VACATION IS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhhh.........finally!  It does not feel real that tomorrow is actually vacation!  The weather is extremely beautiful too!  It has been a nice but exhausting day.  I helped Roy at work this morning and then we hit Wal-Mart for some last minute supplies.  Wal-Mart is always fun especially on Saturday morning :-)  I came back and got the potatoes baking and then went to Pam's to have breakfast with her, Ed and Melton.  Came back and finished setting up the twice bakes and added the final touches to the Italian Beef.  Marsha had arrived just a few minutes before I did so we ate and visited with her for awhile.  My parents came up later and we had a nice time with them as well.  It is strange not having Tatum here.  I miss her already as ridiculous as that sounds!  This will be the longest she's been away from us, hopefully she won't forget her Mom and Dad!
  Now, we are getting a few things packed little by little and relaxing in between.  I will try to get a blog out in the morning but just in case everybody please have a good, safe week.  I will miss reading Kristy, Diane, Bonnie, Alyssa and Aunt Judy's blogs and I know I will be spending at least a couple hours in front of the computer catching up!  Take care everyone and have a good night!!! 

VACATION IS THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

Hola!  Como estas?  Yeah, thats still about all I know in Spanish but I'm trying!  I am exhausted but so happy that this week is over!  I had trouble getting to work on time AGAIN today, don't know what my problem is this week.  I spent a large part of my morning in orlando (one of the larger public housing areas in town).  I have four girls that live out there so I'm in the area a lot.  I was supposed to meet one girl at eleven so I buzzed her door and she didn't answer.  I knew she was supposed to be there because I talked to her just a half an hour before so I decided to try to drop by another building to try to catch someone.  She wasn't home so I went back to the first girl's building, had a visit with her and then went to yet another building at noon to see someone else.  After romping around orlando I ran by wal-mart to get some of the stuff for Italian beef and then I went back to work to get some paperwork done.  Had one more visit and then my four o'clock called to cancel.  I worked late a couple nights this week so I took an hour of flex time and went on to Pam's.  My friend Melton was already there and so was Annie so we sat outside next to Pam's garden, had some margaritas and chatted.  They had to get ready to go to Bluesfest so I went by kroger to get the roast and came on home.  I've got it cooking right now so that's one less thing to do tomorrow!  Pam invited me over for breakfast in the morning so we can visit with Melton for a little longer, she conned her husband into agreeing to make omelets for us!
Had the wonderful experience of giving Tatum a bath again tonight.  Man, I feel like the most abusive parent in the world when I have to do that :-)  I wanted her to be all clean for tomorrow!  Marsha (Roy's mom) is coming up around  eleven and my parents are coming up in the afternoon.  We're looking forward to seeing them!  Well, I know this was kind of a boring one tonight, I'll definitely write more tomorrow!  Have a good night everyone!  

2 1/2 DAYS TILL VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets be more optimistic, we're leaving Sunday morning so technically.........we'll go with the 2 1/2 days :-)  Today is my Grandma's birthday!!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!  I hope you had a nice one!
  My mind is numb, I was in training all day today!  Pam and I drove to Springfield this morning to go to a training at the Ounce of Prevention.  Their trainings are kind of hit and miss, but this one was okay.  It was on literacy and getting our girls to read to their babies more.  Decently interesting and I'm big on that subject anyway so it was a good day.  When we got back in town we had to go to the discovery museum for our parent group.  None of my girls were there so I ended up leaving a little early.  I'm usually able to give them rides to groups but I was a half hour late as it was because of training so I wasn't able to this time so that meant that a lot couldn't come unfortunately.  Plus, the agency we work with sponsored this group and they didn't give us the fliers for it until Tuesday.  Ridiculous.  Tomorrow I have a bunch of visits and I need to do some drop-bys.  Then, I'm going over to Pam's to visit with Melton for awhile.  I was really going to try to go to bluesfest tomorrow and Pam even has an extra ticket but there is just no way.  I'm disappointed because I've been looking forward to Bluesfest all year and it was supposed to be last weekend, but they changed the date.  I want to visit with Melton for awhile and then I have to go to the grocery store and pick up the fixin's for Italian beef and start that in the crock pot.  Roy's Mom is coming to pick up Tatum and is staying for lunch on Saturday, then my parents are coming up in the afternoon.  Then, Sunday morning we leave!!!!  I feel bad, I'm missing some family functions while we're gone.  My cousin Emily is getting baptized on Sunday and my great-grandmother's ninety-fifth birthday is next Saturday.  I hope everyone has a good time although I'm very sorry that I have to miss all of it.  Well, I need to straighten up the kitchen (finally!!!!!!!) so I will sign off for now.  Have a good night!!!

