they will thank me someday. Some parents make their kids play soccer or the tuba, I'm making mine learn a second language-- at least that's useful!
So anyway I'm sitting at home Wednesday watching the Days of our Lives episode I had TiVo'ed earlier. The boys typically get off the bus about 3:45, so at about 4 when they still hadn't arrived home I started wondering why they were late. "Maybe they had a new driver or they changed the route," I pondered. I finished my program go back to change Alena, when I glanced at her clock which read 4:15, "I wonder where your brothers are?" When I remembered they were at Spanish and I was suppose to pick them up at 4:15! We hadn't planned on going anywhere that day so we were both still in our PJ's, so I threw on clothes and raced to the school. Luckily Alena's clock was a little fast, so I got there just in time to sneak into the back of the line, that was moving particularity slow that day. Crisis averted! I'm pretty confident I won't forget Spanish again-- arrepentido, los chicos!

Labor Day Weekend

We had been planning to go up to the Lake house for Labor Day Weekend all summer. Since Brian has been working so much overtime lately, he was particularly looking forward to his weekend off to get away from Imo's for awhile. We drove up late Friday night and Brian wasn't feeling very well by the time we went to bed and by Saturday he was miserable! I think he got the stomach bug the rest of us had a few weeks ago. He didn't leave the house, or the couch for that matter, all weekend long. Poor Brian! The rest of us had a good time. My mom & Bill, the boys & I all went out fishing on Saturday afternoon. Brady caught two fish, Bill caught six, and the rest of us didn't catch any! Although we did get to watch two otters catching dinner for about a half hour, which was very entertaining, especially since I wasn't fishing well. When we got home from fishing we headed down to the annual block party, which is held every year on Labor Day weekend. This year the party had a western theme, last year was a luau, and next year will be a Mexican fiesta--FUN! The kids had a lot of fun and the food was good, but this year they added karaoke to the festivities. Keep in mind that the majority of people who have places up there are over 60, so it was a lot of old people singing Patsy Cline and other artists of yester year, mainly country-western (sticking with the theme). It really wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that good either. Since next year it is a Mexican theme, maybe they will all have to sing in Spanish and salsa dance. Now that's entertainment!

Another Ad?

While going through my mail the other day, I came across the Wentzville Parks & Recreation's Fun Times magazine. This publication comes out quarterly and informs the community of different services, programs, and special events provided through the Parks Department. As I'm thumbing through it-- there on page 19 is a picture of the boys at the Halloween Happenings event last October. I sure wish we were getting paid for all these advertisments, that's three in three months!

Quote of the Day

On my google home page I get a "Quote of the Day," I really liked the one today and thought I would pass it on because it is so true.

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss

I think more of us, including me, need to take the good doctor's advice and not worry so much about what others think. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

August Happenings

So far the month of August has been pretty crazy for the Lenk household, especially Brian. For the past few months Brian has been helping open the new Winghaven Imo's, which he is also going to manage in addition to the Wentzville Imo's. He has been buying equipment, putting the kitchen and entire store together, setting up phone systems and computers, hiring new employees, and basically everything else that goes along with opening a new restaurant. The whole process has been a valuable learning experience and finally on August 7 the new store opened. The very first week the store hit its weekly sales goal and Brian got a nice bonus, sales fell $100 short of the goal this week, but he plans to easily hit the new goal next week. GO BRIAN! Due to the increase in responsibilities, he has at least temporarily had to pick up more hours to ensure both stores are running smoothly, which is good for the finances, but kinda put a damper on any further summer activities. So since Brian had to work most of last weekend, I took the children to the Lake for a few days. We went to the beach, to a fish fry, and played at least 40 hands of rummy, most of which I lost! We had a good time though, it was nice to get away for a little while. The boys went back to school last Thursday-YIPPEE! They seem to like their teachers, although they are not very happy that school starts 45 minutes earlier this year than it did last year. They also get finished earlier, but I know they would rather get to sleep later. The house is so much quieter now during the day now, I almost don't know what to do with my increase in peace and quiet, but I'm sure I will manage. Brian and I started bowling again last night. We bowl every other Sunday on a league with Amy and her brother-in-law, Kenny. Neither of us had bowled since the league ended last spring, but we did pretty well for the first night back. Both of us bowled above average, so we are off to a good start now we just have to maintain it, which is usually easier said than done. So that's pretty much, what we all have been doing these past few weeks. I can't believe summer is almost over!

