A Fish Tale - Update

SPOILER ALERT: if you haven't yet read "A Fish Tale", please read that post before reading this one!

well, its been about 8 hours since the last suicidal fish committed its act of death, so i thought i'd bring you an update. katy and i returned home from shopping to find the other silver fish with the incredibly large chin missing from the fish bowl! yep, that's right, another dead fish! out of the fish bowl and onto the floor (see photo below) seriously, i couldn't make this up if i wanted to! would somebody please get crime stoppers on the phone! was our house built on an ancient indian burial ground or something?

A Fish Tale

okay, last time i wrote about fish, it was a sad day...our fish jobee had died. (see "There Is A Reason") well, i guess it's time for an update! our grieving period had passed and katy and i decided to buy some new fish to take their place in the sad, empty bowl on our counter. we actually have 2 of the same bowls, so we decided to use both, buy multiple fish and some new rocks to enhanse the scenery. so, along with our nomadic 'roommate' ryan, we sought out the prefect replacements on saturday evening. after quite some time of staring at dozens of aquariums full of multitudes of different kinds of fish, we decided on the perfect ones to grace our home. we placed 3 different red, orange and black fish of different species in one bowl (see photo below), and 2 silver fish with incredibly large chins along with 3 tiny silver, blue and orange ones in the other (see photo below). we were very pleased with our selections and they were all taking to their new home very well.....or so we thought!
much to my surprise, i awoke on sunday morning, went into the kitchen to feed the fish and noticed that one of the tiny silver, blue and orange fish was missing. "where was it?" i wondered! could it be hiding from me? is it stuck amongst the rocks? can i not count to 3? finally, while looking down on the counter i discovered the fish, or should i say the corpse! the fish had apparently leapt out of the bowl and onto the counter over a foot away to its eminent death! crazy, shocking, weird, slighty amusing, etc. i told katy about the crime scene, cleaned up the carnage, fed the remaining fish and went about my day.

that leads me to today. katy and i were in the kitchen talking, making coffee, etc. when she noticed that another one of the tiny silver, blue and orange fish was missing. no worries, it was just hiding in the rocks. i grabbed a butter knife, stuck it in the bowl, moved a couple rocks around and freed it. disaster adverted! that is, until she noticed that one of the silver fish with the incredibly large chins was missing also. we searched the around the bowl, looked through the rocks...nothing! "what is going on?" i thought. i looked around on the counter...nothing. i looked in the sink...nothing. i walked around the counter and looked on the floor...and what did i find?? another dead fish!! that's 2 fish deaths in 2 days!

what's going on? do i need to get david caruso and csi over here to investigate? do we have a cereal killer on our hands? did we buy suicidal fish? is the ghost of jobee haunting the fish bowl and causing unusual phenomena to occur? i need answers!

The Simple Life

i attended a funeral today, and the minister said something very interesting at the grave site to the entire congregration. i'm not sure how it had anything to do with the context of the funeral service...perhaps because my mind had drifted off to the grieving family members and my memories of this woman and what all she had done for me and my family. he said something very striking and yet so simple to me....something that makes total sense but yet so far out of reach for many people. what he said was this; "Life is easy if you let it be." so, why don't we let it be simple? why do we complicate life? what do we add to our lives that we could really do without? what is keeping you from living the simple life?

Merry Christmas

katy and i are celebrating our first Christmas together as husband and wife. we are excited to spend the holiday with family, but are constantly thinking about those we won't be seeing. two of those people are kyle and stefani; our cousin, sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law and probably grandma and uncle. we wanted to take a minute or two and share some of our favorite Christmas memories of them with you.

jeff: i remember getting up every Christmas morning, ripping open my presents with my family, being way too excited to be receiving so many gifts; usually because i was probably way too naughty that year to receive so many of them. then; right after we were finished; i'd dash for the phone to call kyle. we'd immedately start rattling off all the things we received. oh, did i mention that we were going to see each other a couple hours later at our grand parents? that's right...we just couldn't wait to hear what each other got. we weren't just cousins, we were best friends. that means if kyle got the new earl weaver baseball, i got it too!! and if i received some masters of the universe figures, kyle would humor me and act like he enjoyed playing with them also. so, this year when i open my presents i'll imagine that kyle is right there to lie to me and tell me how cool everything i received really is! miss you buddy....see ya in a few months. happy festivus

katy: when i think about Christmas with our family back in the day, i seem to always remember when we would all pile in our moms "big ol" suburban with a whole bunch of pizzas and go around this BIG town of abilene to look at Christmas lights! it was a time for us to just hang out as a family...no presents...no chaos...no fighting..just christmas music, family and PIZZA! cant get any better than that! seeing as how this has always been a tradition for me, i couldnt "not go" look at lights this year SO i piled in the car with my gassy husband and ryan after eating bill millers (not quite the pizza it used to be!) and boy did we have the greatest time ever!! (NOT!) haha it was a time filled with laughing, farting, singing, farting, driking my sweet tea while coughing my head off, farting, laughing some more.... oh, and did i mention FARTING??!?!? it was HORRIBLE!!!! stefani...PLEASE come back soon so we can go look at Christmas lights next year TOGETHER! maybe even alone?! haha

hope you all enjoyed our little flashback to the simplier times of Christmas. katy and i want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

Forgiveness

a funny thing happened at church today...

someone asked for forgiveness and they were forgiven. i know that sounds pretty simple, but if you knew the situation and the hurt & pain involved you might think differently. it's amazing how words can be used as weapons and tear apart a person. but they can also be used as bandages. they can mend, heal and repair. a simple hug and an honest "i'm sorry" and all is forgiven. there were tears of joy, a heart was healed and a mind was eased.

mom, i'm glad that you got what you wanted and needed. i love you and i hope that today made your Christmas a bit brighter.