4 DAYS TILL VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aunt Judy is blogging now!  I love it when family starts blogging, it feels like you get to know everyone so much better!  I'm so glad to finally be winding down for the night.  We had our usual meeting at the Health Dept. this morning and then I had four visits plus supervision.  My last visit of the night was with my newest girl who speaks no English whatsoever.  She is very sweet.  Our therapist is going to act as translator for us and it went pretty well.  Its frustrating for both of us but I think it'll work out okay.  Had some kids at job #3 tonight but it wasn't bad.  Tomorrow Pam and I are driving to Springfield for a training and then we have a parent group at the discovery museum that night. 
Had a great time out with little brother last night!  There were a couple of tables that had obviously been there since happy hour and they were hilarious!  Way more entertaining than the singing!  I am trying to get stuff for vacation prepared but I haven't had a lot of time to do it.  My kitchen is a wreck but I am definitely not up to cleaning it tonight.  I want to get the house clean, get all the laundry done, get the garbage out, wash the puppy and clean out the fridge.  Well..........hopefully I'll get it done on Friday.  My brain is too tired to think anymore so I will sign off for now.  Have a good night!

5 DAYS TILL VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!

I can count it down on one hand now!!!!  I overslept a little this morning.  Oversleeping sucks, it seems to throw you off for the rest of the day!  Thanks to the wonderful invention of the timer on coffee pots my coffee was waiting for me when I finally got up.  I put Tatum out to go potty and got a cup ready.  Didn't have time for my usual snuggle time with Tatum, I had to immediately try to do something with my ridiculous nine inch nail's groupie hair and then get dressed.  Mornings are my favorite time with Tatum and I was sad I didn't get it today :-(  She's so drowsy in the morning that I have to wake her up to take her outside and then she sprints right back to bed!  I usually spend a few minutes snuggling with her because that's about the only time she's laid back enough to do that.  Anyway, when I got to work I actually got some paperwork done!  I finished one file that had been bugging me.  I'm trying to get caught up before vacation but it is not so much happening right now.  Pam and I tried the new Potbelly restaurant for lunch and it was really good!  Cheaper than Jimmy Johns and Subway too and just as good!  I did a little bit more paperwork, ran some diapers out to a client and then had a visit.  After that I returned a couple phone calls and then its off to job number three!  No kids tonight (yea!!!!!!!!) so I got home early.  Roy bought some vegetable beef soup starter so I have that cooking right now and it smells delicious. 
I'm meeting Jeremy out for karoake later which will be fun.  I didn't go out last week so really looking forward to it tonight.  First I have to watch Last Comic Standing.  We are very addicted to that show.  Neither one of us slept well last night.  When one of us can't sleep usually the other can't and last night it was Roy having trouble.  I can usually sleep through a train wreck so once I fell asleep I was fine but he hardly got any.  So, he'll be hitting the bed probably soon after LCS.  We both need this vacation so bad if anything to get some decent sleep, especially the husband.  He goes to work at four in the morning and usually doesn't go to bed until ten or eleven at night so he's pretty worn down by the end of the week.  Oh well, only five more days!!!
Aunt Judy, I can't wait until your blog is up!   By the way, here is that recipe you wanted:
French onion soup
2 cans of French onion soup
1/2 can of beef broth
Thyme (to taste)
White wine (to taste)
French bread
Gruyere or Swiss cheese (spell check better help me out on that one!)
 