A New Word Every Week

Alena is quickly becoming a linguistic member of society. She learns at least a new word every week and sometimes a new one every day. In addition to the words she has said for awhile like mama, dada, Dixie, hi, bye-bye and uh-oh, she now also says shoe (which is my personal favorite), ball (which is her favorite), toes, nose, eye (if she says eye though--Look out! She likes to poke), baby, sit, eat, Livy, cookie, cracker and many more. She doesn't say Alex or Brady yet, in a way that is recognizable at least, but she does say something different for each of them, so I guess that's a start.

The High Moral Cost of Low Prices

OKay, as many of you know have had a personal ban on Wal-Mart for at least the past year and a half. Many have asked me about this personal protest and have encouraged me to do a blog about it. Don't get me wrong I understand why people go to Wal-Mart it is the cheapest on many items and has 24 hour convenience. Thankfully, at this point in my life I can afford the few extra pennies per item and have a flexible enough schedule to shop during normal business hours, but I understand there are those that can't. However, for the rest of us there is a high moral and economic price for those unbelievably low prices. I watched a documentary last night that beautifully summarized most of my issues with the retail giant- so if anyone gets a chance to rent Wal-Mart the High Cost of Low Prices it is a shocking and saddening profile of the company's business practices. Most of my information used in this blog is courtesy of our federal government in a report compiled by The U.S. House of Representatives' DEMOCRATIC STAFF OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE by REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE MILLER,SENIOR DEMOCRAT to view a copy of the complete report use the following link: http://www.democracymeansyou.com/walmart/WALMARTREPORT/

Keep in mind when you read the following that Wal-mart had profits of 6.6 Billion dollars in 2002 and profits have increased every year since.

• Wal-Mart drives down both manufacturing and retail wages throughout the world. The average full-time Wal-mart associate makes $8-9 per hour. The median household income for my town of Wentzville is $47, 232 (which I know is higher than many areas, but still) it would take a household almost three full-time Wal-Mart employees to be able to earn the average income of this city. These below poverty level wages drive down wages throughout the entire community and especially in retail.
• Remember Wal-Mart's ad campaign of the 90's encouraging everyone to "Buy American" well it seems like Wal-mart should take its own advice. Approximately 50-60% of all Wal-Mart products are imported from overseas. "In 2003, Chinese purchases jumped to $15 billion, or almost one-eighth of all Chinese exports to the United States. Today, more than 3,000 supplier factories in China produce for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart maintains an extensive global network of 10,000 suppliers.Whether American, Bangladeshi, Chinese, or Honduran, Wal-Mart plays these producers against one another in search of lower and lower prices. American suppliers have been forced to relocate their businesses overseas to maintain Wal-Mart contracts. Overseas manufacturers are forced to engage in cutthroat competition that further erodes wages and working conditions of what often already are sweatshops."(Congressional Report)
• According to the Institute for Policy Studies:Wal-Mart's 2004 hourly pay: Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott, Jr. (based on $17,543,739 per year, 40 hours per week) $8,434.49/hr
  Average Full-time U.S. Wal-Mart Employee $9.68/hour
  Select Wal-Mart subcontractors:
  Bangladesh $0.17 /hr. China $0.17 /hr. Indonesia $0.46 /hr. Nicaragua $0.23 /hr. Swaziland $0.53 /hr.
• Wal-Mart also fails to provide its workers with decent, affordable insurance plans. Wal-mart employees pay approx. 46% of their health care costs and that coverage carries high deductibles and copayments. According to a Feb 16, 2004 congressional report by Rep. George Miller, " A single worker could end up spending around $6,400 out-of-pocket about 45 percent of her annual full-time salary ­ before seeing a single benefit from the health plan." Whats more Wal-Mart knowing they do not pay decent wages encourages their employees to apply for government assistance programs such as Medicaid, WIC, and Food Stamps. The Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce estimates that one 200-person Wal-Mart store may result in a cost to taxpayers of $420,750 per store or about $2,103 per employee in government sudsidies. Why are taxpayers paying for a multi-BILLION dollar company's employees to go to the doctor and feed their families?
• One of the reasons Wal-Mart can get away with low wages and dreadful insurance is because they are extremely anti-union. Wal-mart actually has a rapid anti-union response team that will converge on a store at the slightest mention of a union. This team conducts surveillance and blankets the store with anti-union propaganda. "When employees have managed to obtain a union election and vote for a union, Wal-Mart has taken sweeping action in response. In 2000, when a small meatcutting department successfully organized a union at a Wal-Mart store in Texas, Wal-Mart responded a week later by announcing the phase-out of its meatcutting departments entirely. Because of deficient labor laws, it took the meatcutters in Texas three years to win their jobs back with an order that Wal-Mart bargain with their union. Rather than comply, Wal-Mart is appealing this decision." (Congressional Report)
• The loss of small, local business is the most heart-breaking effect of Wal-Mart on the community, the documentary mentioned above really focuses on this aspect and follows several small business owners in their quest to stay open once Wal-Mart joins the neighborhood. Unfortunately, none of them survived and their property values actually decreased. Realtors know that once Wal-mart comes in there will be a string of empty shops in downtown that no one will be able to use and adjusts values accordingly. The main argument from the local business owners was that most cities give Wal-Mart huge tax breaks and pay for essential infrastructure, but no one gave them any handouts they built their businesses from the ground up often over many decades and it all disappears with one grand opening. Small businesses offer service and that good home town feeling that so many desperately seek, it is sad how so many towns and citizens are so willing to trade these values to save a few dollars. Wal-mart sells itself as providing jobs to a community, but studies have shown that for every two jobs Wal-Mart provides the community loses three from small business, and more often than not the jobs lost paid better and had better benefits.
• One of my personal issues with Wal-Mart is minor in the grand scheme of things, but being the free speech advocate I am, its what started my negative feelings toward the store. Wal-Mart will not sell CDs with a parental advisory sticker for explicit content. Now I have no problem with a retailer choosing not to sell what they consider explicit material; however, Wal-Mart continues to sell R rated movies that often involve the same if not worse content and, whats most irritating, Mature rated video games like Grand Theft Auto. I don't understand why Wal-Mart censors artists for using foul language, but sell video games in which you can kill cops and have sex with prostitutes?
• Unfortunately, these are just a few of the many reasons of why I (and many others) believe Wal-Mart is destroying America. I haven't even gotten into the class action lawsuits that have been settled for using illegal immigrants, discriminating against its female employees, and not paying workers for forced overtime.