There Is A Reason

do you ever have one of those days where you wake up thinking its gunna be a great day? you get up and you're eager to get to your job or school or whatever it is you have to do that day... well, that's how my day started today. it was my last day of the year at work and i was very excited about that. so, i get to work, i'm excited, things are going well, the day is flying by, i have a cool project that i'm finishing up, etc. you know that kind of day! well, the last day of the year also means that its time for a little christmas bonus...and i'm really excited about that! so, that gets handed out and it's not quite what i expected. bummer. but i decided not to let something as foolish as money get me down. i really can't complain about anything else, so why complain at all. did i mention its the last day of work for the year!!!


so, a little while later the phone rings. have you ever received one of those phone calls that will be forever engraved in your memory? you know, years from now someone will mention an event and you'll be able to recall exactly where you were at that moment. well, this was one of those phone calls. now, no worries, no one died or was hurt or anything. it was just very unexpected bad news. i assume that its simular to a phone call a parent gets from their child informing them they've just been in a car accident or something along those lines. nothing could prepare you for what you just heard. so, needless to say, my day was turning into the complete opposite of what i thought it would be.


later on in the day, i get home. i kiss katy hello and we talk about the events that have unfolded and how to proceed. i glance over at the fish bowl and notice that our fish (Jobee) isn't moving. seriously, can this be happening? sure enough, my beta fish is dead. and that literally is the straw that broke my back. for some reason i'm crying because of a dead fish that cost me $3 that lived about 9 months longer than it probably should have. that's right, i'm crying over a dead fish!


fast forward to a little later in the day. i'm driving around town taking care of a few things and buying a couple Christmas gifts...and there is heavy traffic everywhere. i'm a little stressed and trying my best to think of all the things that i've told others to comfort them in simular situations...only none of those words are comforting me. apparently i can't console myself. so, i flip on the radio and a song comes on....a song that says exactly what i needed to hear. a song that brings me to tears. a song that brings me peace and comfort. for some of you this song has probably lifted you up on your lowly days too. for others, it's probably the first time you've ever even heard of this song, or even the band for that matter. the band is Caedmon's Call...the song is There Is A Reason.


" He makes all things good

He makes all things good

There's a time to live and a time to die

A time for wonder and to wonder why

Cause there is a reason

There is a reason"



think of this song the next time your day doesn't turn out the way you planned and remember, there is a reason!

Defensive Driving*

blinkers must be part of an upgrade package on vehicles that i never knew about. that would be the only way to explain the amount of people who drive without ever using them. all i can figure is that they must have gone with the 5-disc cd changer or rear a/c instead. i spent about 2 hours today driving from job site to job site for work and it seemed that everyone without this safety package option needed to get right in front of me! you can ask katy, that is probably my biggest pet-peeve…people who don’t use their blinkers! i realized something today while steaming behind a black f-350 that cut me off; this is a perfect example of our world today. today’s society as a whole lives in a "it’s all about me" world. "i need these shoes, i need that shirt, i need to be there now, i can’t believe her", etc. the funny thing is, it’s not all about you (or me). it never has been and it will never be. i guess the question is, how do you get people to realize this? your guess is as good as mine. maybe on my next car i’ll go with the cattle guard upgrade.


*writers note: this rant is not directed toward anyone in particular…but if you feel yourself fitting the description, I apologize.

New Beginnings

okay, lets see, i guess i should start off by telling you a bit about myself. my full name is jeffrey keith reininger; but i go by jeff. i don't like typing capital letters, because that's all i can do at work. for some reason architects prefer all caps!? im married to the most amazing and beautiful woman in the world, katy. we are the proud owners of a wonderfully energetic and loving black-and-white shih-tzu named duncan. he has an amazing ability to always make us laugh, even when moments are tense.



i told you all of those things to tell you this... i don't deserve any of that. i truely feel like the luckiest man on earth and i thank God everyday for the blessings He has given me and the amazing amount of grace He has shown unto me. i know we hear all the time that we don't deserve His grace.... well, believe me, no one understands that more than me. God's seen me in some tough situations and circumstances that i've put myself into; and through it all; He has shown me the light. none are beyond His salvation.



so, by now i'm sure you're asking yourself, "jeff, what's the purpose of your blog and why should i read it?" honestly, i didn't even want to start one. after all, it seems like everyone else has a blog already. but i really feel that God is putting things on my heart that i can't keep inside. He wants me to express my thoughts, even if its only to a few people. if nothing else, its a great way for me to look back on my own life, experiences and emotions someday.