Heat up the soup, broth, thyme and white wine
Put in oven safe bowls or cups and add a small slice of French Bread (we used the hard French bread chips because they didn't desinegrate as much but I think any would be fine)
Top with the cheese and bake at 450 for 10 minutes.
 
Well, I'd better get back to supper now that that made me hungry!  I hope everyone's week is going well!  Take care!

6 DAYS TILL VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello all!!!  Group tonight was cancelled so I am home early!  Tatum is desperately trying to get me to throw her toy with her but we've been doing it for a half an hour and momma's tired!!  Put the hair in a ponytail today because its still a little scary.  Received mixed reviews on it today.  Most people liked it (or said they did), it only scared one co-worker and I did receive the new nickname "saucy pants" from our HR person :-) 
Had a couple of good visits today and made a few phone calls.  I can't wait for this week to be over with.  It seems like anytime you are really looking forward to something the last week seems to drag, but it seems quick by the time you're done.  That is my rambling for the day.  I am debating on what to have for dinner tonight.  I'll probably warm up my leftover chicken noodle soup and I have an egg boiling now to make a big salad.  We made French onion soup this weekend and it was delicious.  Roy has played around with it enough and has a really good recipe.  Marrying an ex-cook definitely has benefits!!!  Well, I know this is a short one again but I need to get the garbage ready to take out and get some paperwork done before hubby gets home from class.  Hope everyone survived their Mondays!!!

1 WEEK TILL VACATION!!!!!!!!!!

Cannot wait!!!  Roy and I spent about an hour and a half talking to Julie and Brian last night on the phone about it.  They are just as excited as we are!  Hopefully this week will go by fast and by this time next Sunday we will be walking around Laclede's landing!  Not much happening with us this weekend.  I am having a bit of a problem.  I dyed my hair black and it is so freaking black that it looks blue.  It's a little scary.  I wanted it to go back to its natural color because I'm tired of having to buy hair color all the time.  My natural color is very dark brown and last time I tried that color it did not turn out well.  So, I thought I would try black......yeah and it really, really turned out black.  I think it will look better once it tones down, I've been washing it all day to try to take it down a notch.  We'll see what happens.  I'm sure its going to scare my kids at work this week!!!  We've just been relaxing today and I managed to get most of our laundry done.  I talked to my mom for awhile and Roy talked to some of his family too.  Other than that, very uneventful.  I did go get my car sticker yesterday and FYI it is now 85 dollars.  Crazy.  I am very excited about my tomato plants!!!  I have two green ones that are getting much bigger and I have several more buds starting!  Very exciting.  I had a huge spider that had made his home in my plants but I think he might have got washed away with the rain yesterday.  Too bad, he kept a lot of the bugs out.  We've rented a ton of movies this weekend but really haven't watched a lot of them.  The one we've liked the best out of the ones we did manage to watch was Paycheck.  I wasn't as excited about that one but it was actually very good.  Well, not a lot to write about tonight so I will pick up later tomorrow.  Have a good night!

9 DAYS TILL VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!

Single digits now!!!!!!!  Woo Hoo!!!!!  Very excited that its finally the weekend!  Had a busy day today.  I had a visit at 10:00 and then went straight to Stanford for another visit.  After that I met Annie for lunch at Jerry's.  Pam, Annie and I love going there for the express lunch.  It is pretty cheap and usually really fast.  I then went back to work and got some phone calls made and then ran to get my hair cut.  It was busy in the hair cuttery so I was almost late to my last visit.  That's what I get for branching out from the cosmotology school (although my hair cut only took about 15 minutes as opposed to 45 at the school.......but it costs seven dollars more....what to do, what to do!!!!!!!!).  Yeah.......anyway after that I had my last visit and then headed home.  Picked up some breadsticks from pizza hut to have with sandwiches for dinner.  Odd combination but it was good!  We don't have a lot planned for tomorrow.  I do have to hit the DMV to buy an eighty dollar sticker for my car.  I am now relaxing and watching I love the nineties on VH1.  Yes, I made fun of it when it came out but there is nothing else on!   Seriously though......is I love 2003 coming out next?  I don't get it, but of course I'm watching it.  Not right.  Well, I will sign off for now.  Have a good night everyone!!!