It is people like me who chose not to shop there and speak out against their unfair practices who will eventually make things better and if this blog convinces just one person not to shop at Wal-Mart and/or Sams Club it was worth the time it took to write. I am also planning a part two to this blog about how Costco offers the same wholesale prices and services as Sam's Club does, but without all the troubling problems associated with Wal-Mart, so stay tuned! If anyone has any further Wal-Mart questions please feel free to email me. And remember--Just Say NO to Wal-Mart!!

We are all famous (except Brian)

So a few weeks ago Bill asked me to send him some pictures of Dixie and Alena together for an upcoming ad for his carpet cleaning company. I didn't have any recent ones, so I tried to take some. It is hard enough to get either a dog or a toddler to hold still and look at the camera long enough to take a picture, but to get them both to do it was practically impossible, but I did my best. So keep an eye out for an ABC ChemDry ad featuring Alena & Dixie in a flashFlyer coming to a mailbox near you!
The same day Bill sent me a copy of the new ad, my friend Amy called to tell me that one of the maternity pictures I had taken right before Alena was born was at the mall as part of the photographer's advertising display. So if anyone is at Mid Rivers Mall, you can see the twins with my big, fat pregnant belly upstairs in a window by Famous Barr!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July. Happy Birthday, America!!!!

More Vacation Pics

Chicago/Detroit Baseball Trip

We left last Wed. morning (6/21), headed for Chicago to see the Cardinals play the White Sox that evening. We arrived at our hotel about 2, only to discover our reservation had been changed to another hotel without us knowing. We had planned on staying at the Palmer House Hilton which is over by the Sears Tower and more affordable than Michigan Ave. I was not very happy about this game of musical hotels, but it was out of my control. So we headed over to our new hotel which was right in the middle of the magnificent mile-- YIPPEE! I also told the guy at check in about our ordeal, so he ended up giving us a corner suite on Michigan Ave.-- it was great! Unfortunately, the Cardinals lost the game that evening 13-5 and the White Sox's ballpark was nothing to brag about.
The next day we went to the Field Museum and saw the King Tut exhibit as well as an exhibit on evolution and the history of the Earth, which was quite fascinating. Then we headed down to Navy Pier to shop and take a ride on the Ferris Wheel.
Friday, we were driving from Chicago to Detroit, a drive Yahoo said was suppose to take 4.5 hours, but Brian drives pretty fast, so we typically arrive sooner. We sat in so much construction traffic it took over 7 hours to get to our hotel, which was actually in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, which is right across the Detroit River from downtown Detroit. Our hotel was right on the river, we had a beautiful view of the skyline, the river, and a beautiful park that stretched the entire river bank (see pics).
That night we went out for a fancy steak and lobster dinner on the riverfront and then stayed out clubbing until after 3 am, it was a very late night, but definitely worth it.
The next day we went out to lunch, watched a tug boat race which was really cool and then went to a casino which was a few hotels down. I lost all my money in about 10 minutes, but Brian won about $100 playing video poker, so we left the Casino with our winnings and headed across the street to that park, which was having a Summerfest with a Carnival and entertainment. We rode three pretty intense rides and then boarded a bus, to take us across the border to downtown Detroit for the game. (I will blog about the uselessness of Customs on a different day.) The Cardinals lost again 7-6 in 11 innings, and the people of Detroit kinda lived up to their negative reputations, but their ballpark is beautiful. Their team is the Tigers, and there are Tiger statues and claw marks all over, there's a merry-go-round inside the stadium with tigers instead of horses and they even had a Ferris wheel with baseballs as the gondolas. We had great seats 18 rows behind our dugout and the food was excellent for a ballpark. Wish the people had been nicer, I think we were spoiled in Canada since everyone there was so friendly (which is also a blog for another day). After the game, we returned to Canada to drowned our sorrows and then headed home the next morning. We had a great time and have now gone to 10 out-of-town ballparks, we are already 1/3 of the way done!

