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.

My Favorite Quote

Our lives begin to end, the day we become silent about things that matter.

--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I've had this quote posted on my desk for years, so I thought I might as well put it on the blog, since it is kinda the thing that keeps me going (politically at least). In these days of corruption, incompetence, and general dissatisfaction with government at every level and with both parties, it is easy for people to give up on the whole political system. However complacency just makes the situation worse, so if everyone followed Dr. King's advice and stood up for whatever it is that truly matters to you, we too could make the world a better place.

Happy Mother's Day

Hope everyone had a great mother's day-- mine was. My mom was out-of-town on Mother's Day, so we are planning on visiting her on Thursday. So on Sunday, we had Brenda and Ron over for lunch and to watch the baseball game. The boys each made me a card and Brady gave me a wonderful Mother's Day poem. Then Brian and all the kids got me a heart-shaped pink sapphire ring with two little diamonds on each side. I just love it! The rest of the evening we just lounged around and watched TV. Thank god for TiVo, because the Survivor Finale, Sopranos and Big Love were all on Sunday night. I'm so happy Survivor is over, I enjoyed the first few years, but now it's kinda old. Brian won't let me quit watching it though, since he has seen every season he doesn't want to break his viewing streak. I'm glad all the reality show are winding down now, I will have so much more free time!

Seven Long Years!

Yesterday (5/1) was our 7th wedding anniversary! So on Sunday afternoon we went to the Cardinal baseball game. We sat in the Bank of America Club, which included unlimited soda and beer, as well as a two-hour buffet. I ate too much, Brian drank too much, but we both had a wonderful time, especially since the Cards won 9-2. I was the designated driver, but every time the guy behind jumped up to celebrate or "do the wave," he spilled beer all over me. He was extremely sorry and it was pretty funny, but I smelled way worse than Brian and I hadn't had anything to drink! Luckily, we didn't get pulled over on the way home or I have no doubt I would've been walking a straight line on the side of the road.
Then yesterday, Brian took the afternoon off and we went out to lunch and ran some errands. Nothing too exciting, but at least we got to spend some time together before I had to leave for school that evening.
Seven years is a long time anyway, but to me it seems like so much longer since we have actually been together for 11 years. Its definitely been crazy, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I love you, Honey!

Easter 2006

On Easter, we went to my mom's for brunch, which was absolutely delicious! We hung out there all afternoon and watched the baseball game (Pujols hit 3 homeruns, GO CARDINALS), and the children got to play with all their cousins on Bill's side of the family. Alena played with Job (Andrea's youngest, who's 18 months old) and the boys played with Logan (Andrea's oldest) and Hunter (Denny's son).
After mom's we headed to Brenda's for Easter dinner, which was also good. The children hunted eggs, over and over again. We tried to get Alena to hunt eggs, but all she really wanted to do was chew on them.
The Easter Bunny was good to all of them, as were all the grandparents, so if anyone has a craving for Easter candy, come to our house! Hope everyone had as good of a holiday as we did!

Love you all and Happy Easter!

Spring Fling!

On Friday, the children and I went up to the high school for the annual spring fling fundraiser. It has an egg hunt, games, and of course the Easter bunny. Alena loves people, but 6ft tall bunnies are apparently another story. She didn't want anything to do with him, so I had to settle for a picture of her next to the bunny, oh well it was still cute! The boys got their faces painted, played in a bounce house, had a potato sack race and much, much more. It was a great day and all of us had a good time!

Busy Weekend

We had a really busy weekend last week. On Saturday, Brian, the boys, and I went to the open house of the new Busch Stadium. We got to check out the new stadium and find the brick we bought. It's very nice, much nicer than the old venue. The Cardinals were out-of-town playing the Cubs while we were there, so we got to watch part of the game on the jumbotron while sitting in the third row next to the dug out. We all had a great time!
Then Saturday night, Brian & I, Brenda (Brian's mom), her boyfriend Ron, Brian's Aunt and Uncle Sandy & Tom, and our friends Jeff and Kim all went to a trivia night. We didn't win, but we didn't come in last either, so I guess it was a good night. I think we got 65 out of 100 questions correct, which isn't too bad I suppose.
On Sunday, we bowled in a tournament with our friends Amy and Seth. We didn't win that either, but never really expected to, it was just for fun. Then we went and bowled on our league Sunday night. Unfortunately, we started the night in second with the potential of ending in first, but actually ended in third for the year. Oh well, we tried! Maybe we will do better next year.
I start my next class tonight (Mon. 4/10), this quarter I'm taking Group Communications and two Public Relations classes. My professor is really interesting, so it should be a good group of classes and hopefully a little easier than the classes I took last quarter which were World Literature, philosophy, and Classical Art.
Next weekend is Easter, so it will be another busy one. The boys are off school on Friday, so it will be a short week. Hope everyone has a good week, we will blog again soon!