10 DAYS TILL VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo!!!  Tomorrow we will be in the single digits!!!  Very exciting!  I don't like summer.  It is just too hot outside to do anything.  Even Tatum gets lazy when its this hot.  It is nasty.  I just got back from the hospital a little while ago, visiting one of my new babies.  So cute!!!  That is one of my favorite parts of the job!  I also had two other good visits today, one with a brand new girl.  She seems kinda flighty, hopefully she'll stay in.  I also drove to Clinton and got stood up (gggrrrrrrrrrr!).  Right now I am just relaxing and thinking about starting dinner. 
I was too exhausted to blog last night.  Horribly busy day and then we had tons of kids at job #3.  It was crazy!  Roy was exhausted to so we ate dinner half asleep and then went to bed.   There are signs up everywhere around town for the blues festival next weekend.  Last year it was awesome!!!  We had so much fun!  I don't know if we'll be able to go or not because it is the day before we leave for vacation.  I might try to go on Friday night for awhile.  Pam and her husband are going and my friend Melton who lives in Rockford is coming down for it too.  Well, short one tonight but I think we're going to throw in a movie.  Have a good night!!!

12 DAYS 'TILL VACATION!!!!!!!!!!

It is so incredibly hot outside!!! Good Lord! The heat index was like 109 today until the twisters. I could not believe how fast the sky turned when the storms came in! I got back from my visit and I wasn't in the building more than ten or so minutes when I looked out and it was almost pitch black. They made us sit in the hallway forever. I was getting mad because I needed to leave to go to my other job and it looked fine outside. Finally they let us go and I was only about five minutes late. I didn't think any touched down but apparently they did. Pam's husband Ed saw one forming. I love to watch storms and I really love any kind of tornado footage. At work I was the fool trying to watch out the window. However, living in a trailer has made me terrified of them because I really don't want one in my living room.
Work went by quickly today which was nice. I had a couple of good visits and got a hold of a few people I've been chasing for awhile. Tomorrow we are having a team meeting and I'm kind of anxious about it because our program director (the one who likes to play favorites) has decided to actually pay attention to our program this month and is going to be there. Usually when she gets a bug up her a** that she wants to do "program visioning" it involves coming down hard on us about stuff and making us do a bunch of unnecessary extra work. Sheesh, did not know all of this was entailed when I decided to go into social work (not to mention that I make about as much as people at Taco Bell). Anyway, aside from that I have an easy day tomorrow. I do have to go to a training on shaken baby syndrome over lunch. I have been to a ton of shaken baby and SIDs trainings and I usually learn at least one new thing each time I go, but they are so incredibly SAD!!! I usually leave in tears because listening to someone talk for an hour about their baby dying is unbelievably hard. But, it motivates us more to really discuss stuff like that with our girls so it is a good thing. Well, time to get dinner out of the oven (barbecue chicken, courtesy of my hubby
:-) so I will get going. Have a good night!