Back from Vacation!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we got home safely on Sunday from our 5 day vacation to Chicago, Detroit, and Canada. We had a great time except the Cardinals got swept both series :( but we still managed to have lots of fun! The children also had a great time partying at the Lake of the Ozarks all weekend while we were gone. I will blog more about our trip once I get the pictures downloaded and edited. Talk to everyone again soon!

Prison Visit

Last Thursday, Bill and I went down to the Potosi Correctional Center to visit my uncle Richie for a food visit. Once per quarter, if an inmate is violation free during that time, his family can bring in outside food for the visit. We were bringing him steak, shrimp, fresh veggies, chicken wings, lasagne, and chocolate pie; I had taken the day off work and was very excited about the trip. So we arrive at the prison, the staff searches the food, we go through metal detectors and three different checkpoints before we got to the final checkpoint to get into the visiting area. At this final check they found a pill that had unknowingly ended up in Bill's pocket that morning as he was sorting his medications for the week. They made us go back out in the hallway, they had to call down the supervisors, luckily the pill was just an acid reflux pill and not a pain killer or something. We had joked on the way in that we were scared they were going to keep us there, but now all we wanted was for them not to throw us out! Thankfully, after quite the ordeal they did allow us to go ahead with our visit. Richie enjoyed the meal and we all enjoyed the visit, but next time we will definitely double check all our pockets before we go!

2nd Annual Bonfire

So the 2nd annual Bonfire started off well, the kids were playing, guests were arriving, the sun was shining, it was a beautiful Saturday evening. All week long the weather forecast had predicted mild temperatures with a chance of a quick, spot thunderstorm at night. I was all for a quick storm to cool things off and keep the fire under control (which always ends up bigger than it should be). Anyway about 7 it started getting pretty dark and we could tell the storm was coming, they quickly lit the fire which was easily 30 ft tall and blowing in the now gusty prestorm winds (it was a little scary, but I'm paranoid of fire--thanks Missy!). Anyway, I put Bill in charge of grilling the burgers and dogs. We have a pretty small grill and were expecting about 40 people, so he had not yet finished by the time the storm came. Poor Bill was out grilling with an umbrella in a torrential downpour for half the evening-- THANKS BILL! Oh and that quick, spot storm lasted all evening and dumped about 4 inches of rain on all of us. Everyone still had a good time and at least now we know the party can still go on, even in the rain. Thanks to everyone who braved the storm and joined the fun. It was great to see everybody, hopefully next year we will have better weather!

It's Party Time!

As most of you know the 2nd annual Lenk Family Bonfire/Picnic is this Saturday. Since we didn't have a blog last year at this time, I thought I post a few pics from last summer's party. Everyone seemed to have a great time, the kids played, many rode the four wheeler (which Brian just fixed so it should be ready to go), others went frog gigging in the pond. Mainly we just ate, drank, and socialized. It's always great to get together with friends and family, especially the ones we don't get to see as often as we would like. Hope to see everyone Saturday night!

Memorial Day at the Lake

We spent our Memorial Day the same way we do every year--at the lake house! It was a great weekend, kinda hot, but nice! We left Saturday morning and stayed until Monday evening. Brenda and Ron went with us, which was great, especially since they have a big, new pontoon boat, which beats the old Bass Tracker any day. We rode around, went to the beach and everyone went tubing (except Alena), even Brenda & Ron took a turn. Alena did not like the water at all, so she just hung out on the boat most of the time. We BBQed, played games, and just enjoyed the time away.