2 WEEKS 'TILL VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a little excited if you can't tell but it still seems so far away! Feeling a little better today but I still have this damn cough! I don't have the sick feeling anymore but this cough is absolutely ridiculous. Roy and I have had a very nice weekend despite. We have done nothing but make food and watch movies! We also went and watched Anchorman last night. Hilarity!!!! It was awesome, highly recommend it to all!!! We have also rented a lot of good movies, some of the best we've seen this weekend include Big Fish, Butterfly Effect, and Wonderland (this one is a little scandalous so be forewarned.........mucho drugs and violence but still a well done movie). I have a chocolate cake baking right now which I am extremely excited for. Now that I can eat real food instead of just soup I have been going nuts with it all weekend!
All we can talk about is vacation. We are going to St. Louis for a couple of days and Roy's sister Julie and her husband Brian are meeting us there. We are going to Six Flags one day and our other day we are going to spend just doing random stuff around town. Our hotel is right next to Laclede's Landing so we'll be done there a lot. There is a steakhouse called Jake's Steak's which makes the best freaking steak I have ever had! We go there every time we're in the area. After St. Louis we are going to go to Julie and Brian's house in Tennessee for the rest of the week and just relax. Very excited!
I tried to get a picture of Tatum last night but I was too slow to get my camera. She was torturing a June bug that had found its way into our house. Its adorable though! She stalks it out and hunches up and then pounces and bats it with her little paws with her tail wagging the entire time. She has been just as lazy as we have this weekend, curled up on the couch napping the whole time. Well, my cake timer is going off so I will go for now. I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

15 days till vacation!

I cann't get rid of this freakin' cold!!! I thought I was getting better, but oh no! I went into work today just to finish my quarterlies. Now, I finished the part where I have to complete the quarterly report for each of my girls (which, including the ones I've closed this quarter adds up to about 27), and I've already photocopied and turned them in. The part I went in for today only takes about 15 minutes to complete but, of course, I've procrastinated all week. So, I went into work today, finished that and came straight home. My chest and throat were absolutely killing me! I made a big comfy pallet on the couch and Roy (bless his heart) rented a ton of movies so we've been resting all day. He still isn't completely better either. I had a huge coughing fit when I got home and it scares Tatum to death. She runs up and tries to give me kisses afterwards. She tries to be sympathetic :-) Well, now that I got my whining in for the day I am going to try to hit it to bed! I hope everyone is having a good night! Take care everyone!

16 days left 'till vacation!!!! Countdown is on! I'm feeling much better today but I sound worse than I did when I was feeling really bad. Weird. Roy and I put the cage up on the tomatoes so hopefully the little guys will stabalize themselves! We both had a late night last night. I had 14 kids at job #3 and Roy didn't get home from class until almost nine. We pretty much just ordered a pizza and went to bed. I don't think the 14 kids helped me feel any better. Now, I've worked in daycares for as long as I can remember so the number of kids wasn't so much the problem. The issue is that we are in a very small space and the kids range in ages from 12 years to 6 months. So, boredom sets in very quickly and, of course, so does the fighting. Oh well, didn't end up throwing anyone through the window so it was all good.
I can't believe how fast this week has flown by! We're enjoying being at home early together for a change. Roy rented Mystic River so we're going to start that pretty soon and then I'm meeting some friends out for karaoke later. Nothing planned for this weekend so we'll definitely get some good resting done! Gotta go find something for supper now, have a good night!

Not feeling well so if I did write it would involve a lot of whining. I promise I'll write tomorrow! Have a great night everyone!!!

So hard coming back after a long weekend! Unfortunately, I'm starting to come down with whatever Roy had, but I'm fighting it with vitamin C drops! After I wrote my blog on Sunday I went outside and I could see the interstate center's (I think?) fireworks perfectly from my driveway! Roy was already in bed so I put Tatum back inside (to save her from having a heart attack!) and put the tailgate down on Roy's truck, sat there and watched them all! It was pretty good. A lot of the neighbors had chairs out and were watching as well, on family was singing. Pretty neat! Did not do much on Monday except we did see Spiderman 2 in the afternoon. It was awesome!!! Watched the Guns & Roses behind the music that night and then went into a nyquil (sp?) induced sleep.
Work was uneventful today. I have to finish my quarterly reports but I'm close to being done with those. Drove to Clinton to see a girl and she wasn't there (gggrrrrrr). But, I went to see my new girl and she seems very interested and open to information which was nice for a change. She asked a lot of questions, more so than most of my case openings, and seemed very receptive. No kids tonight a job number three so I got home early :-) And now I am getting ready to make some soup and get comfy on the couch!!! Hope everyone survived the first day back at work!! Take care!

Happy Fourth of July everybody!!! It seems like everyone in our neighborhood is lighting off firecrackers and its really freaking Tatum out. We have done absolutely nothing today. Roy got really sick yesterday (some sort of flu or something, whatever it was he has not been that sick in a very long time) so I have spent most of the day taking care of him. He started feeling bad when we were at my parents yesterday so we had to cut the visit short and get him home. He's doing much better now though, just a little weak. All in all though we had a very nice time at my parent's yesterday. Mom made an Italian beef which turned out awesome! We went up and played pool with my Dad and brother for awhile and spent most of the rest of the time sitting on the porch chatting. I cannot believe how big my nephew is! He is walking and talking more and is getting my brother's attitude :-) Mom and Dad bought my niece Maddy a bike so she was having a blast riding around the house. I also got to meet my youngest brother Shawn's girlfriend! She is a sweet girl and is absolutely gorgeous! Mom sent home some birthday cake for Roy and he'll be lucky if there's some left for when he's feeling better because I can't stay out of it! She made a German chocolate cake covered in caramel and topped with whip cream and crushed heath bars. Delicious!!!
Driving home last night I could see fireworks from several towns. It was very cool! We obviously won't be going to any tonight (I can definitely hear them though!). I can't believe how muggy it was out today! On a good note though, my tomatoes are getting even bigger!!! I brought a cage home so I'll try to get it set up tomorrow. A few flowers have started to blossom and there are several more starting! I could not believe how many Mom and Dad already have!!! They are going to have hundreds when they are ripe! They always either make juice or salsa with them and it turns out great.
Well, the sleepy-time medicine I took awhile ago is kicking in so I'd better sign off (I'm starting to babble because I'm hitting that very nice drowsy stage). Have a great night everyone!!!

Finally Friday!!!! I hope everyone has some fun plans for the weekend! Work went by fast today since we got off a few hours early. I had a really good visit this morning and then got some paperwork done so it went by quickly. Afterwards, Pam and I went and had a late lunch at Chevy's. I love that place! While we were there the owner (I think?) came out to talk to us because he had seen us in there a lot. When he found out where we work he offered to help out with fundraising next time we do it. Very cool!
Going to get to bed pretty early tonight, we've got a big day tomorrow. We're excited to go to Mom and Dad's tomorrow. Their fireworks are going on tonight so we won't get too see them. Arthur's are usually really good. We might try to go somewhere up here on Sunday. Well, I'd better find something for supper, have a good weekend everyone!!!

I am overstuffed!!! I just ate a huge chili dog I made with our leftover chili. Tasty, but I ate too much off it. I'm beginning to wonder about this whole business of working until you are in your fifties. I set up my 401K yesterday and it got me thinking.....I would really like to retire now. Not that I don't love my job (not the place where I work, but my job), but I would really like it if I could retire now with enough money to survive comfortably and be allowed to do whatever the hell I want. Just dreamin'......I mentioned my thoughts today to my friend Pam who will be retiring in 2 years (she and her husband are planning on moving to Mexico!) and she told me very nicely to get my head out of my ***.
I always look forward to Thursdays because I don't have to go to job #2 or 3 and I'm actually home at about five o' clock. I love being home at night but it seems like no matter how early I get home, by the time I straighten the kitchen, cook dinner, clean up after, and do all the other little daily tasks that need to be done I am still not actually relaxing until 9 or after. The same goes for Roy between his job and classes.....sheesh, busy busy. We are very much looking forward to our vacation but it still seems so far away (last week in July!). This week has been going by quickly though!!! We get off work a little early tomorrow which is awesome, its amazing how much of a difference a few hours make. Well, I can tell I'm tired and loopy by the nonsense I'm writing so I'll sign off, have a good night everyone!!!